Viking Nobility in Anglo-Saxon England: The Expansion of Royal Authority Through the Use of Scandinavian Accommodation and Integration

• Main Author: Doughty, Lauren Marie
• Other Authors: Dietz, Maribel
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: LSU 2017
• Subjects: History
• Online Access: http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-03302017-123513/

This project seeks to understand the transformative period in Anglo-Saxon England between the ninth to eleventh centuries. During these centuries, Anglo-Saxon kings extended their royal power through the manipulation of Scandinavian ethnicity by using the mechanisms of accommodation, integration and appeasement as well as the incorporation of female royal power. Anglo-Saxon kings such as Alfred the Great, Æthelræd the Unræd, and Cnut were challenged by various hindrances from expressing their full royal authority, including the rise of an independent nobility, economic difficulties and invasions. Despite intrinsic limitations on their rule, kings such as Alfred, Æthelræd and Cnut sought to expand their royal authority through carefully crafted political, religious and economic accommodations with Scandinavians as well as the incorporation of female royal power. Through the legal manipulation of identity constructed in law codes such as the Alfred-Guthrum Treaty and the Wantage Code, Anglo-Saxon kings integrated Scandinavian elites into the political structure of England, thereby increasing their own royal authority.