The medieval payment made to buy off Viking raiders was called Danegeld.
The term literally means “Danish payment” or “payment to the Danes,” although the raiders involved were not always from Denmark. English rulers and communities raised large sums to persuade armies to stop attacking or to leave. The payments became especially prominent during the reign of Æthelred the Unready, when England paid increasingly large amounts in silver.
Danegeld was not a single standardized tax throughout the Viking Age. Some payments were negotiated by local communities, while others were imposed by kings. The best-known recorded English payment was made in 1018, when Cnut’s government raised a huge sum after his conquest. Danegeld is often confused with wergild, which was compensation paid for injury or killing under Germanic law rather than money paid to raiders.