Danegeld

Danegeld, in English history, a tax on cultivated land first imposed, in 991 A.D., by Ethelred the Unready, on the advice of Archbishop Sigeric, to buy off the Danish invaders. (Much Anglo-Saxon coin of about this date has been found in Denmark and Sweden.) It was abolished by Edward the Confessor, having been continued long after it had ceased to serve its purpose. William the Conqueror re-imposed it, and tripled the amount in 1084. Stephen promised to abolish it. Henry II. did so in 1163, though he taxed the land as much under other names. Richard I. virtually revived it as carucage. It was probably the first money tax paid in England.