With the close of Dunstan's career, a period of decline set in. The
Northmen began to make fresh inroads (S53). The resistance to them
became feeble and faint-hearted. At last a royal tax, called
Danegeld, or Dane money (992), was levied on all landed property in
England in order to buy off the invaders. For a brief period this
cowardly concession answered its purpose. But a time came when the
Danes refused to be bribed to keep away.