Danelaw

Danelaw [Ge].
Name given in the 10th century ad to the area which had been conquered and settled by the Danish Vikings and in which the kings of England allowed considerable autonomy to the Scandinavian settlers. In AD 878 the West Saxon king Alfred and the Danish leader Guthrum concluded a treaty which divided England into Saxon and Danish areas. In the Middle Ages the Danelaw in northern and eastern England had different administrative and fiscal arrangements from the Saxon areas to the south.