Plausibility of a Norse Home Nation?

[TerranGames]

I was reading about the Norse invasions of Britain, and how many of them settled there, and how the Old Norse language influenced the dialects of Northern England, but as far as I can tell, they never settled in numbers great enough to permanently leave behind the Norse language after the Danelaw was reconquered, unlike with the Gaels' settlement of Scotland, or with the Anglo-Saxon migrations into Britain. Why didn't this happen? Why did the Anglo-Saxon and Gaelic settlements succeed, while the Norse ones didn't?

Would it be possible for another Home Nation to exist in the *United Kingdom, in Northern England (maybe centered around York?), speaking a Norse-descended language, in the same way say, Scotland, or Wales are separate constituent nations of the UK, through to the modern day? I'm not asking about Britain being conquered by the Norse, just the existence of one Home Nation.

Also, would it be possible for there to be a large minority of Norse Pagans living there through to the modern day? I know they won't be accepted, and there'll always be the temptation for some King to do some kind of "Northern Crusade," and they'll be persecuted, but would there be some kind of political situation, where they would be allowed to exist, maybe like the Christians in the Ottoman Empire?

(*I know that it's existence would massively butterfly all of British history. What would the ramifications be? Would it be possible for some UK-like entity to form eventually?)

Thanks

 

[AltHistFromTheBackrooms]

I was reading about the Norse invasions of Britain, and how many of them settled there, and how the Old Norse language influenced the dialects of Northern England, but as far as I can tell, they never settled in numbers great enough to permanently leave behind the Norse language after the Danelaw was reconquered, unlike with the Gaels' settlement of Scotland, or with the Anglo-Saxon migrations into Britain. Why didn't this happen? Why did the Anglo-Saxon and Gaelic settlements succeed, while the Norse ones didn't?

Would it be possible for another Home Nation to exist in the *United Kingdom, in Northern England (maybe centered around York?), speaking a Norse-descended language, in the same way say, Scotland, or Wales are separate constituent nations of the UK, through to the modern day? I'm not asking about Britain being conquered by the Norse, just the existence of one Home Nation.

Also, would it be possible for there to be a large minority of Norse Pagans living there through to the modern day? I know they won't be accepted, and there'll always be the temptation for some King to do some kind of "Northern Crusade," and they'll be persecuted, but would there be some kind of political situation, where they would be allowed to exist, maybe like the Christians in the Ottoman Empire?

(*I know that it's existence would massively butterfly all of British history. What would the ramifications be? Would it be possible for some UK-like entity to form eventually?)

Thanks

I don’t know about it being part of a “UK”, but I could see this happening if the Norse stayed there for much longer.

 

[Jürgen]

Danish and Anglo-Saxon were close enough that a koine language arose (pre-Norman English). As for in non English speaking areas, the Norn was spoken in part of Scotland to the 18th century, but it disappeared as Scots speakers moved into their areas and because Norn had much of the same basic vocabulary and grammatical structure they were assimilated as Scots speakers. As for the Norse-Gaels they adopted Gaelic because it was the common Lingua Franca of the Irish Sea and Western Scotland. I saw this program about a Gaelic speaking island in the Inner Hebrides where the island had almost only Norse place names and when the inhabitants were DNA tested, they had a vast majority of Norwegian ancestry.

 

[ramones1986]

I saw this program about a Gaelic speaking island in the Inner Hebrides where the island had almost only Norse place names and when the inhabitants were DNA tested, they had a vast majority of Norwegian ancestry.

Probably this one:

 

[Geekhis Khan]

Yes, just what I was thinking. The Kingdom of the Isles was very Norse-dominated at the turn of the 11th C and more isolated/defensible and I'd say that's your best bet for a surviving "Norse" UK State. They eventually (as typically happened with the Norse, making surviving Norse Ethnic States outside of Scandinavia and Iceland a challenge) assimilated into local Irish/Scottish culture. Names like MacGyver (Ivar's son), McAuliffe (Olaf's son), and McSween/McSweeney/McSwain (Sven's son) [1] reflect this heritage. Orkney and Shetland in the Northr/North still maintain a strong Nordo-Scottish identity distinct from the mainland. The Isles of Man, Skye, Jura, and Islay in the Sodor/South (yes, that's where Rev. Awdry got the name for Thomas' Island, which is based on I. of Man) were all heavily Norse a millennium ago, so I'd argue Vikings make the best Scotch (sorry, Highlanders!).

Kingdom of the Isles - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Perhaps if Sigurd the Stout avoids ill-fated attempts at the Irish crown and the region receives an influx of Danelaw refugees following some more over Saxonization by some English king and/or the Danish King exerts a protectorate-like arrangement so the region retains its more overtly Norse language and identity rather than just become "more Celtic than the Celts" like OTL.

[1] A former coworker of mine named McSween was very excited to learn of her Viking heritage.

 

[Geekhis Khan]

Shower Thoughts: Another wacky idea could be if the Great Heathen Army was less successful and were limited to Northumbria (Norseumbria?!?), a Kingdom that's clearly majority Norse and politically and economically isolated by the Saxon kings to the south, who see them as Heathens to be purged, limiting the assimilation/cultural admixture of OTL's Danelaw. They manage to survive thanks to support by the King of Denmark but are never strong enough to conquer their neighbors nor weak enough to be conquered by them. Eventually they fully convert to Christianity and end up tolerated by the Saxon Kings as a convenient buffer state with the Scots. They eventually evolve into a separate Semi-Saxonized Norse Kingdom with a unique hybrid dialect and the Kingdom of Northumbia eventually becomes a component part of the UK.

Not sure how either of these scenarios would affect the Union Jack.