The Collaborative International Dictionary
Danegelt
Danegeld \Dane"geld`\, Danegelt \Dane"gelt`\, n. [AS. danegeld.
See Dane, and Geld, n.] (Eng. Hist.)
An annual tax formerly laid on the English nation to buy off
the ravages of Danish invaders, or to maintain forces to
oppose them. It afterward became a permanent tax, raised by
an assessment, at first of one shilling, afterward of two
shillings, upon every hide of land throughout the realm.
--Wharton's Law Dict. Tomlins.
Usage examples of "danegelt".
The tax of danegelt, so generally odious to the nation, was remitted in this reign.
This was the origin of the tax known as Danegelt, which in after years became one of the chief financial resources of the Crown and continued almost uninterruptedly down to the reign of Henry II.