Word of the Day

: September 13, 2008

danegeld

noun DAYN-gheld

What It Means

: often captitalized an annual tax believed to have been imposed originally to buy off Danish invaders in England or to maintain forces to oppose them but continued as a land tax

danegeld in Context

Today's lecture will be on the Danegeld and taxation in the Middle Ages.

Did You Know?

The subjects of King Ethelred II, who ruled England from 978-1016, didn't think much of the ruler the dubbed "the Unready." They suspected him of murdering his brother to gain the throne, so it isn't surprising that they didn't rally around him to defend the country against the Danish invaders who attempted to unseat him. Ethelred tried a payoff tax called the Danegeld as a last ditch effort to keep his kingdom intact. The "Dane" part of the name refers to the Danish invaders who received the money. The "geld" part comes from an Old English word meaning "payment" or "tribute."