Vikings in Nottinghamshire
(For information about The Danelaw, scroll down.)
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Viking placenames
The Viking invaders came from Noway and Denmark and Sweden. They all spoke the Old Norse language which could partially be understood by the Anglo-Saxons; Old Norse and Old English are similar.
Placenames
The Vikings named their farms and settlements in the same way as the Anglo-Saxons did, often with the farmer's name. Many Anglo-Saxon villages have names ending in 'ton' which meant a farm or a small settlement; the Vikings used 'by' and thorpe' for the same meaning.
Anglo-Saxon farms were already on the best fertile land that was good for farming. They were on well-drained soil but near to rivers or streams. The newer Viking settlements were not in such good places; they were on marshy ground and further away from the best farmland.
Viking placenames in England
Viking placenames in Nottinghamshire
↑ Click the maps to enlarge them.
Above: Viking placenames in England and Nottinghamshire
Below: Anglo-Saxon and Viking placenames around Langar and Barnstone
↓ Click the map to enlarge it.
Langar and Barnstone are Anglo-Saxon placenames. They are surrounded by Viking villages - Tithby, Granby, Barkestone, Harby, Owthorpe.
Some local Viking placenames -
-
Barkestone - 'Borkr's tun' = Bark's farm - Borkr was a common Norse name. This placename has an
Anglo-Saxon ending, 'tun' is the Old English word for a 'farm' or settlement.
Does this mean that Bark took over a farm that used to belong to Anglo-Saxons? Did he buy it? Did he steal it? Did he marry the farmer's daughter? Or did Bark set up his own farm and use the Anglo-Saxon word 'tun' for farm. Nobody knows! But there are many placenames like this that are a mixture of Viking and Anglo-Saxon. - Aslockton - 'Aslakr's tun' = Aslakr's farm. Aslakr is a Viking name while 'tun' is Anglo-Saxon.
- Clipston- Klippr's tun' = Klippr's farm. Kilippr is a Viking name with 'tun', an Anglo-Saxon word for a farm or small settlement.
- Granby - 'Grani's by' = Grani's farm or village. Grani was a male Norse name; 'by' is the Viking word for a 'farm'. This is a completely Viking name. Does it mean that Grani set up a farm where there wasn't one before?
- Harby Probably 'Herrothr's farm/settlement' or perhaps, 'herd farm'. This is an Old Norse name of Viking origin.
- Tithby - 'Tidhe's by' = Tidhe's farm or village. This is a Viking placename.
- Owthorpe - 'Ufi's thorpe' = Ufi's outlying farm. ‘Thorpe’ was the Old Norse word for a secondary farm, an outlying farmstead belonging to another village.
- Stragglethorpe - Nobody knows what he first part of this placename means - it may be a personal name. 'Thorpe' is the Old Norse word for an outlying farm that belongs to another farm or village.
- Swinethorpe Male Viking name, 'Sveinn + thorpe' = Sveinn's outlying farm'.
Now this is interesting -
Normanton There are seven villages called Normanton in the East Midlands and Yorkshire. The name is actually Old English not Old Norse, so these are names given by the Anglo-Saxons. - 'Northman tun' = Northman's or Norwegian's farm or village. Most Viking settlers were from Denmark while the people in these villages had come from Norway further to the North.
The Danelaw
The Great Heathen Army
of Vikings had landed in England in the year 865. They rampaged around England from the south-east to the north, to the south and the south west of England for 12 years.
Viking defeat
But in the spring of 878 the Anglo-Saxon King Alfred of Wessex defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Edington in Wiltshire.
Guthrum, the Viking leader, was forced to retreat with his army to their stronghold, where they were surrounded by Alfred’s army. After two weeks they ran out of food and water and the starving Vikings begged Alfred for peace.
Guthrum surrendered and swore to leave Alfred's kingdom of Wessex immediately. He also agreed to be baptised as a Christian with King Alfred as his godfather. Guthrum kept his word and he returned with the remnants of his army to East Anglia.
This was the end of the Great Heathen Army.
Peace agreement
Neither King Alfred's army nor Guthrum's army were strong enough to defeat the other. And so they came to an agreement. Alfred and Guthrum divided England into two halves with a line drawn across the country from London to the River Mersey, roughly following the old Roman road, the Watling Street.
Anglo-Saxon Wessex and West Mercia
The south and south-west of England remained Anglo-Saxon under the rule of the king of Wessex. They followed the laws and customs of the English.
The Danelaw
The north and north-east of England became known as the Danelaw. It was ruled by Viking lords and followed Viking laws and customs.
Viking placenames
Many of the Viking warriors settled down in farms and villages in the Danelaw. The map below shows villages with Viking names. Instead of fighting and stealing, they became farmers or traders. As the Great Heathen Army was made up mostly of men, many of them took Anglo-Saxon women as their wives and created a mixed society of Anglo-Saxons and Vikings.
↑ Look at the maps above. ↑
The Danelaw (left) is the part of England where there are most Viking placenames (right).
Danelaw - The Five Boroughs
Langar and Barnstone were part of the Danish (Viking) Borough of Nottingham.
There were Five Boroughs - Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham and Stamford which began as fortified strongholds of five Danish armies who first settled in this area.
(The Anglo-Saxons used the word burh/ borough to mean a fortified stronghold, a town with ditches and ramparts with a palisade as defence against the Vikings.)
Each of the Five Boroughs was ruled by a Danish jarl, a Viking lord who controlled the lands around with his army of Vikings.
Nottingham
Nottingham was first occupied in 868 by the Great Heathen Army under Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson. They built a fortress here, though nobody knows exactly where. Ivar and Halfdan died soon afterwards.
Viking lords, backed by an army of Viking warriors, held control of what is now Nottinghamshire. People living in villages such as Langar and Barnstone, whether they were Anglo-Saxons or Vikings, had to follow Viking laws and pay tax to Viking lords. Langar and Barnstone were part of the Danelaw.