Landfolk?
Landfolk is the old way of saying the native people. Thus the South English Legendary (Corpus Christi Cambridge handwrit 145):
Of þe lond folk of Engelond, þat no gult nabbeþ þerto.
England?
In a draught titled Her bigynneþ þe syren. and þe hundredes of engelonde. [Jesus Coll. MS. 29, leaf 267.] we read:
Why are Cornwall, Wales, Cumberland and Westmoreland all without?
If we look in Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica we will find the tale of how the forebears of the English came to Britain from Germany (Saxony, Angeln) and Denmark (Jutland). To begin with they did this at the belathing of the Britons, to help them against the Picts and Scots. But after falling out with the Britons over their meed for doing this, they then fought against the Britons themselves. The outcome of this being that the lion's share of the island was taken over by the incomers, and came to be called from one lot of their forebears from Germany, namely the Engle (=Angli), Englaland (=Anglia), whence England. And the Britons, who were also called Wealas/Walas and Cumbras by the incomers, were left only with the lands now called Cornwall, from Corn-walas (“on Cornwalum” see ASC(A) 891) , Wales from Walas, and Cumberland from Cumbra land, land of the Cumbras.
Wales.
The mark between England and Wales is Offa’s Ditch, thus in John Trevisa’s awending of the Polychronicon from Latin into English dated 1387 we read:
As to the Welsh tonames see Cornwall below.
Cornwall.
The mark between Cornwall and England are the waters of the Tamar. John Trevisa doth not like Cornwall being left out of England:
But nevertheless the ervewardness of the old Britons was long to be seen. Thus Richard Carew The Survey of Cornwall (1602):
Cumberland.
Cumbra land was greater than the later shire so named and begripped not only this but also Westmoreland and Lancashire southward, and Dumfries-shire, Kirkudbright-shire, Wigtown-shire, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Stirlingshire and Dumbartonshire northward. That is from the Clyde to the Ribble, if not the Mersey. From the time of the English King Aedilfrid many of these Britons must have been under the wielding of the English neighbours to the east.
Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Bk. I. chp. 34 (awending L. C. Jane):
But following the English losing the fightlock at Dunnichen in Angus on 20th May 685 against the Picts, these the neighbouring Britons, also won back their freedom. Thus Bede Historia Ecclesiastica Bk. IV. chp. 24 (awending L. C. Jane):
“From that time the hopes and strength of the English crown "began to waver and retrograde"; for the Picts recovered their own lands, which had been held by the English and the Scots that were in Britain, and some of the Britons their liberty, which they have now enjoyed for about forty-six years.”
Leeds is in Skyrack wapentake in the West Riding. There is a good inting to think that the south-western wapentakes of the West Riding of Yorkshire, south west of the Ainsty of York, namely Skyrack, Barkston Ash, Osgoldcross and Tickhill were the old British kingdom of Elmet. And "in Elmet" was once etched to stows in all these wapentakes. And there is a stow called Wales, formerly a chapelry, in Laughton en le Morthen in Tickhill wapentake.
In Cumbra land moreover there was later also a strong input from the Gall-Ghaedheil: the Irish-Northmen. Although often understood as Northmen, or even misunderstood as Danes, the Irish-Northmen are an odd blend of Northmen from Norway with Irish. Some of them were Northmen who had settled in Ireland by way of Shetland, Orkney, the Innse Gall, "the islands of foreigners" (=the western islands of Scotland or Hebrides), but other were Irish who had taken up the Northman's ways. To some of Cumbra land moreover they bequeathed their name thus Galloway (the shires of Wigtown and Kirkcudbright) is from the Irish i nGall Gaidhealaib ("amongst the Gall Gaidheil"). Another name for Galloway is The Rhinns, and its wielders were sometimes called in Irish therefore the “king of the Rhinns” “rex innaren” “rí na rend” (Annals of Innisfallen).
Why is Scotland without?
The Picts and Scots in the far north of Britain were heading the same way as the Britons further south until the fightlock at Dunnichen in Angus on 20th May 685 in which the English kingdom north of the Humber lost (see Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Bk. IV. chp. 24). Bede telleth us (awending L. C. Jane):
And:
“From that time the hopes and strength of the English crown "began to waver and retrograde"; for the Picts recovered their own lands, which had been held by the English and the Scots that were in Britain, and some of the Britons their liberty, which they have now enjoyed for about forty-six years.”
The self-standingness of the kingdom of the Picts and Scots, which we now call Scotland, from Scotta land, land of the Scots, (although Pictland liveth on in the Pentland of the Pentland Firth and Pentland Hills), stemmeth from that time.
The Scots now speak English (“Inglis”) both from the input of folk from Lothian, and also the settling of English from further south in the towns and boroughs of Scotland seemingly under their kings from Edgar onward. Thus after William the Lion was taken at Alnwick in 1174, William of Newburgh Historia rerum Anglicarum Bk. II, chap. 34 could write of the Scots' here (awending Joseph Stevenson):
Why is Lothian without?
Loðen or Loþen now Lothian (that is the landshare made up not only of the shires so-called, Haddington, Edinburgh and Linlithgow, but Peebles, Selkirk, Roxburgh and Berwick (John Kerr Scottish Education (1910) lf. 43 and lf. 219 “St. Andrews was modelled after the constitution of the University of Paris, and, like it, was divided into four “nations” — Fife, Lothian, Angus, and Alban. . . . Lothiani — Natives of Linlithgow, Edinburgh, Haddington, Peebles, Selkirk, Berwick and Roxburgh.” This ended in 1858.)) should be etched to these but was yielded up by the later kings of England to the kings of Scotland, seemingly so as to gain their help against the Danes and the Northmen who were then reaving in both their kingdoms.
Why is Northumberland without ?
But by this time the Danes of “Everwich schire” had themselves yielded to the Gall-Ghaedheil, the Irish-Northmen, under Ragnall ua Ímair. From the Historia de Sancto Cuthberto we know Ragnall gave the land between the Wear and the Tyne to two of his followers, Onlafbald and Scula: with Scula having the land south of Castle Eden; and Onlafbald that to the north.
Thus the Parker Chronicler was hard put in 920 to areach the folk north of the Humber, Scotland and Cumbra land aside, and could do no better than:
A charter (S520) of King Eadred could be read as showing that Northumbria had grown so unlike the folk further south at that time that they could not be happily infolded in the wording “Angulsaxna”. Thus Eadred is there said to be wielding the kingdoms :
“Angulsaxna cum Norþhymbris .
7 paganorum cum Brettonibus”
“of the English Saxons with the folk north of the humber
Landfolk is the old way of saying the native people. Thus the South English Legendary (Corpus Christi Cambridge handwrit 145):
Of þe lond folk of Engelond, þat no gult nabbeþ þerto.
England?
In a draught titled Her bigynneþ þe syren. and þe hundredes of engelonde. [Jesus Coll. MS. 29, leaf 267.] we read:
“Swo
we biforan queþen .xxxij. schiren. syndan. On engelonde. And Norþhumbre is wiþ-vtan. And loðen. and westmaralond. and
Cumberlond. And Cornwale. On Cornwale syndan .vii. lutle schire. And scotlaund.
And Brutlaund. And wyht. þes.xxxii. schire syndon. to-delede on þreo lawan. On
is west-sexene lawe. Oþer Dene lawe. þe þrydde Mercena lawe.
To west-sexene lawe bi-lympeþ .ix. schiren.
Kent suþsexe. suþeray. Bearruc schire. wiltone schire. On wiltone schire.
syndon .xlviii. hundred hida. suþhampton. schire. sumerseth schire. Dorset
schire.Deuena sch[i]re.
To Dene lawe. bilympeþ. xv. schire.
Everwich schire. Snotingham. Deoreby schire. Leycestre schire. Lyncolne schire.
Hertford schire. Bukingham schire. suþfolk. Norþfolc. Bedeford. sch[i]re .xii.
hundred hyda. Eastsexe. Grauntebrugge schire .xxv. hundred hida. Huntyndune
schire viij. hundred hida. and half hundred. Norhamtone schire .xxxij.
hundred.hida. Middelsex.
To Mercene lawe bilimpeþ .viii.schiren.
Gloucestre schire xxxiiij. hundred hida. wyricestre schire .xij. hundred hida. Hereford schire xij.
hundred hida. warewik schire xij. hundred hida. Oxeneford schire xxiiij. hundred hida. Slobschire xxiiij.
hundred hida. Chestre schire .xij.
hundred hida. Stafford schire .v. hundred hida. þis is vnder al xxvi. þusend
hida. and on half hundred.”
“As we said before [there] are 32 shires in England. But Northumberland (Norþhumbre [lond]) is without. And Lothian (loðen). and Westmoreland (westmaralond). and Cumberland (Cumberlond). And Cornwall (Cornwale). In Cornwall are 7 little shires. And Scotland (scotlaund). And Wales (Brutlaund). And Wight (wyht). These 32 shires are to-dealt into three Laws. One is West Saxon Law (west-sexene lawe). T'other is Danelaw (Dene lawe). The third Merchene Law (Mercena lawe).
To the West Saxon Law belongeth 9 shires. Kent Sussex (suþsexe). Surrey (suþeray). Berkshire (Bearruc schire). Wiltshire (wiltone schire). In wiltshire. are 48 hundred hides. Hampshire (suþhampton. schire). Somerset (sumerseth schire). Dorset (Dorset schire) and Devonshire (Deuena sch[i]re).
To the Danelaw belongeth 15 shires. Yorkshire (Everwich schire). Nottinghamshire (Snotingham). Derbyshire (Deoreby schire). Leicestershire (Leycestre schire). Lincolnshire (Lyncolne schire). Hertfordshire (Hertford schire). Buckinghamshire (Bukingham schire). Suffolk (suþfolk). Norfolk (Norþfolc). Bedfordshire (Bedeford. sch[i]re) 12 hundred hides. Essex (Eastsexe). Cambridgeshire (Grauntebrugge schire) 25 hundred hides. Huntingdonshire (Huntyndune schire) 8 and a half hundred hides. Northamptonshire (Norhamtone schire) 32 hundred.hides. Middlesex (Middelsex).
To Merchene lawe belongeth 8 shires.
Gloucestershire (Gloucestre schire) 34 hundred hides. Worcestershire (wyricestre schire) 12 hundred hides. Herefordshire (Hereford schire) 12
hundred hides. Warwickshire (warewik schire) 12 hundred hides. Oxfordshire (Oxeneford schire) 24 hundred hides. Shropshire (Slobschire) 24
hundred hides. Cheshire (Chestre schire) 12
hundred hida. Staffordshire (Stafford schire) 5 hundred hides. This is over all 26 thousand hides. and a half hundred.”
“As we said before [there] are 32 shires in England. But Northumberland (Norþhumbre [lond]) is without. And Lothian (loðen). and Westmoreland (westmaralond). and Cumberland (Cumberlond). And Cornwall (Cornwale). In Cornwall are 7 little shires. And Scotland (scotlaund). And Wales (Brutlaund). And Wight (wyht). These 32 shires are to-dealt into three Laws. One is West Saxon Law (west-sexene lawe). T'other is Danelaw (Dene lawe). The third Merchene Law (Mercena lawe).
To the West Saxon Law belongeth 9 shires. Kent Sussex (suþsexe). Surrey (suþeray). Berkshire (Bearruc schire). Wiltshire (wiltone schire). In wiltshire. are 48 hundred hides. Hampshire (suþhampton. schire). Somerset (sumerseth schire). Dorset (Dorset schire) and Devonshire (Deuena sch[i]re).
To the Danelaw belongeth 15 shires. Yorkshire (Everwich schire). Nottinghamshire (Snotingham). Derbyshire (Deoreby schire). Leicestershire (Leycestre schire). Lincolnshire (Lyncolne schire). Hertfordshire (Hertford schire). Buckinghamshire (Bukingham schire). Suffolk (suþfolk). Norfolk (Norþfolc). Bedfordshire (Bedeford. sch[i]re) 12 hundred hides. Essex (Eastsexe). Cambridgeshire (Grauntebrugge schire) 25 hundred hides. Huntingdonshire (Huntyndune schire) 8 and a half hundred hides. Northamptonshire (Norhamtone schire) 32 hundred.hides. Middlesex (Middelsex).
 |
| Above: The three "laws" of Old England. The "Dene Lawe" shires are marked in red. The "Merchene lawe" shires are marked in blue. And the "west-sexene lawe" shires are marked in gold. |
Why are Cornwall, Wales, Cumberland and Westmoreland all without?
If we look in Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica we will find the tale of how the forebears of the English came to Britain from Germany (Saxony, Angeln) and Denmark (Jutland). To begin with they did this at the belathing of the Britons, to help them against the Picts and Scots. But after falling out with the Britons over their meed for doing this, they then fought against the Britons themselves. The outcome of this being that the lion's share of the island was taken over by the incomers, and came to be called from one lot of their forebears from Germany, namely the Engle (=Angli), Englaland (=Anglia), whence England. And the Britons, who were also called Wealas/Walas and Cumbras by the incomers, were left only with the lands now called Cornwall, from Corn-walas (“on Cornwalum” see ASC(A) 891) , Wales from Walas, and Cumberland from Cumbra land, land of the Cumbras.
Wales.
The mark between England and Wales is Offa’s Ditch, thus in John Trevisa’s awending of the Polychronicon from Latin into English dated 1387 we read:
“Also kyng Offa, forto haue a distinccioun for euermore bytwene þe
kyngdoms of Engelond and of Wales, made a long deche þat streccheþ forþ oute of
þe souþ side by Bristowe vndir þe hilles of Wales norþward, and passeþ þe
reuers Seuarne and Dee almost at þe hedes, and anon to þe mouþ of þe ryuer Dee
byȝonde Chestre faste by þe castle, and renneþ forþ bytwene Colhille and þe
ministre of Basyngwere in to þe see. Þis diche is ȝit in many places i-seyn. In
Seint Edward his tyme Walsche men schulde not passe þat diche wiþ wepoun vppon
a grete payne, and þat was at erle Harolde his procurynge, as hit is i-saide
wiþ ynne. Bot now in eiþer side boþe of ȝond half and on þis half þe diche, and
specialliche in þe schires of Chestre, of Schrouysbury, and of Herford in meny
places beeþ Englische men [and Walsche men α. β.] i-medled to
gidres.”
As to the Welsh tonames see Cornwall below.
Cornwall.
The mark between Cornwall and England are the waters of the Tamar. John Trevisa doth not like Cornwall being left out of England:
“... Cornwayle is in Enge|lond, and is
departed in hundredes, and is i-ruled by þe lawe of Engelond, and holdeþ schire
and schire dayes, as oþere schires dooþ.
...”.
But nevertheless the ervewardness of the old Britons was long to be seen. Thus Richard Carew The Survey of Cornwall (1602):
“Touching their particular
denominations; where the Saxons haue not intruded their newer vsances, they
partake in some sort with their kinsmen the Welsh: for as the Welshmen
catalogize ap Rice, ap Griffin, ap Owen, ap Tuder, ap Lewellin, &c. vntill
they end in the highest of the stock, whom their memorie can reach vnto: So the
Westerne Cornish, by alike, but more compendious maner, intitle one another
with his owne & his fathers christen name, and conclude with the place of
his dwelling; as Iohn, the sonne of Thomas, dwelling at Pendaruis, is called
Iohn Thomas Pendaruis. Rich. his yonger brother is named, Richard Thomas
Pendaruis, &c. Through which meanes, diuers Gent. and others haue changed
their names, by remoouing their dwellings, as Trengoue to Nance, Bonithon, to
Carclew, two brethren of the Thomasses, the one to Carnsew, the other to
Rescrowe, and many other.
Most of them begin with Tre, Pol, or Pen, which
signifie a Towne, a Top, and a head: whence grew the common by-word.
By Tre, Pol,
and Pen,
You shall
know the Cornishmen.
Neither doe they want some signification, as Godolfin,
alias Godolghan, a white Eagle: Chiwarton, the greene Castle on the hill: which
Gentlemen giue such Armes; Reskimer, the great Dogges race, who beareth a Wolfe
passant. Carnsew, alias, Carndew, a black rock: his house Bokelly, which
soundeth the lost Goat: and a Goate he beareth for his coate: Carminow, a
little Citie: Cosowarth, the high Groue, &c.
And as the Cornish names hold an affinity with the Welsh, so is their language deduced from the same source, and differeth onely in the dialect. But the Cornish is more easie to bee pronounced, and not so vnpleasing in sound, with throat letters, as the Welsh.”
And as the Cornish names hold an affinity with the Welsh, so is their language deduced from the same source, and differeth onely in the dialect. But the Cornish is more easie to bee pronounced, and not so vnpleasing in sound, with throat letters, as the Welsh.”
Cumberland.
It is not always well understood that there was a kingdom of Britons in what is now north-west England and south-west Scotland. It is sometimes called Cumbra land, from which the later Cumberland stemmeth or pars pro toto, the Stræcledwealas, the wealas of Strathclyde. Asser brooketh 'Stratclutenses' . Chronicon æthelweardi under 875 brooketh Cumbri (Cumbrisque) for Stræcledwealas of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. And in the Annales Cambriæ we find Srat Clut for what is called Cumbra land in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 945.
Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Bk. I. chp. 34 (awending L. C. Jane):
“[34] HIS temporibus regno Nordanhymbrorum praefuit rex fortissimus
et gloriae cupidissimus Aedilfrid, qui plus omnibus Anglorum
primatibus gentem uastauit Brettonum; ita ut Sauli quondam regi
Israeliticae gentis conparandus uideretur, excepto dumtaxat hoc, quod
diuinae erat religionis ignarus. Nemo enim in tribunis, nemo in
regibus plures eorum terras, exterminatis uel subiugatis indigenis,
aut tributarias genti Anglorum, aut habitabiles fecit. Cui merito
poterat illud, quod benedicens filium patriarcha in personam Saulis
dicebat, aptari: ‘Beniamin lupus rapax, mane comedet praedam et
uespere diuidet spolia.’”
“AT this time, Ethelfrid, a most worthy king, and ambitious of
glory, governed the kingdom of the Northumbrians, and ravaged the
Britons more than all the great men of the English, insomuch that he
might be compared to Saul, once king of the Israelites, excepting
only this, that he was ignorant of the true religion. For he
conquered more territories from the Britons, either making them
tributary, or driving the inhabitants clean out, and planting English
in their places, than any other king or tribune. To him might justly
be applied the saying of the patriarch blessing his son in the person
of Saul, "Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf; in the morning he
shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil."
”
But following the English losing the fightlock at Dunnichen in Angus on 20th May 685 against the Picts, these the neighbouring Britons, also won back their freedom. Thus Bede Historia Ecclesiastica Bk. IV. chp. 24 (awending L. C. Jane):
“Ex quo tempore spes
coepit et uirtus regni Anglorum ‘fluere ac retro sublapsa referri.’ [Vergil
Æneid Bk. II, line 169] Nam et Picti terram possessionis suae, quam tenuerunt
Angli; et Scotti, qui erant in Brittania; Brettonum quoque pars nonnulla
libertatem receperunt; quam et hactenus habent per annos circiter XLVI; …”.
“From that time the hopes and strength of the English crown "began to waver and retrograde"; for the Picts recovered their own lands, which had been held by the English and the Scots that were in Britain, and some of the Britons their liberty, which they have now enjoyed for about forty-six years.”
In the Life of St.Kadröe (Acta Sanctorum Mart. Vol. 1, lf. 477 given by W. F. Skene Chronicles of the picts and Scots (1867) lf.116) Kadröe is said to fare "usque ad terram Cumbrorum" (where he goeth into the land wielded by a "Dovenaldus rex") "usque Loidam civitatem, quæ est in confinio Normannorum et Cumbrorum ... a quo perductor [perducitur] ad regem Erichium in Euroacum urbem". So Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire is on the mark between the Cumbras and the kingdom of Northmen whose king Eric was then seated in York!
In Cumbra land moreover there was later also a strong input from the Gall-Ghaedheil: the Irish-Northmen. Although often understood as Northmen, or even misunderstood as Danes, the Irish-Northmen are an odd blend of Northmen from Norway with Irish. Some of them were Northmen who had settled in Ireland by way of Shetland, Orkney, the Innse Gall, "the islands of foreigners" (=the western islands of Scotland or Hebrides), but other were Irish who had taken up the Northman's ways. To some of Cumbra land moreover they bequeathed their name thus Galloway (the shires of Wigtown and Kirkcudbright) is from the Irish i nGall Gaidhealaib ("amongst the Gall Gaidheil"). Another name for Galloway is The Rhinns, and its wielders were sometimes called in Irish therefore the “king of the Rhinns” “rex innaren” “rí na rend” (Annals of Innisfallen).
Why is Scotland without?
The Picts and Scots in the far north of Britain were heading the same way as the Britons further south until the fightlock at Dunnichen in Angus on 20th May 685 in which the English kingdom north of the Humber lost (see Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Bk. IV. chp. 24). Bede telleth us (awending L. C. Jane):
“...
plurimos gentis Anglorum, uel interemtos gladio, uel seruitio addictos, uel de
terra Pictorum fuga lapsos, ...”.
“... many English ... either fell by the sword,
or were made slaves, or escaped by flight out of the country of the Picts,...”..
And:
“Ex quo tempore spes
coepit et uirtus regni Anglorum ‘fluere ac retro sublapsa referri.’ [Vergil
Æneid Bk. II, line 169] Nam et Picti terram possessionis suae, quam tenuerunt
Angli; et Scotti, qui erant in Brittania; Brettonum quoque pars nonnulla
libertatem receperunt; quam et hactenus habent per annos circiter XLVI; …”.
“From that time the hopes and strength of the English crown "began to waver and retrograde"; for the Picts recovered their own lands, which had been held by the English and the Scots that were in Britain, and some of the Britons their liberty, which they have now enjoyed for about forty-six years.”
The self-standingness of the kingdom of the Picts and Scots, which we now call Scotland, from Scotta land, land of the Scots, (although Pictland liveth on in the Pentland of the Pentland Firth and Pentland Hills), stemmeth from that time.
The Scots now speak English (“Inglis”) both from the input of folk from Lothian, and also the settling of English from further south in the towns and boroughs of Scotland seemingly under their kings from Edgar onward. Thus after William the Lion was taken at Alnwick in 1174, William of Newburgh Historia rerum Anglicarum Bk. II, chap. 34 could write of the Scots' here (awending Joseph Stevenson):
“Erat autem in
eodem exercitu ingens Anglorum numerus, regni enim Scottici oppida et burgi ab
Anglis habitari noscuntur.”
“ ... for
there was in that army a great number of English, since the towns and boroughs
of the kingdom of Scotland are inhabited by English”.
Why is Lothian without?
Loðen or Loþen now Lothian (that is the landshare made up not only of the shires so-called, Haddington, Edinburgh and Linlithgow, but Peebles, Selkirk, Roxburgh and Berwick (John Kerr Scottish Education (1910) lf. 43 and lf. 219 “St. Andrews was modelled after the constitution of the University of Paris, and, like it, was divided into four “nations” — Fife, Lothian, Angus, and Alban. . . . Lothiani — Natives of Linlithgow, Edinburgh, Haddington, Peebles, Selkirk, Berwick and Roxburgh.” This ended in 1858.)) should be etched to these but was yielded up by the later kings of England to the kings of Scotland, seemingly so as to gain their help against the Danes and the Northmen who were then reaving in both their kingdoms.
Why is Northumberland without ?
To begin with Northumberland, and we must infold “Durhamshire” under this heading as well,
was an English kingdom: the true Bernicia. And the kings seated at Bamburgh would long hold sway over all the land from the Mersey and Humber in the south to the Forth and Clyde in the north. And in their time even further, but as we have already marked the losing of the fightlock at Dunnichen in Angus against the Picts brought on a waning. When the Danes took over “Everwich schire”, that is Yorkshire (the old English kingdom of Deira, which had long been under the wielding of the kings at Bamburgh), the English north of the Tees yielded to them. By 920 when they, along with all the other lords in Britain north of the Humber, are meant to have yielded to King Eadweard the Elder at Bakewell in Derbyshire the folk of Northumberland as we now understand the word, were under “Eadulfes suna”
(see Parker Chronicle).But by this time the Danes of “Everwich schire” had themselves yielded to the Gall-Ghaedheil, the Irish-Northmen, under Ragnall ua Ímair. From the Historia de Sancto Cuthberto we know Ragnall gave the land between the Wear and the Tyne to two of his followers, Onlafbald and Scula: with Scula having the land south of Castle Eden; and Onlafbald that to the north.
Thus the Parker Chronicler was hard put in 920 to areach the folk north of the Humber, Scotland and Cumbra land aside, and could do no better than:
“... 7 ealle þa þe on Norþhymbrum bugeaþ, ægþer ge Englisce, ge
Denisce, ge Norþmen, ge oþre; ...”
A charter (S520) of King Eadred could be read as showing that Northumbria had grown so unlike the folk further south at that time that they could not be happily infolded in the wording “Angulsaxna”. Thus Eadred is there said to be wielding the kingdoms :
“Angulsaxna cum Norþhymbris .
7 paganorum cum Brettonibus”
“of the English Saxons with the folk north of the humber
And of the heathens with the British”.
Why are there Three Laws?
West Saxons and Mercia.
In Britain the English had at first gathered themselves into some seven kingdoms (Northumbria (infolding Bernicia, Deira and all the other folks north of the Humber and south of the Forth), Mercia (infolding the Hwicce and folk of Lindsey) and Middle Anglia, East Anglia, Essex (infolding Middlesex and half of Hertfordshire), Kent, Sussex and Wessex) the sundry kings of which sought to be the high-king or Bretwalda (see Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Bk. II. chp. 5, and the Parker Chronicle under 827) over the others. The kingship of all England having its roots in this.
After 787 (the year of the first known inroad) the English in England were more and more hard beset by Danes and Northmen, and at length a good deal of eastern England was won and settled by Danes to become known as the “Danelaw”. What was left of the old English kingdom of Mercia became the Merchene Law, and the kingdom of Wessex, which had withstood the Danish onslaught the best of all, became the West Saxon Law. Sussex and Kent falling to the kings of Wessex before the Danes came.
Danelaw.
As we have already marked, after 787 (the year of the first known inroad) the English in England were more and more hard beset by Danes and Northmen, and at length a good deal of eastern England was won and settled by Danes to become known as the “Danelaw”. Namely Deira or “Everwich schire”, half of Mercia, Essex and East Anglia. The shires this infolded are given above. An often found mistake is to make everything north of the Humber as belonging to the “Danelaw” when only “Everwich schire” Yorkshire should be understood.
As we have already marked, the Danes of “Everwich schire” were themselves overwon by the Gall-Ghaedheil: the Irish-Northmen an odd blend of Northmen from Norway with Irish. Kings of this stock, beginning with Ragnall ua Ímair, held sway in York at times, sometimes even stretching their might into the “Five Boroughs” in the “Danelaw” to the south of Yorkshire. We learn from the Irish chronicles, but not from the English, that a band of them led by one Ingimund from Ireland were also settled by Æþelflæd Myrcna hlæfdige in the Wirral.
In Britain the English had at first gathered themselves into some seven kingdoms (Northumbria (infolding Bernicia, Deira and all the other folks north of the Humber and south of the Forth), Mercia (infolding the Hwicce and folk of Lindsey) and Middle Anglia, East Anglia, Essex (infolding Middlesex and half of Hertfordshire), Kent, Sussex and Wessex) the sundry kings of which sought to be the high-king or Bretwalda (see Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Bk. II. chp. 5, and the Parker Chronicle under 827) over the others. The kingship of all England having its roots in this.
After 787 (the year of the first known inroad) the English in England were more and more hard beset by Danes and Northmen, and at length a good deal of eastern England was won and settled by Danes to become known as the “Danelaw”. What was left of the old English kingdom of Mercia became the Merchene Law, and the kingdom of Wessex, which had withstood the Danish onslaught the best of all, became the West Saxon Law. Sussex and Kent falling to the kings of Wessex before the Danes came.
Danelaw.
As we have already marked, after 787 (the year of the first known inroad) the English in England were more and more hard beset by Danes and Northmen, and at length a good deal of eastern England was won and settled by Danes to become known as the “Danelaw”. Namely Deira or “Everwich schire”, half of Mercia, Essex and East Anglia. The shires this infolded are given above. An often found mistake is to make everything north of the Humber as belonging to the “Danelaw” when only “Everwich schire” Yorkshire should be understood.
As we have already marked, the Danes of “Everwich schire” were themselves overwon by the Gall-Ghaedheil: the Irish-Northmen an odd blend of Northmen from Norway with Irish. Kings of this stock, beginning with Ragnall ua Ímair, held sway in York at times, sometimes even stretching their might into the “Five Boroughs” in the “Danelaw” to the south of Yorkshire. We learn from the Irish chronicles, but not from the English, that a band of them led by one Ingimund from Ireland were also settled by Æþelflæd Myrcna hlæfdige in the Wirral.
The Danes and Northmen may be seen, or rather heard, to have left their mark in the speech of the north of England more strongly than anywhere else (although nowhere in England is altogether without this). Thus Giraldus Cambrensis well writeth in his Descriptio Kambriae (awending Thomas Forester):
“Sicut in australibus Angliae finibus, et рraecipue circa
Devoniam, Anglica lingua hodie magis videtur incomposita : ea tamen,
vetustatem longe plus redolens, borealibus insulae partibus per
crebras Dacoram et Norwagiensium irruptiones valde corruptis.
originalis linguae proprietatem, et antiquum loquendi modum magis
observât. Cujus etiam rei non solum argumentum, sed et certitudinem
inde habere potes, quod omnes libros Anglicos Bedae, ... regis
Aeluredi vel aliorum quorumlibet, sub hujus idiomatis, proprietate
scriptos invenies.”
“ As in the southern parts of England, and particularly in
Devonshire, the English language seems less agreeable, yet it bears
more marks of antiquity (the northern parts being much corrupted by
the irruptions of the Danes and Norwegians), and adheres more
strictly to the original language and ancient mode of speaking; a
positive proof of which may be deduced from all the English works of
Bede, ... and king Alfred, being written according to this idiom.”
Together with this it should be known, although many have gainsaid it, that tonames ending in -son are also more often to be met with the further North in England you go: Yorkshire being their true home. Thus Richard Verstegan A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities concerning the most noble and renowned English Nation (1605; edthrutched 1628, 1634, 1652, 1655, 1673):
“It remaineth as it were by tradition among some of our Country people, that those whose sirnames end in son, as Johnson, Tomson, Nicolson, Davison, Saunderson, and the like, are descended of Danish race.”
In the to-dealing of England into three Laws, I think we should see the input of the Danes for in this England is a match for Denmark which is likewise to-dealt into three Laws (Skånske Lov, Sjællandske Lov og Jyske Lov ). law itself being a word borrowed into English from Danish.
A Free Folk?
The rise of a strong kingship would seem to have meant a weakening in the freedoms of free English men and women. Wulfstan’s Sermo Lupi ad Anglos quando Dani maxime persecuti sunt eos quod fuit. Anno millesimo .viiii. ab incarnationi domini nostri Iesu Cristi MS C (CCCC MS 201 pp 82-86) is a needful work to know:
“...
& freoriht fornumene & þrælriht genirwde & ælmesriht gewanode.
Frige
men ne motan wealdan heora sylfna, ne faran þar hi willað, ne ateon heora agen
swa swa hi willað; ne þrælas ne moton habban þæt hi agon, on agenan hwilan, mid
earfeðan gewunnen, ne þæt þæt heom, on Godes est, gode men geuðon, & to
ælmesgife for Godes lufan sealdon. Ac æghwilc ælmesriht þe man on Godes est
scolde mid rihte georne gelæstan, alc man gelitlað oððe forhealdeð, forðam
unriht is to wide mannum gemæne & unlaga leofe.”
“And
the free-right and the thrall-right are narrowed and alms-riht waned. Free men
may not wield themselve, nor fare where they wish, nor deal with their (moveable)
property as they will; nor may thralls
have that (moveable) property which, on their own time, they have won with hard
work, or that which good men, in Gods favour, have granted them, and given to
them in alms for the love of God. But every man littleth or withholdeth every alms-right
that should by rights be paid eagerly in Gods favour, for injustice is too
widely common among men and lawlessness is too widely dear to them.”
And this would get a lot worse before it got better, if it can be said to have gotten any better at all.
The Danes Win All.
The kingship of all England went to the kings of Wessex who, alone of all the early English kingdoms, had long withstood the Danes. Much is rightly made of this, but at length the Danes overwon even Wessex with the death of Eadmund Irensid on 30th. November, 1016. Sveinn Tjúguskegg, Knútr inn ríki, Haraldur hérafótur and Hörða-Knútr, whom we call Swain, Canute, Harold Harefoot and Hardicanute, were all Danish kings. And I think it is better to think of Eadweard the Confessor's kingship as arising from him being the half-brother of Hörða-Knútr, who died childless, than as the erveward of the kings of Wessex. And Harold Godwinsson (Haraldr Guðinason) likewise as the kinsman of the Danish king Sveinn Ástríðarson or Úlfsson (Harold was the son of Svein's father's sister, Gȳða), who was the erveward of Hörða-Knútr.
Frenchmen.
After the Normans had beaten Harold “æt þære haran apuldran” on 14th. October 1066, the English looked to Sveinn Ástríðarson the King of Denmark to help them. Thus Ælnoth of Canterbury, Gesta Swenomagni Regis 13.2:
“Exercitu
uero conducto tam a Gallis et Brittonibus quam et a Cinomannis aggregato ita
urbium edes replebantur, ut uix suis domestici focis assidere uiderentur.
Anglis autem, quibus non minimi desiderii Danici exercitus aduentum esse
didicerat, barbas radere, arma et exuuias ad instar Romanorum coaptare et ad
deludendos aduentantium uisus per omnia se Francigenis, quos et Romanos dici
pretulimus, assimilare preceperat. Quod perpauci facere.”
“He [William "the Conqueror"] gathered
an army from the Gauls/French and Bretons as well as from Maine that when
together it seemed the houses in the cities were so filled up that the
householders could hardly sit by their own hearths. The English, however, who
not in the smallest degree desired the arrival of the Danish host, he ordered
to, shave their beards, change their arms and clothes to the likeness of the
Romans, and, to delude the sight of the invaders [by seeming] in everything as
the French themselves, whom we prefer to call Romans. But very few did.”
BUT VERY FEW DID! That is the English for you.
In the end, Sveinn took the Normans' gold and the English had to abide under the French kings for a long while afterwards. For the so-called Normans were called by the English of the time of the Conquest “Frencisce menn” (ASC(E) 1070) that is, French men or “Francan” (see below) “Franks”. And the Peterborough Chronicle (ASC (E)) hath the following telling marking under 1107:
Ðis wæs rihtlice ymbe .vii. gear
þæs þe se cyng Henri cynedomes onfeng. 7 wæs þæt an and fowertigeðe gear þæs þe
Francan þyses landes weoldan.
This was
nearly about seven years after the King Henry took the kingdom, and the one and fortieth year since the
Franks wielded this land.”
1107 - 1066 = 41! The following charter of King Henry II [B. M., Harleian Charter III B. 49.] showeth the carefulness to name both English and French was not lessened at that time:
“H' þurh godes ȝefu ænglelandes king gret ealle
mine bissceopas 7 ealle mine eorlas 7 ealle mine scirereuan 7 ealle
mine þeinas frencisce 3 englisce on þan sciran þe teobalt
ercebisceop 7 se hiret æt xpistes chyrchen on Cantuarabirȝ habbad
land inne freondlice 7 ic keþe eow þ[æt] ic hebbe heom geunnon
þ[æt] hi beon ælc þare lande wurþa þe hi eafdon en Edwardes
kinges deȝe 7 on Willelmes kinges mines furþur ealdefader 7 on
Henrices kinges mines ealdefader 7 saca 7 Socne on strande 7 on
Streame. On wudan 7 on feldan tolles 7 theames grithbriches 7
hamsocne 7 forstalles 7 infangenesthiafes 7 fleamene frimtha ofer
heore agene men binnaw Burgan 3 butan swa ful 3 swa ford swa mine
agene Wicneres hit sechan scolden 7 ofer swa fele þeinas swa ich
heom to leten habban. And ic nelle þ[æt] eni man enig þing þer on
theo butan hi 7 heara wicneras þe hi hit bitechan • willað ne
frencisce ne englisce for þan þingan þe ich habbe criste þas
gerichtan forgifan minre Saule to echere alisendnessee 7 ic nelle
geþauian þ[æt] enig man þis abrece bi minan fullen frenscipan.
God geau gehealde.”
English thanes however, were likely to be a bit thin on the ground, as Robert of Gloucester, in his “Chronicle” lines 7500 to 7501 of about 1300 marketh:
“Of þe Normannes beþ þys hey men þat beþ of þys lond,
And þe lowemen of Saxons as ich understonde”.
The End to which I steer?
Now the end to which this blog is going toward, is to have something for each of these shires to show what English tonames were found in each. Needless to say there are overmany tonames that are French, and whilst not always so, we cannot but believe that many bearers of these are the offspring of newcomers from France. Robert of Gloucester again, lines 7538 to 7543:
“And þe Normans ne couþe speke þo bote hor owe speche
and speke French as hii dude at om and hor children dude also teche
so þat heiemen of þis lond þat of hor blod come
holdeþ alle þulk speche þat hii of hom nome.
Vor bote a man conne Frenss me telþ of him lute. Ac lowe men holdeþ to Engliss and to hor owe speche ȝute.”
And therefore, unless there is something to make us think that the bearer of a French toname was nevertheless an Englishman or woman, these will be missed off.
Farewell.
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