Sounds like a set up for escalating extortion. Once upon a time there was this gang called the Danes. They ransacked east England periodically. Then the English

Sounds like a set up for escalating extortion. Once upon a time there was this gang called the Danes. They ransacked east England periodically. Then the English got an idea. Why not pay the Dane gold not to ransack. And so the Danegeld was born. Eventually England had a Danish King, Cnut, and shortly after was conquered by Danish cousins, the Normans.