Kingdom of Essex

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Est Seaxna Kingdom of Essex 527 – 812 → Britain around AD 800 Capital Not specified Language(s) Anglo-Saxon Government monarchy History  - Established 527  - Disestablished 812

The Kingdom of Essex (Est Seaxna "East Saxons"), was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the so-called Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy) was founded around 500 AD and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex.

The kingdom was bounded to the north by the River Stour and Kingdom of East Anglia, to the south by the River Thames and Kent, to the east lay the North Sea and to the west Mercia. The earliest record of the kingdom dates to Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, which noted the arrival of Bishop (later Saint) Mellitus in London in 604. The territory included the remains of two provincial Roman capitals Colchester and London. For a brief period in the 8th century the kingdom also encompassed the Kentish Kingdom to the South, but by the mid 8th century much of the kingdom, including London, had fallen to Mercia. After the defeat of the Mercian king Beornwulf around 825 AD, the kingdom became a possession of the Wessex king Egbert. In 870 the territory was ceded by Wessex, under the Treaty of Wedmore, to the Danelaw kingdom of East Anglia. The modern English county of Essex maintains the historic northern and the southern borders, but only covers the territory east of the River Lee.

The dates, names and achievements, like those of most early rulers in the Heptarchy, remain conjectural. The dynasty claimed descent from the god Seaxnēat, rather than the god Woden (from whom the other Saxon tribes claimed descent). The list of kings may omit whole generations.

Contents 1 List of Kings of the East Saxons (Essex) 2 Spelling of King's Names 3 Sources 4 Notes

[edit] List of Kings of the East Saxons (Essex)

Reign	Incumbent		Notes
527 to 587	Aescwine	ÆSCVVINE CENFVSING ESTSEAXNA CYNING ÆSCVVINE REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM
587 to ante 604	Sledda	SLEDDA ÆSCVVINING ESTSEAXNA CYNING SLEDDA REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM
ante 604 to 616/7	Saebert	SÆBRYHT SLEDDING ESTSEAXNA CYNING SÆBRYHT REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM
616/7 to 617	Sexred	SEXRED SÆBRYHTING ESTSEAXNA CYNING SEXRED REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM	Joint king with Saeward; killed in battle against the West Saxons
616/7 to 617	Saeward	SÆVVARD SÆBRYHTING ESTSEAXNA CYNING SÆVVARD REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM	Joint king with Sexred; killed in battle against the West Saxons
617 to ante c.653	Sigeberht I the Little	SIGEBRYHT SÆVVARDING ESTSEAXNA CYNING SIGEBRYHT PARVVS REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM
c.653 to 660	Sigeberht II the Good	SIGEBRYHT SÆVVARDING ESTSEAXNA CYNING SIGEBRYHT SANCTVS REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM	Saint Sigeberht; Saint Sebbi (Feast Day 29 August)
660 to 664	Swithelm	SVVIÞELM ESTSEAXNA CYNING SVVIÞELM REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM
664 to 683	Sighere	SIGHERE SIGEBRYHTING ESTSEAXNA CYNING SIGHERE REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM	Joint-king with Sebbi
664 to c.694	Sebbi	SEBBI ESTSEAXNA CYNING SEBBI REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM	Joint-king with Sighere; abdicated in favour of his son Sigeheard
c.694 to c.709	Sigeheard	SIGEHEARD SEBBING ESTSEAXNA CYNING SIGEHEARD REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM	Joint-king with his brother Swaefred[1]
c.695 to ante c.709	Swaefred (Swaebheard)	SVVÆFRED SIGEHEARDING ESTSEAXNA CYNING SVVÆFRED REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM	Joint-king with his brother Sigeheard[2]
709	Offa	OFFA SIGEHERING ESTSEAXNA CYNING OFFA REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM	Abdicated
c.709 to 746	Saelred (Swebert)	SÆLRED SIGEBRYHTING ESTSEAXNA CYNING SÆLRED REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM	Probably joint-king with Swaefbert
c.715 to 738	Swaefbert	SVVÆFBRYHT ESTSEAXNA CYNING SVVÆFBRYHT REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM	Probably joint-king with Saelred
746 to 758	Svvithred	SVVIÞRED SIGEMVNDING ESTSEAXNA CYNING SVVIÞRED REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM
758 to 798	Sigeric	SIGERIC ESTSEAXNA CYNING SIGERIC REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM	Abdicated
798 to 812	Sigered	SIGERED SIGERICING ESTSEAXNA CYNING SIGERED REX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM
812 to 825		SIGERED DVX SAXONVM ORIENTALIVM	Rank reduced by Mercian overlords
c.825	Mercia defeated by Egbert of Wessex, sub-kingdom of Essex subsumed into Wessex

Sigered was the last king of Essex, and he ceded the kingdom to Egbert of Wessex.

[edit] Spelling of King's Names

There are a number of variations of the spelling of the names of the Kings listed above. This was a time when spellings varied widely, even within a document. Amongst these variations are the preference between þ and ð (unvoiced and voiced "th").

The character '7' was used as the ampersand '&' in contemporary Anglo-Saxon writings. The era pre-dates the emergence of forms of writing accepted today, notably minuscule, and the letters 'W' and 'U'. Where W was followed by U this was generally rendered as 'VV' (which was also used for 'W' alone).

v • d • e The Heptarchy East Anglia · Essex · Kent · Mercia · Northumbria · Sussex · Wessex

[edit] Sources

• Kings, Rulers and Statesmen, Clive Carpenter, Guinness Superlatives Ltd
• Rulers and Governments of the World, Vol1, Earliest Times to 1491, Martha Ross

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Handbook of British Chronology (CUP, 1996)
2. ^ Handbook of British Chronology (CUP, 1996)