It has been before shown that, so early as the ninth century, Lincolnshire had had at least three Shire-greves (Sheriffs), or earls of the shire, of Danish or Scandinavian extraction; viz., Thurold, Norman, and Sivard. In the ninth century, indeed, as well as in the first part of the tenth, the Danish possessions in England were almost entirely independent of the Anglo-Saxon kings. It was at this period that the Danish-Norwegian kings in the districts north-east of Watlinga-Stræt minted, as independent sovereigns, the many coins before described. There could not, consequently, have then existed in the courts of the Anglo-Saxon monarchs so many Danish chiefs, or vassals, as when those monarchs subsequently began to acquire dominion over the previously more independent Danish kingdoms. Thus, among the regular followers of King Athelstane (925-941), who subdued the Danish kingdoms in England, we find, even before his successful expeditions into the North, not a few Danish-Norwegian chiefs, who signed diplomas in conjunction with him, and particularly during the years 929 to 931; namely, besides the Thane “Syeweard” (his minister), the Jarls Urm, Gudrum, Healden or Halfdene, Inhwær (Ingvard), Rengwald, Hadder, Haward, Scule, and Gunner. This may, perhaps, partly confirm the statement of the chronicles, that Athelstane availed himself of Danish warriors to suppress rebellion in his kingdom. It is expressly stated that, at the battle of Brunanborg (treated of at p. 34), there were Scandinavian warriors in his army; and, among the rest, two Iceland brothers, namely, Thorolf, who fell in the battle, and the bard, or scald, Egil Skallegrimsen, who stayed for some time with King Athelstane, by whom he was presented with rich gifts for his lays. It is by no means improbable that Egil entertained, with his songs, the Scandinavian chiefs then at King Athelstane’s court. Between the years 940 and 960, several of the above-named Jarls, as Gunner, Scule, Haldan, and Urm, together with Grim and the chiefs, or ministers, Thurkytel and Thurmod, continued to sign the Anglo-Saxon letters-patent, in conjunction with their countrymen or relatives, the Abbot Thurcytel, and Oscytel, Archbishop of York. At this time the Latin title “dux” varies alternately with the Scandinavian title of Jarl, which the Anglo-Saxons called “Eorl.”