File:Threefold division of England circa 1115.jpg

English: The threefold division of England circa 1115, as set out in the Leges Henrici Primi (the Laws of Henry I of England). "England has thirty-two shires besides Cumberland and Cornwall. In Cornwall are seven small shires. Scotland, Bretland and the Isle of Wight are excepted. These thirty-two shires are divided according to three laws, Wessexlaw, Danelaw, and Mercianlaw. The Wessexlaw has nine shires, Sussex, Surrey, Kent, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Somerset, Dorset, Devonshire. The Danelaw has fifteen shires, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincoln-shire, Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Buckinghamshire. The Mercianlaw has eight shires, Herefordshire Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire." This same division is found in the Laws of Cnut the Great in the early 11th Century.