# Heptarchy

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{{short description|Seven kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England}}
{{hatnote|See [History of Anglo-Saxon England](/source/History_of_Anglo-Saxon_England) for a historical discussion.}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2026}}
[[Image:Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy.jpg|488x488px|thumb|The penultimate set of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms was fivefold. The map annotates the names of the peoples of [Essex](/source/Kingdom_of_Essex) and [Sussex](/source/Kingdom_of_Sussex) taken into the [Kingdom of Wessex](/source/Kingdom_of_Wessex), which later took in the [Kingdom of Kent](/source/Kingdom_of_Kent) and became the senior dynasty, and the outlier kingdoms. From Bartholomew's ''A literary & historical atlas of Europe'' (1914)]]

The '''Heptarchy''' was the division of [Anglo-Saxon England](/source/Anglo-Saxon_England) between the sixth and eighth centuries into [petty kingdom](/source/petty_kingdom)s, conventionally the seven kingdoms of [East Anglia](/source/Kingdom_of_the_East_Angles), [Essex](/source/Kingdom_of_Essex), [Kent](/source/Kingdom_of_Kent), [Mercia](/source/Mercia), [Northumbria](/source/Northumbria), [Sussex](/source/Kingdom_of_Sussex), and [Wessex](/source/Wessex). The term originated with the twelfth-century historian [Henry of Huntingdon](/source/Henry_of_Huntingdon) and has been widely used ever since, but it has been questioned by historians as the number of kingdoms fluctuated, and there was never a time when the territory of the Anglo-Saxons was divided into seven kingdoms each ruled by one king. The period of petty kingdoms came to an end in the eighth century, when England was divided into the four dominant kingdoms of [East Anglia](/source/Kingdom_of_East_Anglia), [Mercia](/source/Mercia), [Northumbria](/source/Northumbria), and [Wessex](/source/Wessex).<ref>{{cite book|last=Kirby |first=D. H. |pages=4–7, 19|authorlink= |title=The Earliest English Kings |publisher= Routledge|location =London, UK |year=2000|edition=Revised|isbn=978-0-415-24211-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last= Keynes |first=Simon  |title=Heptarchy |page=238|year=2014|editor1-first= Michael|editor1-last= Lapidge|editor2-first= John|editor2-last= Blair|editor3-first= Simon|editor3-last= Keynes |editor4-first= Donald|editor4-last= Scragg |encyclopedia=The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England|edition=2nd| publisher= Wiley Blackwell |location=Chichester, West Sussex |isbn=978-0-470-65632-7}}</ref>

==History==
514x514px|thumb|The main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms' names are written in red
Although ''heptarchy'' suggests the existence of seven kingdoms ('hepta' is Greek for 'seven'), the term is just used as a label of convenience and does not imply the existence of a clear-cut or stable group of seven kingdoms. The number of kingdoms and sub-kingdoms fluctuated rapidly during this period as competing kings contended for supremacy.<ref>Norman F. Cantor, ''The Civilization of the Middle Ages''1993:163f.<!--a more specific citation might be substituted--></ref> 

In the late 6th century, the [king of Kent](/source/kings_of_Kent) was a prominent lord in the south. In the 7th century, the rulers of [Northumbria](/source/Northumbria) and [Wessex](/source/Wessex) were powerful. In the 8th century, [Mercia](/source/Mercia) achieved hegemony over the other surviving kingdoms, particularly during the reign of [Offa the Great](/source/Offa_of_Mercia). 

Alongside the seven kingdoms, a number of other political divisions also existed, such as the kingdoms (or sub-kingdoms) of: [Bernicia](/source/Bernicia) and [Deira](/source/Deira_(kingdom)) within Northumbria; [Lindsey](/source/Kingdom_of_Lindsey) in present-day [Lincolnshire](/source/Lincolnshire); the [Hwicce](/source/Hwicce) in the southwest Midlands; the [Magonsæte](/source/Magonsaete) or Magonset, a sub-kingdom of Mercia in what is now [Herefordshire](/source/Herefordshire); the [Wihtwara](/source/Wihtwara), a Jutish kingdom on the [Isle of Wight](/source/Isle_of_Wight), originally as important as the [Cantwara](/source/Cantwara) of [Kent](/source/Kent); the [Middle Angles](/source/Middle_Angles), a group of tribes based around modern [Leicestershire](/source/Leicestershire), later conquered by the Mercians; the [Hæstingas](/source/H%C3%A6stingas) (around the town of [Hastings](/source/Hastings) in [Sussex](/source/Sussex)); and the [Gewisse](/source/Gewisse).

==List of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms==
{{see|Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies}}
The four main [kingdoms](/source/monarchy) in Anglo-Saxon [England](/source/England) were:

* [East Anglia](/source/Kingdom_of_East_Anglia)
* [Mercia](/source/Mercia)
* [Northumbria](/source/Northumbria), including sub-kingdoms [Bernicia](/source/Bernicia) and [Deira](/source/Deira)
* [Wessex](/source/Wessex)

The other main kingdoms, which were conquered and absorbed by others entirely at some point in their history, before the [unification of England](/source/unification_of_England), are:

* [Essex](/source/Kingdom_of_Essex)
* [Kent](/source/Kingdom_of_Kent)
* [Sussex](/source/Kingdom_of_Sussex)

Other minor kingdoms and territories:

* [Bernicia](/source/Bernicia) 
* [Deira](/source/Deira)
* [Haestingas](/source/Haestingas)
* [The Hwicce](/source/Hwicce)
* [Kingdom of the Iclingas](/source/Icel_of_Mercia), a precursor state to Mercia
* [Lindsey](/source/Kingdom_of_Lindsey)
* [Magonsæte](/source/Magons%C3%A6te)
* [The Meonwara](/source/Meonwara), a Jutish tribe in Hampshire
* [Middle Angles](/source/Middle_Angles)
* [Middle Saxons](/source/Middle_Saxons) ([Middlesex](/source/Middlesex), subsequently absorbed by the Kingdom of Essex)
* [Pecsæte](/source/Pecs%C3%A6te)
* [Surrey](/source/Surrey)
* [Tomsæte](/source/Toms%C3%A6te)
* [Wreocensæte](/source/Wreocens%C3%A6te)
* [Wihtwara](/source/Wihtwara)

== See also ==
{{Portal|Anglo-Saxon England}}
*[History of Anglo-Saxon England](/source/History_of_Anglo-Saxon_England)
*Related terms: [Bretwalda](/source/Bretwalda), [High King](/source/High_King) for hegemons among kings
*Compare: [Tetrarchy](/source/Tetrarchy)
*[Five Burghs](/source/Five_Burghs)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*''[Westermann](/source/Westermann_Verlag) Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte''
* Campbell, J. et al. ''The Anglo-Saxons'' (Penguin, 1991).
* Sawyer, Peter Hayes. ''From Roman Britain to Norman England'' (Routledge, 2002).
* Stenton, F. M. ''Anglo-Saxon England'' (3rd edition. Oxford U. P. 1971).

==External links==

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170915081950/http://britannia.com/history/h6f.html Monarchs of Britain], ''[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica)''
* [http://www.ogdoad.force9.co.uk/alfred/alfhidage.htm ogdoad.force9.co.uk]: The [Burghal Hidage](/source/Burghal_Hidage) – [Wessex](/source/Wessex)'s fortified burhs

{{heptarchy|No Collapse}}
{{Kingdom of England}}
{{Germanic monarchs}}
{{Germanic peoples}}
{{Early Germanic Kingdoms}}

Category:Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
Category:States and territories established in the 5th century
Category:States and territories disestablished in the 8th century
Category:Historiography of England
Category:Former subdivisions of England
Category:Barbarian kingdoms
Category:7 (number)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Heptarchy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heptarchy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heptarchy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.