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The 'Danegeld' was an English tribute raised to pay off Viking raiders to save the land from being ravaged by the raiders. The expeditions were usually led by the Danish kings, but they were composed by warriors from all over Scandinavia, and they eventually brought home more than 100 tonnes of silver.^[1]
The term has come to be used as a warning and a criticism of paying any coercive payment whether in money or kind.

Contents

Contemporary usage

History

The total cost

Danegeld in runestones

U 194

U 241

U 344

Arts

Shakespeare

Kipling

See also

References

Footnotes

Contemporary usage

The term has come to be used as a warning and a criticism of paying any coercive payment whether in money or kind. For example as mentioned in the House of Commons during the debate on the Belfast Agreement:
:''I feared that the Belfast agreement might be built on sand, but I hoped otherwise. But as we have seen, Danegeld has been paid, and the thing about Danegeld is that one keeps on having to pay it. Concession after concession has been made. What will be the next one?''^[2]
In Britain the phrase is often coupled from the experience of Chamberlain's Appeasement of Hitler^[3].
To emphasise the point, people often quote two or more lines from the poem "Dane Geld" by Kipling as did Tony Parsons in The Daily Mirror when criticising the Rome daily La Repubblica for writing "Ransom was paid and that is nothing to be ashamed of," in response to the announcement that the Italian government paid $1 million for the release of two hostages in Iraq in October 2004. ^[4]
:''That if once you have paid him the Danegeld,
You never get rid of the Dane.''

History

This kind of payment was not unique to England. According to Snorri Sturluson and Rimbert, Finland and the Baltic states (Grobin) paid the same kind of tribute to the Swedes. In fact, the Primary Chronicle relates that the regions paying protection money extended east towards Moscow, until the Finnish and Slavic tribes rebelled and drove the Varangians overseas. Similarly, the Sami peoples were frequently forced to pay tribute in the form of pelts.
The first payment of the Danegeld to the vikings took place in 856. English payment, of 10,000 pounds (3,732 kg) of silver, was also made in 991 following the Viking victory at the Battle of Maldon in Essex, when King Aethelred "The Unready" was advised by Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury and the aldermen of the south-western provinces to buy off the Vikings rather than continue the armed struggle.
In 994 the Danes, under King Sweyn Forkbeard and Olaf Trygvason, returned and laid siege to London. They were once more bought off, and the amount of silver paid impressed the Danes with the idea that it was more profitable to extort payments from the English than to take whatever booty they could plunder.
Further payments were made in 1002, and especially in 1007 when Aethelred bought two years peace with the Danes for 36,000 pounds (13,436 kg) of silver. In 1012, following the capture and murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the sack of Canterbury, the Danes were bought off with another 48,000 pounds (17,916 kg) of silver.
In 1016 Sweyn Forkbeard's son, Canute, became King of England. After two years he felt sufficiently in control of his new kingdom to the extent of being able to pay off all but 40 ships of his invasion fleet, which were retained as a personal bodyguard, with a huge Danegeld of 72,000 pounds (26,873 kg) of silver collected nationally, plus a further 10,500 pounds (3,919 kg) of silver collected from London.

The total cost

It is estimated that the total amount of money paid amounted to some sixty million pence — more Anglo-Saxon pence of this period have been found in Denmark than in England.

Danegeld in runestones

Swedes also took part in claiming the Danegeld, to which testify three runestones, in Uppland, Sweden. The first one mentions Áli or Alli who took one Danegeld, the second Ulfríkr who took two Danegelds and the third one Ulfr who took three Danegelds.

U 194

The runestone U 194 says that Áli (or Alli) took one Danegeld in England with Canute the Great:

★ 'al|i| |l|it raisa stain þino| |oftiR sik sialfan ' hon tuk| |knuts kialt a| |anklanti ' kuþ hialbi hons ant'
Representing the following epitaph in Old Norse:

★ ''Ali/Alli let ræisa stæin þenna æftiR sik sialfan. Hann tok Knuts giald a Ænglandi. Guð hialpi hans and''.
This means "Ali/Alli had this stone raised in memory of himself. He took Canute's Danegeld in England. God help his soul".

U 241

The runestone U 241 is raised in memory of a man who took two Danegelds:

★ 'n tan auk huskarl ' auk sua(i)n ' l(i)tu rita stin aftiR ' ulfrik ' faþurfaþur sino ' hon hafþi o| |onklanti tuh kialt| |takit + kuþ hialbi þiRa kiþka salu| |uk| |kuþs muþ(i)'
This represents the following text in Old Norse:

★ ''En Dan ok Huskarl ok Svæinn letu retta stæin æftiR Ulfrik, faðurfaður sinn. Hann hafði a Ænglandi tu giald takit. Guð hialpi þæiRa fæðga salu ok Guðs moðiR''.
In translation: "But Dan, Housecarl and Sweyn had this stone erected after Ulfrik, their grand-father. He took two Danegelds in England. God and god's mother help his soul".

U 344

A man who took as many as three danegelds is remembered on a runestone near Stockholm (U 344). He took three Danegelds under three different leaders:

★ 'in ulfr hafiR o| |onklati ' þru kialt| |takat þit uas fursta þis tusti ka-t ' þ(a) ---- (þ)urktil ' þa kalt knutr'
This represents the following line in Old Norse:

★ ''En UlfR hafiR a Ænglandi þry giald takit. Þet vas fyrsta þet's Tosti ga[l]t. Þa [galt] Þorkætill. Þa galt Knutr''.
Translation: "But Ulf has taken three danegelds in England. The first one was with Skagul Toste, the second one with Thorkel the High and the third one with Canute the Great".

Arts

Shakespeare

William Shakespeare made reference to Danish tribute in ''Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', Act 3, scene 1 (King Claudius is talking of Prince Hamlet's insanity):
:''...he shall with speed to England,''
:''For the demand of our neglected tribute''

Kipling

Danegeld is the subject of a poem by Rudyard Kipling. It ends in the following words:

See also

★ Danelaw

★ Dazdie

★ Jizya tax

★ Leibzoll tax

★ Protection money

★ Tallage

★ Heregeld

References

★ Kipling's poem Dane-Geld A.D. 980–1016

★ ''Hamlet'', Act 3, scene 1

Footnotes

1. ''Runriket Täby-Vallentuna – en handledning'', by Rune Edberg.
2. Mr. Andrew Robathan (Blaby) (Con) House of Commons Hansard Debates for 23 Nov 2005 Column 1610
3. Mr Brady House of Commons Hansard Debates for 25 Jan 2000 (pt 30) Column 233: "There are many examples of appeasement in history, whether it be the danegeld or more recently, and we know that appeasement does not work."
4. Tony Parsons ''We'll all pay for ransom in the Daily Mirror 4 October 2004