DANEGELT was first imposed as a standing yearly tax on the whole nation, under King Ethelred, A. D. 991. That prince, says Camden, Britan. 142. much distressed by the continued invasions of the Danes, to procure a peace, was compelled to charge his people with heavy taxes called Danegelt.—At the first he paid 10,000l. then 16,000l. then 24,000l. after that 36,000l. and lastly 48,000l.
Edward the Confessor remitted this tax: William I. and II. reassumed it occasionally. In the reign of Henry I. it was accounted among the king's standing revenues; but King Stephen, on his coronation day, abrogated it for ever.
No church or church-land paid a penny to the danegelt; because, as is set forth in an ancient Saxon law, the people of England placed more confidence in the prayers of the church than in any military defence they could make.