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The Early Kingdoms: Kent, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex

The Early Kingdoms: Kent, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex

The period of Saxon history which ends with the coming to the throne of the West Saxon King Egbert (802), who united all Saxon England under his sway, is sometimes called the period of the Heptarchy, the Rule of the Seven Kingdoms. Seven kingdoms may, indeed, be counted - Northumbria, Wessex, Mercia, Kent, Sussex, Essex, and East Anglia - though even here the description is not satisfactory, for Northumbria itself was made up of two kingdoms, Bernicia and Deira. But the term Heptarchy implies seven kingdoms independent of each other, whereas, in fact, these kingdoms were very rarely quite independent. As we shall see, sometimes one, sometimes another, had a sort of overlordship over the rest. A king who had this overlordship was often called a Bretwalda. Yet, again, this title must not be pressed too far. The name Bretvvalda seems first to have been taken by Edwin of Northumbria to commemorate his victories over the Welsh. He wished to imitate the Roman rulers, and called himself by a name which translated the old title "Duke of the Britons" (This is not certain; some think it means "Broad-ruler"). Other kings took the name without as much reason as Edwin had, and later writers have applied it as a convenient name for the powerful monarchs whose overlordship was admitted by the other kingdoms. Yet when we read that Edwin of Northumbria was Bretwalda, we must not imagine that the other kingdoms were really subject to him, any more than when we speak of the Heptarchy we must think of them as being quite independent.

Just as the kingdom of Kent under Ethelbert was the first to accept Christianity, so it was the first to exercise an overlord-ship over the rest. Ethelbert's authority reached as far north as the Humber. He did not conquer the other kingdoms, at least there is no record of his warring against them, but they regarded him as their chief and fought under his banner. He was admitted to be the most important king in England.

The overlordship of Kent was, however, shortlived. It rose with Ethelbert, and fell at his death in 616. From that time the Kings of Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex in succession were regarded as overlords. It is tempting to wonder why the kingdoms of Anglia, Essex, and Sussex never rose to this position, seeing that the south-eastern part of the country was richer and more fertile than the rest, and had been in Roman days more populous. The answer is probably this. When the Welsh were driven into the west, only the Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex, who still had to hold their borders against them, remained good fighting men. The rest, being less disturbed by wars, settled down to the arts of peace. They may have grown richer, but they grew weaker. The battle was not in those days to the wealthy, but to the strong.

Chronology

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