The Danes settled there had from the beginning several chiefs with the title of king, who were for the most part independent of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and reigned by means of their jarls and the chiefs to whom they had portioned out the conquered land. These numerous small kingdoms were afterwards subdued by the Anglo-Saxons, and converted into Earldoms. A peculiar sort of Danish chiefs or Udallers (“_holdas_,” from the old Norsk _hölldr_), is mentioned in East Anglia, who, like the Norwegian “Höldar,” or “Odelsmænd,” held their properties by a perfectly free tenure. It is probable that the original Udallers were the chief leaders, or generals, of the Danish conquerors settled in East Anglia. From the fines fixed for the murder of such “holdas,” it is plain that they held a very high rank. The old Scandinavian name for a peasant, “_Bonda_,” was also disseminated in the north of England. There, as in Scandinavia, the peasants undoubtedly constituted the pith of the landed proprietary. The names of places in the north of England beginning or ending with _garth_ (or _Gaard_), such as Watgarth (_Vadegaard_, on the river Tees), Grassgarth, Hall Garth, Garthorpe, Garthwaite, and others, show that the peasants, as in Scandinavia, were settled in _Gaarde_, or farms, which belonged indeed to the before-mentioned “_holdas_” (“_Odelsmænd_”), or other feudal lords; but which nevertheless seem, in some degree, to have been the property of the peasants, on condition of their paying certain rents to their feudal lords, and binding themselves to contribute to the defence of the country. Other landed proprietors, or agriculturists, with pure Scandinavian names, appear in Cheshire under the appellation of “_drenghs_” or _Drenge_.