Establishment and Rule
After harrying much of England, the Viking army under Ivarr the Boneless wintered at Repton in 874, where King Burgred of Mercia was unable to dislodge them and was then expelled. Ceolwulf II was installed as the Mercian king by the Vikings, who returned in 877 to partition Mercia. The west of the kingdom went to Coelwulf II, whilst in the east the Five Boroughs began as the fortified burhs of five Danish armies who settled the area and introduced their native law and customs (see Danelaw for more details).
Each of the Five Boroughs was ruled as a Danish Jarldom, controlling lands around a fortified burh, which served as the centre of political power. These rulers were probably initially subject to their overlords in the Viking Kingdom of Jorvik (or York) and operated their armies sometimes independently but often in alliance with rulers of their neighbours. In addition to the Five Boroughs there were also a number of very large Danish settlements to the south, including Northampton and Bedford which existed in a similar fashion.
Read more about this topic: Five Boroughs Of The Danelaw
Famous quotes containing the word rule:
“The earliest instinct of the child, and the ripest experience of age, unite in affirming simplicity to be the truest and profoundest part for man. Likewise this simplicity is so universal and all-containing as a rule for human life, that the subtlest bad man, and the purest good man, as well as the profoundest wise man, do all alike present it on that side which they socially turn to the inquisitive and unscrupulous world.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)