Threefold division of England

Each territory comprised a number of shires. Wessex had nine shires, the Danelaw fifteen shires, and Mercia eight shires. Cornwall, Scotland, Strathclyde, Wales and the Isle of Wight were not included within these legal jurisdictions. Cornwall itself is separately mentioned in the laws as being divided into seven shires, these later became known as the hundreds of Cornwall. In the far North of England the shire structure was fairly new and the northern border with Scotland and Strathclyde was in a state of constant change during this period.

The Leges Henrici Primi (Laws of Henry I), dated to circa 1115, define the Threefold Division of England as follows: "England has thirty-two shires besides Cumberland (Strathclyde) and Cornwall. In Cornwall are seven small shires. Scotland, Bretland (Wales) 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."

• Christopher Cannon, The Grounds of English Literature, 2004
• Francis Palgrave, The Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, Anglo-Saxon Period, Volume 1, 1832
• Frank Merry Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 2001
• Bruce Mitchell, Fred C. Robinson, A Guide to Old English, 2011
• Hannis Taylor, The making of the constitution, 1889
• Ella S. Armitage, The Childhood of the English Nation; Or, The Beginnings of English History, 1877
• Susan Reynolds, Ideas and Solidarities of the Medieval Laity: England and Western Europe, 1995