Scandinavian settlers had established permanent communities across Scotland, Ireland, the north of England, East Anglia, and parts of the Midlands.

The Danelaw, the territory in which Danish customs and law applied, covered much of eastern England from the Thames northward.

Over generations, the Scandinavian settlers of England had become part of English society.

Their descendant communities had converted to Christianity, participated in English political structures, intermarried with the English population, and become part of the complex ethnic and cultural mix that made up eleventh-century England.

By the time of the Norman Conquest, the distinction between “English” and “Scandinavian” in much of northern and eastern England was blurred to the point of being, in practical daily terms, almost meaningless.