The Perils Leading to and the Effects of the Danelaw

     Around 790 A.D. the Viking invasion of the Anglo-Saxon world was brutal and gruesome, in that they attempted to take over established villages, in the typical pillaging fashion of the time. There are surviving works such as the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", which describe in great detail the misfortunes of the mainlanders who fell victim to the Vikings: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/conquest/after_viking/legacy_vikings_01.shtml

     Diplomacy won out when Alfred the Great signed a truce with the Viking King, Guthrum, after Guthrum was baptised, which enacted the Danelaw, in 878 A.D. This new law designated Viking land and Anglo-Saxon land, such that pillaging was no longer a necessity for the Vikings. This map shows the boundaries that they created:

    The Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings then lived in harmony as neighbors, and intermarried, therefore, sharing cultural and agricultural practices, which led to the adoption of some Scandinavian words into English. Evidence of this melding of cultures can be seen even today through names of places in this area that are Scandinavian such as Grimsby and Thurnby, and through these place names, historians have found that there is more Scandinavian influence in the North than in the South. The closeness of the two culture's languages and the appearance of Scandinavian names for places in the Anglo-Saxon world show that the societies were close despite their bitter beginnings, and therefore, the Danelaw can be considered successful in this way.
     One interesting myth surrounding this fusion of languages is that an Anglo-Saxon could have understood a Viking because both English and Scandinavian are part of the same Germanic family, however, this is not true. Still, the languages were so similar that even today it is hard for historians to identify some of the Scandinavian elements adopted into English.