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Scandinavian characteristics in the north of England,
we cannot but inquire—Is not the account of the
destruction of life overdrawn ? or, if not, whence did
the fresh population come? In 1378, for example,
nearly forty of the surnames on the roll of freemen of
York may be derived (according to Dr. Jón Stefánsson
in the article quoted above) from Norse nicknames.
At this present time the dialect, folklore
and physical characteristics of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
are strongly Scandinavian, almost, if not quite,
as much so as those of Cumberland, in which no
soldier of William the Conqueror ever set foot.
The depopulation was possibly as severe as Freeman
makes it, following Symeon of Durham, who had
full local knowledge, but perhaps a tradition of animosity
which has somewhat exaggerated the area of
devastation. Large tracts were entirely ravaged ;
other parts escaped. The mere fact that people
could sell themselves as slaves is enough to show that
there^were buyers, kind ladies like Geatflæd, who
took the homeless flock of Gospatric, Danish and
English, under her care, and set them free when
the storm was past. Many, of course, were not so
fortunate ; but many must have found a refuge in
Westmorland and North Lancashire among a kindred
and still independent population ; others certainly
fled north into Scotland.
In a paper for the Yorkshire Archæological Society
(Y. A. J., vol. xix., 1906) on the ethnology of West
Yorkshire, by Dr. Beddoe and Mr. J. H. Rowe, the
strong Scandinavian character of the people of
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