son of Alfred the Great, in 917. Northamptonshire was conquered again in 940, this time by the Vikings of York, who devastated the area, only for the county to be retaken by the English in 942. Consequently, it is one of the few counties in England to have both Saxon and Danish town-names and settlements. The county was first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (1011), as Hamtunscire: the scire (shire) of Hamtun (the homestead). The "North" was added to distinguish Northampton from the other important Hamtun further south: Southampton – though the origins of the two names are in fact different. As a shire Northamptonshire was probably of Danish origin, representing in the 10th century the area which owed allegiance to Northampton as a political and administrative centre. In 921 this area extended to the River Welland, the present northern limit of the county. In the 11th century Northamptonshire was included in Tostig's northern earldom; but in 1065, together with Huntingdonshire, it was detached from Northumbria and bestowed on Waltheof. Norman conquest and later middle ages The only monastic foundation which survived the Conquest was Peterborough. At the time of the Domesday Survey the boundaries of Northamptonshire were approximately the same as the present day. Northamptonshire is first mentioned by name in the Historia Eliensis, in connection with events which occurred at the close of the 10th century. At the time of the Domesday survey the chief lay-tenant in Northamptonshire was Robert, earl of Mortain, whose fief escheated to the crown in 1106. The estates of William Peverel, founder of the Abbey of St James at Northampton, also escheated to the crown in the 12th century. Norman castles existed at Rockingham, Barnwell, Lilbourne, Northampton and Wellingborough. The Geld roll of the time of William I and the Domesday Survey of 1086 mention 28 hundreds in Northamptonshire, and part of Rutland is assessed under this county. By 1316 the divisions had undergone considerable changes, both in name and in extent, and had been reduced to their present number, 20, since which date they have remained practically unaltered. The names of the hundreds point to primitive meeting-places gradually superseded by villages and towns. For example, the court for Fawsley hundred met under a large beech tree in Fawsley Park until the beginning of the 18th century, when it was transferred to Everdon. The shire court originally met at Northampton. Northamptonshire was originally