The entry for the St Brice's Day massacre
(1002) in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle refers to the Danes or Danish people in
England. This suggests that the English peoples understood there to be a
difference, unless you think it only refers to visiting Danes, which is one
possible interpretation. A charter of Aethelred from two years later ordering
restitution to St Frideswide's minster in Oxford refers to a decree "to the
effect that all the Danes who had sprung up in this island, sprouting like weeds
amongst the wheat, were to be destroyed by a most just extermination". This
charter is the only real evidence of the massacre actually occurring, but the
terminology suggests that there were clear divisions of identity between the
English and the Danes living in England, so there may not have been an
Anglo-Danish identity per se, previous discussion on this forum
notwithstanding.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 4:56
PM
Subject: Re: [norse_course] Re: Did the
Norse ever refer specifically to the Anglo-Danes?
| True enough, though it likely depended on whether you
were an Anglo-Dane from Northumbria, East Anglia or Mercia prior to
1066. The latter folk were probably much more "blended" with their
Anglo-Saxon neighbors than someone north of the
Humber. |