What impact did the Scandinavian settlement have on pre-Conquest society and economy in England?

It was much more common for the war bands leaders to have mercenaries who would be from a range of nationalities, Danish and Norwegian. In fact in later England, King Edward used Scandinavians in the defence of Nottingham in 918 AD. He had both Scandinavians and the Anglo-Saxons swear allegiance to him. Whilst some Vikings brought their wives over to England with them, others will no doubt have intermarried with native women. These men were possible more attractive to women due to the care that the Scandinavian men took on their appearance conducting themselves with such actions as, combing their hair, bathing every Saturday and wearing fine clothing. This must have meant that the Scandinavians settled amongst the native Anglo-Saxons and therefore the Scandinavians quite obviously would have had a major impact on the language used in England, incorporating their own words, grammar and syntax into the Old English language. They were integrated into society and as such would have effects on it as well as themselves affecting it. It was a necessity for the settled Scandinavians to co-exist with the Anglo-Saxons. It would have been vertically impossible not to being as outnumbered as they were. 

Despite this integration of Dane and Anglo-Saxon in the Danelaw, Kings Æthelred and Edgar both made certain laws which made a distinct difference between Dane and Anglo-Saxon. The settlements were a permanent threat to Wessex and Mercia. After 878 however Wessex was no longer in any serious danger of conquest. The Vikings were seen as a serious threat to Christianity in Britain. This meant as a result that Alfred made two key reforming policies, the educational programme and the burghal system. The Scandinavians had been seen as a punishment from God on an unworthy people and so Alfred tried to change this with the educational programme whilst setting out a defence against the threat with the burghal system. However the Danelaw became a society which had been radically transformed into one of a more multi-cultural society. In the Danelaw, the Vikings integrated well into society, so much so that they effectively ‘disappeared’ and yet, in places like the Isle of Man they kept themselves and their culture, distinctively separate from the native inhabitants. Therefore it can be argued that the place was mightily important as to prove whether integration could occur. It is possible that the inhabitants of the Isle of Man were treated differently by having too strange a culture compared to the English, equally valid is that it was most probably the Norwegian conquerors who inhabited the island as they did the west of England whereas it was the Danes who took control of the East and the central proportions of England.

        One of the major ways in which the settlement can be proved is the language and within this is the naming of places. These could be either names ending in ‘-by’ or ‘-thorpe’, for example ‘Oadby’ or ‘Scunthorpe’, which were both Scandinavian words or equally a place name could change to become a Grimston hybrid, with the ending of the name remaining but the beginning being changed to one of a Scandinavian origin. Apart from a small amount in Northamptonshire and Warwickshire, the North and the West are dominated by Scandinavian names, whether they are ‘-by’ names or Grimston hybrids. One must be careful with the ‘-by’ names however as they remained an acceptable naming form for towns even after the Conquest. The same can be said for the naming of towns with ‘-thorpe’ in which has led to some scholars rejecting it all together. So whilst it can be proved that the settlement happened, one major problem that we have with going on the place-names is that it is impossible to tell from this information alone, just how many Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians were living there.

There was a huge disruption of estates which possibly led to a disruption in the market with the Scandinavian settlement. Before the arrival of the Vikings, English land had never been bought or sold before. It had either been inherited or granted out by a lord. There had been from the ninth century onwards a fundamental change to land ownership which was fragmented with great estates being broken up. This could potentially have occurred without Scandinavian intervention however it is most likely that they sped the process up. The Dane’s have been said to have taken over and simulated the market however considering that there were a minority victor in the Danelaw it is rather hard to believe this. Despite giving their local areas a boost from the treasure that they had accumulated from their victories, it is doubtful just how much this did help as it is hard to know just how much money that the ordinary settlers actually had. Danegelds made a heavy hit on the economy within the Southern area of England. Testament to this is the fact that coin hordes found from 990 to 1040 AD which have revealed to have had more coins in it than are known from the whole of England. This could further discredit the theory that in the Danelaw that the economy received a boost as how could it have been spent if it is being hoarded? In order to pay for the Dangelds, the English had to make a huge surplus on payments which could only be achieved by ‘stimulating exports and cutting imports’ which itself could only be achieved by devaluing the currency. Despite this, there was still a heavier pressure on available land and resources, although the same has been found to be true in where they are no suggestions of Scandinavian settlement. During the phrases of the Viking invasion we also see an increase in the number of specialised jobs being conducted by specialists. This helped to create a much more diverse market.  This in turn would have stimulated the economy as can be seen that in some areas that the growth can be dated at the around the same time as the Scandinavian settlement of the region.

The Scandinavian settlement of England had huge consequences for the society and economy of England pre-Conquest. It could be argued that it made the society. It made England. Although Alfred and his descendents did reclaim areas of the Danelaw, they never truly recovered the entire of England expelling the invading Scandinavians. Therefore by the time of the Norman Conquest, England was a multi-cultural society that was about to become even more multi-cultured and yet at the same time suddenly find itself with new problems. The economy of England by the Conquest had stabilised although there could have been improvement, trade was flourishing however. The new disruption of land was new especially with it being sold on. The Scandinavians definitely brought about a new way of life in some respects with their settlement. However they did farm in the same way and so they did not in that respect bring about anything new. The settlers changed the ethnic situations and the ‘political pattern of the natural society’ rather than anything substantially physical, barring possibly the economy in terms of the money from it. The ‘Vikings were not beyond the pale of civilised life’; they were able to show many values and practises to their neighbours. For the vast majority of peasant farmers the Scandinavian settlement probably meant little more than a change in whom it was that they paid their taxes to. Also it was the political conquests as much as the scale of the settlement that determined the Scandinavian impact. It was within the second quarter of the tenth century that it could be seen within the Danelaw that there was a well-established Anglo-Scandinavian society which provided the English with peace for several decades. This was only broken when more invaders came for extorting tribute in the late tenth century. Overall the Scandinavian settlement did have some huge impacts on the society and economy and helped to form the country before and even after the Conquest of England. After all, the Normans were originally of Scandinavian origin themselves.

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Bibliography

• B. Crawford, ‘The Vikings’ in W. Davies (ed.), From the Vikings to the Normans (Oxford, 2003).
• J.D. Richards, Viking Age England (2nd edition, Stroud, 2000).
• P. Stafford, Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries (London, 1989).
• D.M. Hadley, The Northern Danelaw; It’s Social Structure c.800-1100 (London, 2000).
• D. Griffiths, ‘Exchange, Trade and Urbanisation’ in W. Davies (ed.), From the Vikings to the Normans (Oxford, 2003).
• M. Magnusson, Viking Expansion Westwards (London, 1973).
• G. Fellows-Jensen, ‘Signposts to Settling’ in E. Roesdahl, J. Graham-Campbell, P. Connor and K. Pearson (eds), The Vikings in England and in Their Homeland (London, 1981).
• N. Brooks, Communities and Warfare: 700-1400 (London, 2000).
• H. Loyn, The Vikings in Britain (London  ,1994) .

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