Weallas, or Welshman, was one of the Old English words for slave---which showed where the Anglo-Saxons got their slaves. When, in 1086 A.D., the Normans commissioned their Domesday survey of the land they had conquered, it showed that there were significantly more slaves in the west of England than in the east, reflecting the closeness of Wales, and also the fact that Bristol was a slave port, trading with the Viking merchants based in Ireland. According to contemporary chronicles, eleventh-century Dublin operated the largets slave market in western Europe.
Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger, The Year 1000 (Abacus, 2000), p.46.
