Scandinavian-Britain

110 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINtoo loosely over a hostile country : they groupedthemselves round the great strongholds which formedthe bases of their organisation.These great strongholds were the Five Burgs or:Boroughs Lincoln, once a Roman colony at thejunction of the Fosse Way with Ermine Street Stam-^;ford, where Ermine Street crossed the Welland ;Leicester,where the Fosse Way crossed the Soar ; Derby,where Ryknield Street crossed the Derwent ;andNottingham, where another old route going north andsouth crossed the Trent. Of these, Derby was practicallya Danish creation as ; Northweorthig,it had beenonly a small Anglian village now it; grew to importanceas Deoraby. Lindsey and Leicester had beenbishops' sees that of Leicester was removed to Dor-;chester, and that of Lindsey disappearedfor overeighty years.Each of the five boroughs seems to have beenS under a jarl of its own, with its own military organisation.Internal affairs, in the case of Stamford andLincoln, were managed by twelve "lawmen," andprobably the same arrangement was followed in theother towns. When Chester grew to some importancethrough trade with Ireland, it also had its " lawmen,"and the Lagmen of the Islands are mentioned in thetenth century as leaders of invasion in Ireland the;chief justice of Orkney was called " lagman." The.title seems to have meant much the same as the" Law-speaker" of the Icelandic Althing, that is tosay, chief of a court, who knew the law and stated it ;the existence of twelve such men seem to imply twelve