Canute1000
The Nottinghamshire Connection
By Stuart Reddish
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| Canute's Seven Boroughs of the Danelaw 1013 -1016 |
Interestingly,
this account of events in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, leading to the
eventual Danish rule of England in the early 11th century,
has a particular significance. It provides a connection between
Canute and a possible tactical link to the Viking assembly site at
Thynghowe in the boundary forest of Sherwood in Nottinghamshire. This
link would have been vital in the strategic preparations for the
arrival of a Danish invasion fleet via the river Humber and the river
Trent and the subsequent consolidation of territorial gains. For king
Svein Forkbeard and his son Canute to ensure their military success
they would require the support of a large number of followers already
in England with sympathies for a Danish king. This support would come
from those very families of the early Viking warrior farmers of the
northern Danelaw and their support would make a lasting invasion
possible. It is evident that there was a consolidation of Northumbria
(York), Lindsey, Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln, Leicester and Stamford
which came 'into the charge of Canute' in 1013.
Again
the source of the existence of the Seven Boroughs is limited to one
document that is mentioned in the book by Sir Frank Stenton Anglo
Saxon England. In a footnote to
page 388 he refers to a short lived extended confederation of
the Danelaw's 'Five Boroughs' between the time of the Danish
invasions of 1013 and 1016. In the summer of 1015 Canute returned to
England with his fleet. During a great council held at Oxford earlier
in that year Eadric of Mercia had procured the murder of Siferth and
Morcar, sons of Angrim, the Chronicle describes them as the chief
thegns belonging to the 'Seven Boroughs”. The phrase does not occur
again and the exact meaning is uncertain but Stenton clearly felt
that it included the five Danish boroughs of Nottingham, Derby,
Lincoln, Leicester, and Stamford. The sixth borough was thought to be
Torksey (or the larger area of Lindsey of which Torksey was part) on
the river Trent. Torksey was strategically placed on the Nottingham
Lincoln boundary and had an influential growing population that
eventually totaled over 200 burgeeses. The seventh borough being York
as under Edward the Confessor many thegns belonging to Danish Mercia
also held land in Yorkshire.
This
would indicate the confederation of seven boroughs could have formed
prior to Svein Forkbeards arrival in 1013. The confederation
was then placed into the charge of Canute by his father and this
confederation was thus consolidated under Canute and was still in
place to support his return in 1015. This supporting confederation being part of
two planned preparations for Danish invasion.
The
known Viking Assembly site at Thynghowe would provide a central
geographic location within this confederation. Torksey, a former
Viking winter camp, is on the river Trent, as is Gainsborough Svein
Forkbeard's main camp, and is situated close to York, Nottingham,
Lincoln, Leicester, Derby and Stamford. By having a high
topographical border location, this would have made it a perfect
assembly site for the confederation of the Seven Boroughs. The
tradition of Viking legal assemblies was that their location was on a
convergence of boundaries and borders. This geographic position was
to strengthen the independence of the court and to ensure its freedom
from any one kingdom's 'ownership' or patronage. Thynghowe as an
established higher regional Thing site would have been an obvious
choice. In any event something happened at Thynghowe that was so
significant that the site was still recorded on maps hundreds of
years 1 .
1.
Community Archaeology at Thynghowe, Birklands, Sherwood Forest
Lynda Mallett, Stuart Reddish, John Baker, Stuart Brookes and Andy
Gaunt. Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire,
Volume 116; 2012
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©
Canute1000 Celebration 2016 |
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