Question 1
Evaluate the interpretations in both of the two passages and explain which you think is more
convincing as an explanation of the nature of Viking colonisation of the Danelaw.
Passage A
Danish settlement in this region was probably of two kinds, and did not involve a systematic displacement of the English. First in time and consequence, there was a military settlement. But this appears insufficient to account for the number of Danes later to be found in the Five Boroughs, for example, often on virgin land along the lesser streams and tributaries and in districts of sandy or gravelly soil reminiscent of parts of the Danish homeland. It has been urged therefore that there were immigrants from Denmark quite apart from the fighting men, and that these colonised available areas behind the shield of the armies of the Five Boroughs.
The evidence of personal coins and moneyers is indicative, and that of language, vocabulary, and place‑names compulsive, that there was a rapid and heavy settlement of parts of the Danelaw by Scandinavians representing little less than a migration, and recent attempts to minimise the Norse element have been unconvincing. Scandinavian vocabulary penetrated every domain of language. The evidence is so abundant that, reinforced as it is by place‑name elements, it points to a considerable number of northern speakers in the Danelaw.
Adapted from: G. Jones, A History of the Vikings, published in 1973.
Passage B
The high proportion of Scandinavian‑style place‑names recorded in the Domesday Book has been used as one of the main arguments in support of a substantial Viking colonisation of England. However, there are two difficulties with this argument.
The first problem is a linguistic one. We cannot be certain that individual Scandinavian place‑names were coined by Viking Age settlers. Few place‑names are recorded before the Domesday Book of 1086, some 200 years after the Scandinavian settlement. It might also be possible that some aspects of the Scandinavian languages could have been adopted earlier than the eighth century. Even if we could be sure that the Scandinavian names belong to the Viking Age rather than earlier or later, we still cannot be certain that they were coined by Scandinavians. Indeed, the people responsible for naming a settlement will not usually be those living in it but those from neighbouring sites who need to refer to it or tax it. Thus the name Ingleby might suggest a village of Angles named by Danes, whilst the name Danby might be a settlement of Danes referred to by Anglo‑Saxons!
The second problem concerns the age of those settlements that received Scandinavian names. If they are evidence for a massive Scandinavian migration, then they should be new sites on virgin ground; but many may simply have been new names for existing places, just old estates under new management. There is little evidence for a mass peasant migration of new settlers, clearing land.
Adapted from: J. D. Richards, Viking Age England, published in 1991.
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Answer
