Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The body of law established by the Danish invaders and settlers in northeast England in the ninth and tenth centuries.
- noun The sections of England under the jurisdiction of this law.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The body of laws in force in that part of England which was settled in the ninth century by the Danes, at first as an independent body.
- noun The fifteen counties of England, extending from the Tees to the Thames, and from Watling street to the German ocean, formerly occupied by the Danes, and in which Danish law was enforced.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- proper noun history The part of
Great Britain in which thelaws of theScandinavians dominated those of theAnglo-Saxons . - proper noun history The set of
legal terms anddefinitions created in thetreaties between the English Alfred the Great and the Danish Guthrum the Old.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Danelaw.
Examples
-
The remainder of England as far north as the Tees was surrendered to the Danes, and became known as the Danelaw, because
A Student's History of England, v. 1 (of 3) From the earliest times to the Death of King Edward VII Samuel Rawson Gardiner 1865
-
Alfred was obliged to allow them to keep the eastern portion of England, a region called Danelaw, because the law of the Danes was obeyed there.
Introductory American History Elbert Jay Benton
-
The eastern part of England, where the invaders were firmly established, came to be called the Danelaw, because here the Danish, and not the Anglo-Saxon, law prevailed.
Early European History Hutton Webster
-
Leaving Wessex, the Danes settled to the north, in an area known as "Danelaw."
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph Telegraph Staff 2011
-
It was called the Danelaw because most Vikings who attacked Britain were Danes.
-
It was called the Danelaw because most Vikings who attacked Britain were Danes.
-
"Danelaw" not only to the legal system of the region but to that geographical area itself.
-
The northern third of what is now England was called the "Danelaw" for many centuries, because
Brandywine Books 2010
-
Eventually, rather than return to their homes in Scandinavia, they simply settled, at first along the coastlines they had come to know so well from seasonal raiding expeditions, and then in their own sizable territory, the Danelaw as in “where the law of the Danes ruled”.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
-
Eventually, rather than return to their homes in Scandinavia, they simply settled, at first along the coastlines they had come to know so well from seasonal raiding expeditions, and then in their own sizable territory, the Danelaw as in “where the law of the Danes ruled”.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.