Using the various tests we find that the Scandinavian kingdom of Northumbria was considerably smaller than the earlier realm of that name, Northumberland and Durham being but sparsely settled, while South Lancashire and Cheshire were occupied chiefly along the coast. The kingdom would seem to fall into two isolated halves, Cumberland and Westmorland and North Lancashire in the north-west and Yorkshire in the south-east. The district of the Five Boroughs covered Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire (Lincoln and Stamford), Leicestershire, and probably the whole of Rutland (Stamford). The case of Northamptonshire is difficult. The carucal assessment fails except in the extreme N.E. of the county, but Danish place-nomenclature is strongly evident, though it shades off somewhat towards the S.W. It resembles Danish East Anglia rather than the district of the Five Boroughs and it is possible that the boundary of Guthrum's East Anglian kingdom, which is only carried as far as Stony Stratford in the peace of Alfred and Guthrum, really ran along Watling Street for a few miles, giving two-thirds of that county to the East Anglian realm.
Northumbria was governed by a succession of kings. The Five Boroughs formed a loose confederation, and there can be no question that the districts which 'obeyed' (v. supra, p. [31]) the boroughs of Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Lincoln (and Stamford) and Northampton form the modern counties named from these towns. It is also to Danish influence direct or indirect that we owe the similar organisation of the counties of Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire in the old East Anglian kingdom. Each of these counties had a jarl or earl, whose headquarters were at the 'borough.' He summoned the here, whether for political or military purposes, and when these counties passed once more under English rule he fulfilled the functions of the older ealdorman.
In East Anglia, apart from place-names (v. supra, p. [129]) and carucal assessment in Norfolk and Suffolk, we are left with the boundaries of Guthrum's kingdom and with various miscellaneous evidence for estimating the extent of Scandinavian influence. There is a curious 'hundredus Dacorum' (cf. supra, p. 10) in Hertfordshire, while the Historia Eliensis and other documents tend to show the presence of a strong Danish element in the population and social organisation of the districts around Cambridge. The kingship of East Anglia came to an end early in the 10th century, and it is probable that its organisation was then changed to one resembling that of the Five Boroughs, viz. a number of districts grouped around central 'boroughs,' which afterwards became counties, except in the older divisions of Norfolk and Suffolk.
A careful study of Domesday and other authorities reveals many other features of interest in our social system which were due to Viking influence. Certain types of manorial structure are specially common in the Danelagh. Manor and vill are by no means identical, indeed several manors are included under one vill. Very frequent is the type which consists in a central manor with sokeland appurtenant. In the Danelagh there was a large number of small freeholders and the free peasant class was much more numerous than in Anglo-Saxon England. These districts stand in clear contrast to the strongly manorialised southern counties and they were not feudalised to any appreciable extent before the Norman conquest. When that system was imposed we often find single knight's fees having to be taken over by entire communities of sokemen. The 'holds' of Northumbria, who rank next after the earls, and the 'drengs' of Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancashire, Northumberland and Durham, are also of Scandinavian origin. The 'dreng' was 'a free servant of the king endowed with lands' and the name still survives in the Yorkshire place-name Dringhouses.
The legal instinct was strong in the Scandinavian mind and English law bears deep marks of its influence. The very word 'law' itself is of Scandinavian origin and has replaced the English 'doom.' The chief judicial authority in Lincoln, Stamford, Cambridge, Chester and York was in the hands of twelve lagmen or judices. These 'lawmen' (v. supra, p. [103]) though they had judicial authority were not chosen by the king or by popular election. Their position was hereditary. Of special interest are the '12 senior thanes' of Aethelred's laws for the Five Boroughs enacted at Wantage in 997. They have to come forward in the court of every wapentake and to swear that they will not accuse wrongly any innocent man or conceal any guilty one. The exact force of this enactment has been a matter of dispute—whether the thanes simply bore witness to the personal status of the accused, thus enabling the court to determine the ordeal through which he should be put, or whether we have an anticipation of the system of presentment by jury. Whatever may be the exact truth there can be little doubt, says Dr Vinogradoff, that such a custom prepared the way for the indictment jury of the 12th century. The same author attributes to Danish influence a new conception of crime. It is no longer merely a breach of the peace or the result of a feud, to be settled by monetary compensation, it is a breach of that conception of honour which binds together military societies. The criminal is now branded as nithing, a man unworthy of comradeship with his fellow-warriors.
Unfortunately it is only within the last few years that the question of Danish influence on our social, political and legal systems has been treated at all seriously and much work still remains to be done, but we can already see that the Danes affected English life far more deeply than a superficial glance might suggest. Doubtless the Danish invasions struck a heavy blow at learning and literature, a blow from the effects of which not even the heroic activities of an Alfred could save them, but there can be no question that in the development of town life, in the promotion of trade, in the improvement of organisation and administration, in the modification of legal procedure the invaders conferred great benefits on the country as a whole.
FOOTNOTES:
[15] In Scotland it is used of a hollow pass in a ridge.
[16] The ore as a unit of weight for silver is of Scandinavian origin. In some districts it was of the value of 16 pence, in others of 20 pence, and eight ores went to the mark.