British Heptarchy
Among the many priceless items found by archaeologists (armor, weapon, coins, intricate gold jewellery, silver drinking horns and trinkets, textiles, Byzantine treasures and fine clothing), there was also the famous Sutton Hoo helmet, dating from 600–650 CE, giving us more knowledge about the Anglo-Saxon period, which lasted 600 years, from 410 to 1066, i.e. until the Norman invasion.
The invasions of Germanic tribes into post-Roman Britain and the formation of the so-called "barbarian" Anglo-Saxon kingdoms on its territory were the subject of research by European historians as early as the 1555th century. In XNUMX, the Italian cleric and historian Polydore Vergil* published the book "History England", in which he addresses the issue of the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britain.
Settlements of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in Britain around 600 AD.
The most important theme of Anglo-Saxon history in England is the process by which many different Germanic peoples invaded Britain in the early sixth century, after centuries of hostility among the seven fragmented kingdoms (Heptarchy), formed their own centralized kingdom, which, five centuries later, the Normans inherited from their English predecessors whom they had conquered.
Left: Map of Britain 43-425 AD. Right: Map of early independent Britain 400-425 AD.
The aforementioned word “Heptarchy” is used by scholars to denote the historical period between the foundation of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England at the end of the fifth century, when the Roman legions withdrew from the British Isles (in 410), and the destruction of most of them by the Danes, ending with the establishment of the so-called “Danelaw” (Danelaw*) in the second half of the ninth century. However, today the term “Heptarchy” remains as a convenient reference to England and its changing political situation in the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries. This was a time of political and cultural evolution in England, with the emergence of the first powerful kings, the conversion to Christianity and the establishment of trade links.
Map of England in the late 878th century, showing the extent of the Danelaw. Based on Earl W. Dow's Atlas of European History. (England and Wales at the time of the Treaty of Chippenham, 1910 CE). XNUMX.
The origins of the Heptarchy can be traced back to the arrival of Germanic tribes in Britain. In the early 5th century, following the withdrawal of the Roman legions from the island, waves of Germanic settlers, including Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians, crossed the North Sea in search of new opportunities in the British Isles. These migrants came from various regions of what is now Denmark, northern Germany and the Netherlands.
Anglo-Saxon migrations and settlements in England
The reasons for these migrations varied. Pressures in their homelands, such as overpopulation, resource scarcity, and conflict, likely contributed to their decision to seek new lands. In addition, the weakening of the Roman administration in Britain, coupled with the desire for wealth and land, provided the Germanic tribes with an opportunity to settle on the island. Upon arrival in Britain, the Anglo-Saxons encountered remnants of the Romanized Britons who retained elements of Roman culture, language, and institutions, and interactions between the Anglo-Saxon arrivals and the Romano-British inhabitants ranged from peaceful coexistence to conflict and partial assimilation.
Note. It should be noted here that a significant part of the island's population completely retained its Celtic origin, since the Romanization of the Roman administration was of a very superficial nature and in its "acculturation" affected mainly the cities, which was immediately obvious after the departure of the Roman legions. But even after the departure of the Roman legions from Britain, the Roman order on the island was preserved for some time, and the consciousness of belonging to the Roman Empire did not completely disappear from the minds of the local Celts, and even a hundred years after the departure of the Romans, Roman names were often encountered here, and a number of Latin words firmly entered the Celtic language. In addition, the so-called The Celtic Revival, caused by the complete isolation of Britain from Rome and the Celtic surroundings - Ireland, Cornwall, Wales and Scotland (within modern borders) - completely untouched by Roman culture, and from the middle of the 5th century - the invasion of Germanic tribes from the mainland...
West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village. A reconstructed village of eight buildings, an archaeological site and open-air museum of an Anglo-Saxon village, located near West Stow in Suffolk, eastern England. Interest in the site arose in 1849 when an Anglo-Saxon cemetery was discovered nearby. After excavations were completed, it was decided to reconstruct the village.
After the Roman legions left the island, Britain began to be attacked by Germanic tribes from the European mainland, and the tribal leaders of the Britons turned to the Roman Emperor Honorius for help, but in his reply he only advised them to take care of their own security on their own. Thus, in the first half of the 5th century, Britain found itself defenseless against the invasions of the Picts and Scots, a tribal union of Celtic-speaking peoples who lived in the northeast of modern Scotland.
The settlement of Celtic tribes in northern Britain by the beginning of the 6th century
According to English legends, the migration to Britain was preceded by the arrival in 449 of a small detachment, presumably Jutes, led by the brothers Hengist and Horsa, on three ships that landed on the shores of the Thanet Peninsula (modern Kent County). The leader of the Britons, Vortigern, concluded an agreement with them, according to which Hengist's squad was obliged to fight the Picts and Scots, and the Britons, in turn, promised to supply them with food. In return, the German mercenaries would receive some territory and resources. Of course, this plan ultimately backfired - the Anglo-Saxons were unhappy with their part of the deal and eventually they turned against the Britons and began to conquer more territory, which ultimately led to the creation of England.
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms around 800 AD
This period is also sometimes called and Dark Ages. But be that as it may, it was during this period that the foundations of a single English nation were formed, and for most people this era is closely intertwined with the legendary names of the then tribal leaders Horsa and Hengest, King Arthur and his adviser and mentor Merlin, the first Anglo-Saxon kings Alfred the Great and Offa of Jutland, stories about which by the New Age had become overgrown with real legends.
Note. Vortigern is one of the most important and pivotal figures in the early decades of post-Roman British history. Having ruled over both native and Romanised parts of south-eastern Britain in the first half of the 500th century, he is one of the best-documented figures in the British Isles in the post-Roman period. According to available sources, a man named Vortigern became a powerful ruler of the island's Celtic population shortly after the departure of the Roman legions. In surviving medieval accounts, he is portrayed as a foolish and wicked king. For example, the medieval monk and historian of the Britons Gildas (c. 570 – c. 770) calls Vortigern a "proud and unfortunate tyrant" in his 829th-century work De excidio et conquestu ("On the Ruin of Britain") and attributes to him the blame for the subsequent Saxon invasion. Other chroniclers, such as Bede the Venerable and the Welsh chronographer Nennius (c. XNUMX – after XNUMX) in his Historia brittonum, also portray him as weak-willed, stupid, and easily manipulated, an outright villain.
And these early historical accounts consistently portray Vortigern as a ruler who put personal pleasure and comfort above the well-being of his people. According to the same source, the Historia Brittonum, Vortigern even married the daughter of a leading Saxon chieftain named Rowena in an attempt to appease the Saxons. Vortigern is responsible not only for his own behavior, but also for the policies that contributed to what many historians have seen as the Anglo-Saxon invasion.
The Treaty of Hengist and Horsa with Vortigen, Illustration from J. Cassell's Illustrated History of England
Subsequently, the number of Hengist's army began to grow rapidly, and difficulties arose in supplying them with food, and for this reason a quarrel arose between the allies, and in 455 Hengist and Horsa already began to fight against the Britons.
Arrival of the first ancestors of the English from Germany to Britain - the brothers Hentist and Horsa
And so, for almost a century and a half (from the middle of the 5th to the end of the 6th century), following the military squads from Jutland, and experiencing strong pressure from the Danes (a tribe from Southern Scandinavia), tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes began to migrate to the island, who eventually, having broken the resistance of the Britons living there, formed the core of the earliest English kingdoms. However, how far these early kingdoms extended into the interior of the country remains an open question.
Chronicles of the Venerable Bede
Bede the Venerable (672–735). A monk of the Order of Saint Benedict from the kingdom of Northumbria and the author of the book “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People.” Bede translated the Creed and the main prayers into his native Anglo-Saxon language, and just before his death, he began translating the Gospel of John. Almost 160 of his manuscripts have survived to this day, which in itself speaks to his enormous popularity at that distant time. Source: New York Public Library.
The principal chronicler of this period was the 672th-century monk, Anglo-Saxon scholar and historian Bede the Venerable (735–XNUMX), one of the first Anglo-Saxon historians who made a significant contribution to the intellectual and cultural development of the Heptarchy, and without whose writings we would know little of the events that took place during this era. Archaeological finds and ancient place names are sufficient to suggest that in its main features his “Ecclesiastical History of the English People" is generally correct and gives valuable information about the early history of England and the conversion of the population to Christianity. Bede the Venerable names seven kings who successively ruled all the southern provinces of the English people as far as the Humber*.
The St. Petersburg Bede is an early surviving manuscript of the 8th-century history of the Venerable Bede, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. It was so named because it was moved to the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg during the French Revolution. It is housed in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg
As a result of the creeping Anglo-Saxon conquests, the whole of Britain was broken up into a large number of tiny local barbarian kingdoms, each with its own king, some of whom were in fact no more than tribal chieftains. The situation was chaotic. Eventually, through wars and intrigues, the seven main kingdoms developed from the existing smaller entities with their tribal chieftains – the heroes of this article...
This article is about the period in English history that lasted from the mid-5th century to the 9th century and was characterized by the existence of seven independent kingdoms in England. The word "Heptarchy" means "rule of seven" in Greek and refers to the seven barbarian kingdoms that were created during this period. These seven kingdoms were Northumbria (Northumbrian), Murcia (Mercia), East Anglia (East AngliaEdit), Essex (Essex), Kent (Kent), Sussex (Sussex) and Wessex (Wessex), which existed between the sixth and ninth centuries...
Note. While the seven kingdoms of the Heptarchy fought against each other, on the mainland Charlemagne united most of Europe under one rule...
Northumbria
Flag of the Kingdom of Northumbria. The flag of Northumberland is used to represent Northumberland as a whole and sometimes to informally represent the historic county. It is based on the medieval coat of arms attributed to the former Kingdom of Bernicia based on a brief description by the historian Bede in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, where he describes the tomb of Saint King Oswald, who died in the 7th century - "...they hung over his monument his banner of gold and purple"
The Kingdom of Northumbria (604–954) was one of the seven barbarian kingdoms that arose in the north of modern England. It bordered Mercia to the south, various Welsh kingdoms to the west, and the territory of the Picts to the north. The eastern part of the kingdom had access to the sea.
The Kingdom of Northumbria on a map of Britain. North of Deira, the area was known as Bernicia. The borders of these kingdoms were fluid - control of the lands of Bernicia and Deira passed from one kingdom to another over time, and eventually all these lands came to be recognised as one large kingdom, which adopted the Old English name Northumbria, meaning "the people or province north of the River Humber".
The most important date in this dark period of the fledgling Northumbria was 547 AD. In that year, the ancient British coastal fortress of Din Guairoi (Bamburgh) on the north-east coast was captured by an English chieftain named Ida. The English capture of this important British stronghold was a major event in English political and military control of the North, and is often considered the first true date in the history of the kingdom that later became known as Northumbria. The kingdom that later became known as Northumbria was made up of two small, separate English kingdoms that emerged from the English conquest of British areas: Deira, in the centre and east of modern Yorkshire, centred on York, and Bernicia, from the River Tees (Tees — a river in the north of England) to Edinburgh — concentrated in Bamburgh (Bamburgh).
Ida had conquered vast territories in the north-east by 550 AD and became by far the most powerful chieftain in the northern part of the English lands (later England), and Din Guyaroy (Din Guyaroi), or later Bamburgh, became the capital of his kingdom.
Bamburgh Castle. The castle stands on a volcanic outcrop, on a former Roman site, on the North Sea coast, and was the residence of the kings of Northumbria from the 993th to the XNUMXth century. During one of the Viking attacks (XNUMX), the castle was partially destroyed, and a new one was built by the Normans in the XNUMXth century after the invasion. Photo: Charles Taylor
Around this time, the southern part of what would become Northumbria was taken over by an Anglian chieftain named Aelle, who may be considered the first king of Deira, and the rivalry between Deira and Bernicia would become a long-standing feature of Anglo-Saxon history in northern Britain. The two kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia often fought against each other until they were united under the more powerful king of Deira, Aethelfrith (593/604–616) into a single kingdom. Even when divided into small kingdoms, the people living in the territories of Deira and Bernicia were called Northumbrians (meaning “those north of the Humber").
Left photo: Bamburgh Castle, captured from the Britons and made the capital of Bernicia. Right photo: Lindisfarne Island (Lindisfarne), located in close proximity to the Bernese capital of Bamburgh, appears to have been an important site in the early battles between the Britons and the Angles in the north. Little is known about this period, but it was on this island in 590 that Urien of Rheged, the organiser of the British struggle against the Anglo-Saxon invaders and the prototype for one of the characters in Arthurian legend, met his death fighting the Anglo-Saxons. Photographer: David Simpson (David Simpson)
The unification of the two previously existing kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira into a single kingdom gave Northumbria considerable political weight, and, having entered into an alliance with the Celtic kingdom of Strathclyde, Northumbria began to fight against the neighboring princes of the Britons, who had not yet been completely conquered.
Note. The Brythonic kingdom of Strathclyde was located in the lowlands of modern-day Scotland during the traditional Arthurian period and was originally occupied by a tribe known as the Damnonii, whose existence was recorded by the Romans who came to the island. The Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus (250–306) made a treaty with the Damnonii to stop their attacks on Roman Britain, and subsequent Damnonii leaders have Latinised names, suggesting some acceptance of Romanisation following the treaty. Strathclyde faced many challenges and conflicts during its existence, contending with Viking incursions from the west and Northumbrian influence from the south. Over time, the kingdom of Strathclyde became increasingly integrated into the Kingdom of Scotland. And this integration was not sudden, but a gradual process, leading to the fact that by the XNUMXth century Strathclyde effectively ceased to exist as a separate kingdom and was incorporated into the expanding Kingdom of Scotland.
Kingdom of Strathclyde on the map of Britain
During the reign of King Ethelfrith, grandson of the legendary chieftain Ida, Northumbria expanded greatly by annexing lands from neighboring Celtic tribes. Ethelfrith's power was now undisputed, and the Celts were forced to accept his rule.
Note: Aethelfrith of Northumbria (616th century – 593) was King of Bernicia from 604, and after annexing the Kingdom of Deira in XNUMX, according to the Historia Britonum (The History of the Britons), had already become king of what would later be called Northumbria. Thus, Aethelfrith can be considered, from a historical point of view, the first king of Northumbria.
Bede the Venerable described him as "a very brave and most greedy king… No prince or king brought more lands into subjection to the English race, or peopled them by subduing or exterminating the natives. He devastated the Britons more than all the great men of the English, so much so that he might be compared to the Hebrew Saul, for he conquered more lands from the Britons, either by making them tributaries, or by driving out the inhabitants entirely, and setting up Englishmen in their place, than any other king or tribune."
And the 20th century historian Frank Stanton wrote that “The continuous history of Northumbria and, of course, England begins with the reign of Aethelfrith", So what "he was the real founder of the historic Northumbrian kingdom, and was remembered as the first great leader to appear among the northern Angles».
The military successes of King Æthelfrith allowed this new united kingdom to dominate almost all of Britain, and by the early 7th century the power of the Northumbrian kings was undisputed. This we can judge from the records of the Venerable Bede, who noted that:
"King Edwin, riding throughout the country, ordered the royal standard to be carried before him, emphasizing his power and strength."
In the first half of the 7th century, Christianity began to penetrate into Northumbria from neighbouring Ireland via monks, bringing with it the Latin language, Latin book culture and the Latin alphabet. All this also contributed to the rise of Northumbria among the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. And this was the beginning of the time when Northumbria was at the very height of its development. This period, sometimes called in historiography the "Golden Age of Northumbria", was a major contribution of this kingdom to Anglo-Saxon history and religious culture, with a flowering of artistic and intellectual achievements, including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the works of the Venerable Bede.
The Lindisfarne Gospels (Lindisfarne Gospels). An illustrated manuscript book containing the texts of the gospels (four Gospels in Latin) of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The book was made at Lindisfarne in Northumbria sometime in the late 7th or early 8th century. It contains many miniatures in the Celtic-Anglo-Saxon style. The Lindisfarne Gospels are thought to be the work of a monk who later became Bishop of Lindisfarne named Eadfrith.
But Northumbria's political and military successes did not last long. By the thirties of the 6th century, military rivalry began with another barbarian kingdom - neighboring Mercia, which had grown considerably stronger by that time. Mercia entered into a military alliance with the Celtic kingdom of Gwynedd and began military operations against Northumbria.
Note. The Kingdom of Gwynedd, with its capital at Aberffraw, was strong, with its rich farmland of Anglesey protected by the Snowdonia mountains. At several points in history it was the dominant power in Wales, with its rulers dominating the entire country and even calling themselves Princes of Wales. But this hegemony was short-lived, as Celtic society did not recognise primogeniture, and the reluctance of rulers to accept any hierarchy among themselves prevented the effective consolidation of previous conquests. To the increasingly swaying struggle of brothers and neighbours, external forces were added - the Viking raids of the 9th-10th centuries, which caused great damage to the rich church funds, and their appearance is recorded in the names of the islands and headlands of western Wales. Finally, the arrival of the Normans at the end of the 11th century put an end to the history of the Kingdom of Gwynedd...
The Celtic Kingdom of Gwynedd on the Map of Britain
As a result, in 633, the armies of Mercia and Northumbria met on the battlefield of Havenfelt, during which Northumbria suffered a crushing defeat. In this battle, King Edwin himself (the heir of Ethelfrith) died, and Northumbria again split into two kingdoms - Deira and Bernicia...
Murcia
Flag of Mercia. It is known that King Offa of Mercia founded the Abbey of St Alban in his kingdom on the site of his martyrdom, after which the medieval town of St Albans grew up around it, named after the saint. In his Romance of Heraldry, G. W. Scott-Giles writes "... the arms assigned by the mediaeval heralds to the kingdom of Mercia were apparently adopted by St Albans in consequence of the foundation there in 793 of a monastery in memory of St Alban by Offa, King of Mercia", which strongly suggests that the arms were primarily defined as those of the kingdom, the saint, and the city, by association. This assumption seems to be supported by the date of the first record of a gold saltire on a blue field.
Based around its capital Tamworth (Tamworth) in the valley of the River Trent (length 298 km), the kingdom of Mercia (c. 527-879 AD) lay between the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to the east and the Celtic kingdoms of modern Wales to the west. The name "Mercia" means "Border Kingdom (Mark)". This kingdom expanded rapidly during the 6th and 7th centuries to become one of the "Big Three" kingdoms of England, along with Northumbria and Wessex.
The Kingdom of Mercia on a map of Britain. The border of the Kingdom of Mercia is shown in black, and the largest area of the kingdom at its greatest height is shown in green.
The kingdom was founded by the legendary King Issel (460-535), son of Eomir (of Beowulf fame), the last king of the Angles in northern Germany. Issel is famous for leading his people, the Iclings (a Germanic tribe, a branch of the Angles), across the North Sea to Britain around 515 during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of the island and defeating the local Britons into submission.
He then made his way through East Anglia to Mercia, and as the 13th century manuscript known as the Flores Historiarum reports:
"The pagans came from Germany and occupied East Anglia, that is, the country of the East Angles, and some of them invaded Mercia and waged war against the English."
It is reported that after his death around 535, Isel (ice) owned large areas of both East Anglia and Mercia, and can therefore be considered the first true king of Mercia.
After the victory over Northumbria, from the middle of the 7th century and throughout the 8th century, the dominant position in Britain passes to Mercia - another of the seven barbarian kingdoms of the so-called Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. The territorial possessions of Mercia begin to increase seriously thanks to the victorious wars of the Mercian rulers and the support of their policies by the then pagan Anglo-Saxon population, for whom the former pagan cult and old rites were more understandable and familiar than the new Christian religion being implanted in Britain.
The early original boundaries of this kingdom are unknown to researchers, but it is assumed that the territory called "Mercia" covered much of the modern counties of southern Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire and northern Warwickshire.
During the first century after the settlement of Mercia by the Anglo-Saxons, it made great efforts to maintain its borders and protect its interests from neighboring kingdoms, but the situation changed dramatically with the reign of King Penda (606-655), who began a period of prosperity for Mercia, which reached its peak under King Offa (757-796), who established hegemony over all the South Saxon kingdoms.
King Offa (757-796) Offa consolidated his position by marrying his daughters to the kings of Wessex and Northumbria, and was the first ruler to be called "King of the English". While consolidating his kingdom, he visited Rome in 792 and strengthened his ties with the papacy
Offa was heavily involved in the running of his kingdom, founding trading towns and minting the first gold coins in Britain, and even negotiating on equal terms with the Western Emperor Charlemagne. He is also credited with building Offa's Wall (Offa's Dyke) - a 240-kilometre-long earthwork which he built along the border with the Welsh kingdoms, thereby delineating the boundary between Celtic Wales and Mercia.
Coming to power at a time of great unrest caused by friction between Wales and Mercia in the border region, Offa was determined to pacify the rebellious Welsh and impose his authority on them. He built Offa's Wall (Offa's Dyke) is one of the impressive historic defensive earthworks. This surviving section of Offa's Wall shows a small section on the southern side of the Ceiriog Valley. Photo: Howard M. R. Williams
It is an interesting observation, but some of the documents that have come down to us use the title “Rex Anglorum" - King of the English, from which some researchers conclude that Offa was the first king in Britain to bear this title, which indirectly indicates a broad assertion of his power. Although historians have no consensus on this matter.
Coin of the Kingdom of Mercia. Although Mercia did not have silver ore reserves on its territory, minting of its own coins was always here. The main source of silver not only for Mercia, but also for other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms could only be Arab silver, which could get to Britain only in two ways - through the Mediterranean Sea and its port cities, or along the Volga route through the ancient Russian principalities and Scandinavia.
All things come to an end, and Mercia's power over the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms was broken by the king of another barbarian West Saxon kingdom, Wessex, a certain Egbert (r. 802–839). And as Wessex's power grew, Mercia declined further, and was eventually weakened by repeated Viking raids.
Egbert (770–839), like many Saxon rulers, claimed a noble lineage that could be traced back to Cerdic himself, the founder of the House of Wessex, and was the first king to establish a stable and extensive rule over the whole of Anglo-Saxon England, and his claim to the throne of Wessex was perhaps supported by Charlemagne and the Pope. However, in the last years of his reign, the arrival of the Vikings on the island was about to turn England and its kingdoms upside down...
Mercia's independence was finally lost in 879, when King Ceolwulf II (r. 874–883) submitted completely to Viking sovereignty and became their puppet king. And the eastern part of Mercia became part of the Danelaw (danelaw). As " writesAnglo-Saxon Chronicle":
"The Danes gave Ceolwulf, the foolish king's thegn, the kingdom of Mercia to hold; and he swore to them, and gave hostages, that it would be ready for them any day they wanted it; and he would be ready, himself and all those who remained with him, in the service of the army."
East Anglia
The flag of East Anglia combines the cross of St George of England with a shield bearing the crest of three golden crowns on a blue background, attributed by medieval heralds to the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia and the Wuffing dynasty that ruled there. The crest is virtually identical to the coat of arms of Sweden, where the Wuffings are thought to have originated. It has therefore been suggested by historians that the choice of three golden crowns as the arms of the ancient kingdom was a deliberate reference to the Old Norse origins of the ruling dynasty in East Anglia, and that the crest may therefore have quite ancient origins.
The Kingdom of East Anglia was one of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, formed in the 575th century (XNUMX CE) by the legendary Anglian chieftain Wuff as a result of the settlement of Britain by the Angles, and consisting of the peoples of the Northern Angles (Norfolk) and the territory of the Southern Angles (Suffolk), with their adjacent communities. In modern usage, it is the territory that includes what is now the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Angles who arrived here first settled in the north of East Anglia, where the earliest evidence of their arrival has been found, dating from the XNUMXth century CE.
Map of the Kingdom of East Anglia. The distribution of northern and southern Angles is shown. Monasteries are marked with crosses.
Bede the Venerable writes in his writings that Wuff's descendants were known as "Wuffings" ("wolf-men" or "wolf-cubs") and that his royal palace was located at the mouth of the River Deben (a river in Suffolk), near Woodbridge.
Although East Anglia was a small English kingdom, it was still very powerful, especially during the reign of the Wuffingas dynasty. And Raedwald (599-628) of this dynasty was the first king of East Anglia, but little is known about him other than that he was baptized as a Christian, which had a huge impact on East Anglia. Historians have recorded that there are very few pagan settlement names in the region, suggesting that the kingdom was one of the first parts of England to adopt Christianity on a large scale. The famous ship burial at Sutton Hoo (a burial mound), in which Raedwald is believed to have been buried, and the treasure it contained, now in the British Museum, attest to the wealth of the East Anglian kings.
Excavation of the ship burial at Sutton Hoo (sutton hoo), 1939. The site in the English county of Suffolk was the site of some of the most significant archaeological finds in British history, including the intact burial ship of an Anglo-Saxon king, in 1938-1939. Photo: Barbara Wagstaff (Barbara Wagstaff).
Note. In 1939, Edith Pretty, a landowner in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, asked archaeologist Basil Brown to investigate the largest of several Anglo-Saxon burial mounds on her property. Brown began digging beneath the mounds and made the famous discovery of his life when he cleared the soil of Suffolk to uncover the richest intact early medieval grave in Europe. As Basil and his team of archaeologists dug deeper, they uncovered fine feasting vessels, sumptuous hanging bowls, silverware from as far away as Byzantium, sumptuous textiles, gold clothing accessories and an iconic helmet with a human mask. Also found was a large decorated purse containing 37 gold coins and two small ingots, each coin from a different mint in Francia, across the Channel, providing key evidence for the burial’s early seventh-century date. And this was clearly the grave of an important person – someone who needed to be remembered. Before this find, it was thought that post-Roman Britain had entered a ‘Dark Ages’, with civilisation in all aspects of life declining, but the finds at Sutton Hoo have proven otherwise.
The Sutton Hoo ship burial provides remarkable insights into early Anglo-Saxon England. It reveals a place of exquisite craftsmanship and vast international connections spanning Europe and beyond. It also shows that the world of great halls, glittering treasures and fearsome warriors described in Anglo-Saxon poetry was no myth at all.
The first king of East Anglia, Raedwald (599-628). A depiction of King Raedwald from John Speed's The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain, published in 1611/1612
East Anglia was a powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom, and Rædwald, the first of the East Anglia kings, was baptised as a Christian (possibly in 604, during the early years of his reign).
Note. Rædwald was the king of East Anglia, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom that included the modern English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. He was the son of Tytila of East Anglia and a member of the Wuffingas dynasty (named after his grandfather, Wuffa), who were the first kings of East Anglia. Details of Rædwald's reign are scant, primarily because the Viking invasions of the 9th century destroyed the monasteries in East Anglia where many documents were kept.
From around 616, Rædwald was the most powerful of the English kings south of the Humber estuary. According to Bede, he was the fourth ruler to hold imperium over the other southern Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: he is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, written centuries after his death, as bretwalda (an Old English term meaning "ruler of Britain" or "broad ruler"). He was the first king of the East Angles to convert to Christianity. Historians consider him the most likely occupant of the Sutton Hoo ship burial, although other theories have been put forward. In 1998, a smaller ship burial was also discovered near the original burial site at Sutton Hoo, believed to contain the body of his son Rægenhere, who was killed in battle in 616.
An exact replica of a helmet from the Sutton Hoo necropolis, the original of which may have belonged to Raedwald
So, in the 7th and 8th centuries the kingdom was ruled by kings from the Wuffing dynasty (Wuffings), but in the decades following Rædwald's death, East Anglia came increasingly to be dominated by the powerful kingdom of Mercia. Several of Rædwald's successors were killed in battle, such as Sigebert (killed c. 641), under whose reign Christianity became firmly established in East Anglia. In 794, the kingdom of East Anglia ceased to be an independent kingdom and was ceded to Mercia, although it briefly regained its independence under King Eadwald in 796.
Two sides of a hoard of forty-four Norfolk Wolf coins found in Norfolk
And in 869 the kingdom was conquered again, but by the Danes, and became part of the Danelaw. After that, the Vikings settled in East Anglia forever...
Essex
The fearsome flag of Essex - three white Saxon short swords with gold hilts on a red field - was the coat of arms attributed to the ancient kingdom of the East Saxons, or Essex, by the Catholic publicist Richard Verstegan, who in his 1605 work The Restoration of Decadent Intellect, printed in Antwerp, claimed that "Erkenwine, king of the East Saxons, bore for his arms three Saxon swords of silver on a red field."
The Kingdom of Essex was one of the many barbarian kingdoms into which Anglo-Saxon Britain was divided at that time, the land of the East Saxons, of whose origin and early history at the time of the Exodus historians have no information other than the unsubstantiated statement of the Venerable Bede, author of the book "Ecclesiastical History of the English People", that his settlers were of the ancient Saxon stock. He also does not mention this kingdom in his narrative until 604. Archaeological discoveries also suggest that many of the new settlers were continental Saxons.
The Kingdom of Essex grew by absorbing smaller petty barbarian kingdoms that had spontaneously formed after the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain, and by incorporating Saxon tribal groups that had lived on the island earlier. Essex's boundaries in later times were the rivers Stour (which flows into the North Sea) and Thames, but the original boundaries of the kingdom are quite vague and still...
The Kingdom of Essex on the map of Britain
This East Saxon region was settled around 500 to the north and east of London. It included the modern counties of Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex, including London. However, there was a Saxon population in the area from the late 571th century, descended from Roman foederati (mercenaries). Unusually for Anglo-Saxon dynasties, the kings of Essex traced their descent from the god Saxnet (son of the god Wodan), rather than Wodan (the supreme deity of the Anglo-Saxons, equivalent to the Norse Odin), through a king named Sledda (king of Essex 604-604), who was the father of Saebert (r. 616-XNUMX).
King Saebert of Essex (reigned 604–616). A depiction of King Saebert from John Speed's The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain, published in 1611/1612.
For most of the kingdom's existence, the King of Essex was subject to overlords - the kings of Kent, East Anglia or Mercia.
From 664 the kings of Essex were subject to the rulers of the middle kingdom of Mercia, and from 825, after the death of Sigered, the last king of Essex, Essex was under the control of another barbarian kingdom, Wessex, first as a sub-kingdom ruled by the sons of the kings of Wessex, and then, from 860, Essex came under the complete control of the kings of Wessex. By a treaty concluded between the king Alfred the Great and the Danish king Guthrum in 878, the latter acquired Essex, but it was reconquered by the dynasty of the kings of Wessex in the early XNUMXth century, and thereafter it was ruled by aldermen (alderman, headman) - royal officials.
It is believed that after the arrival of the Roman bishop (later saint) Mellitus in London in 604 during the reign of King Saebert, the population of Essex was converted to Christianity. But after the death of King Saebert in 616, Bishop Mellitus was expelled and the kingdom reverted to paganism. This may have been the result of resistance to Kentish influence in Essex affairs rather than a specifically anti-Christian stance.
The kingdom was reconverted to Christianity under King Sigebert II the Good (653-660) following the mission there of Saint Cedd (bishop of Northumbria), who founded monasteries at Tilaburg and Ethanchester.
The royal tomb at Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, was discovered and excavated by archaeologists in 2003. Among the finds were gold foil crosses, suggesting that the tomb's occupant was Christian. The Anglo-Saxon burial at Prittlewell is thought to belong to a member of the ruling royal family of East Saxony, although there is little agreement on who is the most likely candidate. If the remains were a king, it was probably either Saeberht or Sigeberht (killed in 653). However, it is also possible that he was not a member of the royal family, but simply a wealthy and influential man whose identity remains unclear.
Note. In 2003, archaeologists from the London Archaeological Museum (SPRING) excavated a small plot of land in Prittlewell, Essex, and were astonished to find an intact Anglo-Saxon burial chamber. Artefacts, including an elaborate gold belt buckle made especially for the burial, show that this was the resting place of a man of princely descent. Crosses over his eyes indicate he was a Christian, a flask from Syria speaks of his worldly connections, cauldrons and drinking horns suggest he was accustomed to feasting, and a musical instrument gives an insight into the traditions and entertainment of this nobleman. Another sign of the luxury that came from the Continent are gold coins from the Merovingian dynasty. Some have compared this unique find to the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb…
Reconstruction of the Prittlewell tomb. More than a decade of painstaking research has allowed archaeologists to reconstruct the Prittlewell burial tomb in detail. Exactly who this early Christian nobleman was will remain a mystery. Due to the highly acidic soil, only a few fragments of tooth enamel remain of the skeleton. The style of clothing buckles and the presence of weapons in the tomb indicate a male, possibly a teenager. Based on the relative positions of tooth fragments, gold foil crosses worn over his eyes, a belt buckle at what may have been his waist, and garter buckles where his shoes once were, researchers estimate his height to be about five feet eight inches.
Despite the kingdom's relative obscurity, there were strong links between Essex and its neighbouring kingdom of Kent, across the River Thames, which led to the marriage of King Sledd of Essex to Ricula, the sister of King Ethelberht of Kent (c. 550–616), the first Kentish king to convert to Christianity (he was canonised after his death). During this period, the kings of Essex issued their own sketts (coins), perhaps as an expression of their independence.
Rare Anglo-Saxon coin.
From the early 7th century, London was the capital of the Kingdom of Essex, but as the kingdom expanded further south of the Thames, it came into conflict with Wessex for control of Surrey (Surrey, a county in southern England). The Kingdom of Mercia also sought control of London, wanting its trading links, and succeeded in separating it from Essex in the early 825th century. In 769, King Ecgberht of Wessex (771/839–XNUMX) defeated the Mercians at the Battle of Ellandan and took London, and around this time Essex also became a dependency of Wessex.
Sussex
The Sussex flag represents the whole of Sussex and is based on the traditional Sussex emblem - six gold martlets (stylized birds with short tufts of feathers instead of feet) on a blue field, representing the six servitudes of Sussex. It is now firmly believed that the county emblem originated and was derived from the arms of a 14th century knight of the Shire, Sir John de Radinden.
The Kingdom of Sussex was another of the Seven Barbarian Kingdoms in England, which existed from 477 to 860, with its capital at Chichester. The kingdom was founded in 477 by the Saxon tribal chieftain Aelle, who, after conquering the area and driving out the Britons, decided to stay because it had a marshy coastline, and was said to have reminded him so much of the Saxon homeland between Friesland, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. Unfortunately, the history of Sussex is poorly documented, and we know very little about it before 681, when King Aethelwald (c. 660–c. 685) converted to Christianity and became the first Christian king of Sussex.
A depiction of the South Saxon king Aethelwalh from John Speed's The Theatre of Empire in Great Britain, published in 1611/1612
The Saxons brought their pagan religion to the area, replacing the British Christianity introduced by the Romans. Sussex was long assumed to have been pagan until the Saxon kingdoms were converted to Christianity in the seventh century. Traditionally, Sussex was considered the last Anglo-Saxon kingdom to be converted to Christianity. Historical sources say that a certain Wilfrid, a bishop of Northumbria, was responsible for the Christianization of Sussex in 681. He is also said to have baptized the Sussex king Ethelwelah and built a cathedral at Selsey, where he had his seat.
The Kingdom of Sussex on the map of Britain
However, there is currently no archaeological evidence of the founding of Sussex. However, there is evidence of various Germanic settlements in the early 5th century, which some historians believe may even represent territory granted to the Saxons during the Roman legions' presence here.
Anglo-Saxon village in Sussex. Reconstruction. Source: Shutterstock
Note. The origins of Sussex are complex. In a paper published in Sussex Archaeological Collections, archaeologist Dr Michael Shapland challenges the version of Sussex’s formation story. He argues that the supposed Kingdom of Sussex was not one kingdom but at least three, roughly equivalent to modern-day East Sussex, West Sussex and Hastings. And that these kingdoms all had different origins – particularly West Sussex. This is supported by a serious gap in the archaeological record of Saxon settlement in the West Sussex area, unlike the eastern part of the River Arun, where Saxon settlements have been established for centuries. But the clincher for Professor Shapland was Æthelweal himself, the last king of Sussex, who was killed in battle by a West Saxon prince called Cædwalla in 685, whose name literally means ‘noble Briton’. "Why did this supposed Saxon king use such a British name? Perhaps it was because he was not a Saxon king at all," asks Michael Shapland. These complex strands of evidence suggest that the western part of Sussex appears to have survived as an independent British Christian kingdom for centuries after its neighbours succumbed to Germanic rule.
Portchester Castle (Portchester Castle) - a former Roman fortress Portus Adurni, located in today's Hampshire. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the castle was captured from the Britons by the newly arrived Saxons in 501 AD under the leadership of the tribal chieftain Aelle. The Saxons retained the nameFor your", but added "chester" at the end to denote the fortified place which gave it its present name - Portchester.
In 825, the kings of Sussex recognized the supreme authority of the King of Wessex Egbert (769/771-839) and were still considered kings (sub-kings), but already in the XNUMXth century, after Sussex had completely come under the control of the kings of Wessex, they began to be called aldermen, although they retained relative independence until the Norman conquest.
The boundaries of the medieval kingdom of Sussex roughly coincide in area with the modern counties of East Sussex and West Sussex.
Kent
One school of thought holds that the White Horse of Kent is derived from ancient white horses carved into chalk hills and stamped on the coins of a pre-Roman British king, dating back to the reign of King Dubnovellaunus of the Cantii, from whom Kent takes its name, from about 30 to 10 BC. A more widespread tradition links the emblem with the first Germanic invaders of Britain, the Jutish mercenaries from the Jutland peninsula led by the brothers Hengist and Horsa, where the horse was an important element in many rituals, and with their names derived from the words for horse, "Hengest" and "Horsa" ("stallion" and "horse"). Reflecting all these characteristics, these Jutish invaders are said to have carried a banner depicting a white horse. The story of Hengist and Horsa goes on to say that the latter was killed in battle with the British chieftain Vortigern at Aylesford, where a monument, the White Horse Stone, was erected in his honor.
The Kingdom of Kent was the earliest Anglo-Saxon kingdom, founded around 475 AD when the Germanic Jutish people settled on the southern coast of Britain after the Roman legions had left Britain. The Kingdom of Kent, named after the Cantii, a British tribe, was the most powerful in the earliest period of settlement in Britain.
Note. The Jutes were not the earliest Germans to arrive on the island. There is evidence of earlier Germanic settlements as early as the Romano-British period in the late 4th century...
The Kingdom of Kent on the map of Britain
The legend of the kingdom's foundation tells of two brothers, Hengest ("Stallion") and Horsa ("Horse"), who later acquired legendary status as the leaders of the first settlers of Germanic origin to arrive in England, and who were the ancestors of King Esking (Oiscingas/512th century - XNUMX). The brothers and their detachment landed at "Wippidsfleet" (Ebbsfleet) and successfully repelled the invaders, after which they received a plot of land in Kent from Vortigern. According to Bede the Venerable, in the eastern part of Kent there once stood a monument to Horsa, and the modern town of Horsted (Horstead), possibly named after him. Over the centuries, many different legends and stories have emerged about Hengist and Horsa, but there is also much conflicting information about them. They are often referred to collectively as the Anglo-Saxons, some sources consider them to be Jutes, while the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle calls them "Angles" and even gives the name of their father as Wihtgils (Wihtgils). There is even a possibility that Hengist is the source of a character mentioned in Beowulf (an Anglo-Saxon epic poem) who was associated with a tribe called the Eotan, which may have been the Jutes.
The brothers Hengest and Horse in Edward Parrott's A Presentation of British History (1909)
Note. What was Vortigen's motivation for inviting the Germans?
It has been suggested that Vortigern may have been counting on them to adhere to an ancient Celtic practice called celsine (clientelship), where the weaker party seeks the help of the stronger during crises, and the alliance ends once the crisis is over. This theory holds that Vortigern sought to place the Britons under the protection of the stronger Germanic newcomers. However, these newcomers did not at all respect the traditional end of the relationship when celsine after the threats from the Picts and Scots had been eliminated...
Arrival of Hengist and his brother Horst in Britain
Late sixth-century artefacts from Kent are more sophisticated than those from other English kingdoms, and the surviving material culture is closely linked to the Frankish Rhineland, while the kingdom's convenient geography ensured excellent trade links with the continent.
King Ethelberht of Kent (c. 552–616) married Bertha (c. 565–601), a Frankish Christian princess from Paris (granddaughter of the then reigning king Chlothar I). Bede the Venerable reports in his writings that King Ethelberht was one of the bretwaldas*, «expanded the borders of his possessions to the great Humber River*, which divides the southern and northern English peoples».
King Ethelbert of Kent (c. 552-616)
In 597 the Gregorian mission of Pope Gregory the Great arrived in Kent, and Bertha, the wife of King Ethelbert, being already a Christian, persuaded St. Augustine, sent by the Pope to convert England to Christianity, to establish his great mission in Kent, at Canterbury, in the very centre of the kingdom. Thus the people of Kent were among the first Anglo-Saxons to be converted to Christianity. And this was the first securely datable event in the kingdom. King Ethelbert, after the adoption of Christianity, granted the papal missionaries a residence in Canterbury, and thus this became the first and highest archiepiscopal see of the English Church (the Archbishop of Canterbury).
Illustration of St. Augustine preaching to King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha from the Chronicle of England. Artist: James William Edmund Doyle. 19th century
And what's most interesting for historians is that Ethelbert was able to write down his Law Code in Kent, and this document represents not only the first written Germanic law code, but also the earliest document in a vernacular language, as it was written in Old English, not Latin!
Ethelbert's Law. The first record of legal customs and laws written in Old English and probably dating from the early 90th century. The document consists of XNUMX articles, which contain provisions on peace, anti-invasion, murder, violence against women, marriage, inheritance and mutilation.
The kingdom was at its peak under Ethelbert and even retained its kings until the early 825th century (subkings). And yet, despite its close ties with Europe, the kingdom of Kent was very small compared to other kingdoms in England and lost more and more of its power throughout the XNUMXth century until it came under the rule of Mercia, a large kingdom in the center of Britain. And after the victory of King Egbert of Wessex over King Beornwulf of Mercia at the Battle of Ellendun in XNUMX AD, Kent came under the rule of Wessex, and the heirs to the throne of Wessex retained the title of "King of Kent" until the very end of the XNUMXth century...
Note. There is another opinion about the ethnicity of the inhabitants of Kent. It was the earliest of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, consisting of a mixture of Germanic Jutes and Angles together with local Britons and even some Saxons, where the Jutes were used as mercenaries by the Romans, and after their departure from the island - by the Britons. That is, the population of Kent came from an equal mixture of both races - Britons and Germans, since the invaders were never numerous enough to completely displace the main population of the Britons. And the name itself - Kent - is a distorted Germanic version of the original Romano-British Cantiaci / Cantii (and already post-Roman - Ceint) and means "people of Kent" (from the Celtic Cantii tribe living here).
Wessex
The flag of Wessex, a historic Saxon kingdom in southwest England, the only one to survive the Viking invasions of the 800s led by Alfred the Great. The flag consists of a golden dragon, often revered by ancient peoples, on a red field. Chroniclers writing in the 1077th and XNUMXth centuries describe this design as the ancient standard of the West Saxons, which even appears on the Bayeux Tapestry (c. XNUMX AD) next to the dying King Harold.
The Kingdom of Wessex was another barbarian political entity in the British Heptarchy, founded in 519 by the West Saxon chieftain Cerdic (r. 519–540) in the Upper Thames Valley. The Kingdom of Wessex was one of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, whose ruling dynasty eventually became kings of the entire country and later transformed the disparate tribes of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes into the modern English nation.
The Kingdom of Wessex on the map of Britain.
Wessex, as an independent kingdom, was formed by the merger of two Saxon territories, one of which was founded, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,*, Cerdic (467–534) and his son (or grandson, according to other sources), Cynric (died 560), who arrived from somewhere in Germany and landed in Hampshire (a county in the south of England) in 495 and subsequently became kings.
Founder of the Kingdom of Wessex Cerdic (467-534)
The early history of Wessex was marked by frequent wars with the neighbouring kingdom of Mercia, which continued until the reign of King Egbert (769/771–839), who, as a result of long wars, conquered Mercia and annexed their lands to his dominions.
King Egbert of Wessex
Wessex continued to prosper and expand under Egbert's successors and reached its peak under King Alfred the Great (849–899), whose reforms made Wessex the most powerful and effective kingdom in the British Heptarchy, and his son Edward the Elder (869/877–924) continued his father's policies and further expanded Wessex's power.
King Alfred the Great of Wessex went down in history not only as the scourge of the Normans who ravaged England in the 1901th century, but also as one of the wisest rulers in Europe. Sculptor Hamo Thornycroft. XNUMX Winchester
In 927, Edward's son, Æthelstan (895–939), conquered Northumbria, and England became a unified kingdom for the first time. England eventually became a unified nation with the coronation of King Edgar (943–975), the first king to be crowned King of England in 973, and whose coronation oath is the basis for the oath used today.
Wessex under Alfred the Great
After the expulsion of the Danes who had conquered England in 1016, Whip the Great (995-1035) on the basis of the Kingdom of Wessex, created a rich and powerful county of Wessex, but in 1066 Harold II Godwinson (the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, who died at the Battle of Hastings in 1066) again united the county with the English crown, and Wessex ceased to exist.
Harold Godwinson (1022-1066), or Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, the decisive battle of the Norman Conquest of England. Harold's death marked the end of the Anglo-Saxon era in Britain and the passing of the baton to the Normans, led by William the Conqueror
Information
*Polydore Virgil (1470-1555). An Italian priest, historian and encyclopedist who lived in England for a long time. He is known as the author of the book "History of England" (in Latin). In English historiography, he earned the name "Father of English History".
*Henry of Huntingdon (1084-1157). English historian, chronicler and archdeacon, author of The History of the English People. The book covers the period from the invasion of Britain by the Roman legions in 43 BC to the accession of King Henry II in 1154.
*Denlo (danelaw) - a territory in the north-eastern part of England, based on Scandinavian law and distinguished by its special
legal and social system inherited from the Norwegian and Danish Vikings. After the restoration of Anglo-Saxon power over the Danelaw at the beginning of the 10th century, Scandinavian law was retained and partly passed into common English practice.
*Beda the Venerable (672-735). A monk of the Order of Saint Benedict from the kingdom of Northumbria. Author of the book "The Ecclesiastical History of the English People"
*Humber (Humber) - a river widening towards the sea (121 km) on the east coast of England. It flows into the North Sea. In the Anglo-Saxon period, the Humber River was a natural border separating Northumbria from the southern kingdoms
*"Flores Historium" (Flores Historiarum). The title of two different (though related) Latin chronicles by medieval English historians, written in the 13th century and originally associated with St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire.
*Bretwalda. A term applied to certain kings of the Heptarchy who achieved dominion over some or all of the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The meaning of the word may derive from the Anglo-Saxon "bretanweald" (although this is disputed), and can be translated as "ruler of the ruler" or "ruler of Britain".
*Gregorian Mission. A Christian mission sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 596 to convert the inhabitants of Britain to Christianity. The mission was led by Augustine of Canterbury.
*"Anglo-Saxon Chronicle". The Annals of England, a chronological collection of short historical records in Old English, covering the history of the Anglo-Saxons from the early settlers in 495 to the accession of the Plantagenet dynasty in 1154. The writing of the annals began in the late ninth century under King Alfred, drawing on Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People and surviving fragments of chronicles and oral traditions.
Literature
1. Bede the Venerable "The Ecclesiastical History of the English People"
2. V. V. Shtokmar "History of England in the Middle Ages"
3. A. G. Glebov "Alfred the Great and England of His Time"
4. K. F. Savelo "Early feudal England"
5. S. V. Lysenko "History of the English Language"
6. John Richard Greene "The History of England and the English People"
7. David Wilson "The Anglo-Saxons: Conquerors of Celtic Britain"
Information