Following the defeat at Maldon and the death of Ealdorman Byrhtnoth, the English council advised paying tribute to the Danes for the first time. Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury and the western ealdormen negotiated a payment of 10,000 pounds of silver. This first major Danegeld of the Second Viking Age established the fatal precedent of buying off Viking armies. Critics especially associated with Byrhtnoth regarded the payment as shameful.
Danish fleet: c. 3,000–5,000. English treasury/negotiators.
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