The Heptarchy: Kingdoms, Peoples and Enclosed Territories

Summary and timescale. The Heptarchy is a later label (twelfth century, Henry of Huntingdon) for the seven principal English kingdoms of roughly AD 500 to 800: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex. It was never a system anyone at the time recognised. Underneath the seven sat a much larger patchwork of smaller peoples and sub-kingdoms, most of them known only from the Tribal Hidage, Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle or a charter. This page sets out the seven kingdoms and the smaller units enclosed within or beside each, keeping what is documented, what is reasonable inference and what is still open as separate tiers.

Roman collapse and the first settlements, c. 410 to 500. Imperial administration ends in Britain around 410. Gildas and Bede place the arrival of Germanic warbands as federate troops in the mid-fifth century, with Bede's traditional date of 449 for Hengist and Horsa in Kent. The Chronicle gives Ælle landing in Sussex in 477 and the fall of Anderida in 491, and Cerdic in Wessex in 495, but these dates were set down centuries later and are best read as tradition, not record. British polities (Elmet, Rheged, the Gododdin, Dumnonia) are still the dominant powers in the north and west.

Consolidation, c. 500 to 600. Small kingdoms form around river valleys and former Roman centres. Bernicia is traditionally founded at Bamburgh by Ida around 547. Kent emerges under Æthelberht (reigning from the later sixth century) with Frankish connections. British resistance is remembered through Badon and the northern poetry of Urien and the Gododdin, though neither can be dated closely.

Conversion and overlordship, c. 600 to 700. Augustine reaches Kent in 597. Bede lists seven kings who held imperium south of the Humber: Ælle, Ceawlin, Æthelberht, Rædwald, Edwin, Oswald and Oswiu. Northumbria is joined under Æthelfrith around 604, expands against the Britons (Elmet falls c. 617, Lothian in the 630s to 640s) and is then checked by Penda of Mercia until his death at the Winwæd in 655. Whitby in 664 settles the Roman Easter against the Irish usage. Sussex is converted late (Wilfrid, c. 681) and is conquered by Wessex under Cædwalla in 685 to 686, together with Wight.

Mercian supremacy, c. 700 to 825. Æthelbald and Offa (757 to 796) dominate the south and absorb or subordinate Hwicce, Lindsey, Essex, Kent and Sussex for periods. Offa's Dyke and the Tribal Hidage are both commonly tied to this period, though the date and purpose of the Hidage remain debated. Mercian power breaks at Ellandun in 825, and Wessex takes over the south-east. From 865 the Great Heathen Army ends the independence of Northumbria, East Anglia and eastern Mercia, leaving Wessex as the surviving kingdom.

Established. Northumbria is the union of Bernicia (Bamburgh, northern Northumberland and south-east Scotland) and Deira (Yorkshire). Æthelfrith of Bernicia took Deira around 604, Edwin restored a Deiran line, and the two were joined again under Oswald in 634. Elmet was taken from its British rulers around 617. Lindsey (Lincolnshire) passed between Northumbria and Mercia in the seventh century.

Plausible inference. Rheged in the north-west and the Gododdin in Lothian were absorbed in the seventh century by conquest and dynastic marriage, not in a single event. Craven in the Pennines appears to have kept British character for a time as an enclave between the two Anglian spheres, but the evidence is thin.

Open questions. The extent of Rheged, the exact line between Bernicia and Deira, and whether Craven ever stood as a separate unit are all unsettled. Neither Bernicia nor Deira appears in the Tribal Hidage as a distinct entry.

Established. Mercia is credited in the Tribal Hidage with 30,000 hides for the core. The Hwicce (Worcestershire and Gloucestershire), the Magonsæte (Herefordshire), the Wreocensæte (Wrekin and Shropshire) and the Pecsæte (Peak District) are all attested as distinct peoples, and the Hwicce and Magonsæte had their own sub-kings under Mercian overlordship.

Plausible inference. The Middle Angles of the east Midlands and the Tomsæte of the Tame valley were folded into the Mercian core early. The Hidage also lists the Westerna, Noxgaga, Ohtgaga, Hendrica, Unecungaga, Arosæte, Cilternsæte (Chilterns), Sweordora, Gifla, Hicca, Wigesta, Herefinna and others which can be placed only loosely in the West Midlands and Thames headwaters.

Open questions. Many Hidage names have no secure location. Færpingas, Bilmiga, Widerigga, Sweordora and the Willa and Wixna pairs are guesses at best, and the same name has sometimes been placed in more than one kingdom by different writers.

Established. The East Angles are given 30,000 hides in the Hidage and divided historically into North Folk and South Folk. The North and South Gyrwe (600 hides each) and the Spalda (Spalding area) occupied the fen margins and are attested separately.

Plausible inference. The Gyrwe and Spalda were probably tributary to or absorbed into East Anglia or Mercia depending on the period, with the fen edge acting as a frontier zone.

Open questions. Who controlled the fen peoples at the time of the Hidage, and whether East Anglia counted them as part of its own 30,000 or not.

Established. The East Saxons held Essex and, for periods, Middlesex (the Middle Saxons) and London. Surrey (Suthrige) is attested as a separate territory that was at various times under Mercian, Kentish and West Saxon influence.

Plausible inference. Middlesex and Surrey were probably never fully integrated into Essex and served as buffer lands between the larger neighbours.

Open questions. The status of London and whether British continuity around Verulamium (St Albans) influenced the western boundary. The latter has been argued but not demonstrated.

Established. Kent carries 15,000 hides in the Hidage and was divided between East Kent (Canterbury, the Cantware) and West Kent (Rochester), each with its own bishopric after 604 and, for periods, its own king.

Plausible inference. Thanet functioned as a distinct island unit early on. The Limenwara, the Lympne-area people named from the Limen, are plausibly a Kentish sub-group tied to the coastal defence landscape.

Open questions. Whether the Hæstingas (Hastings) were ever a Kentish rather than a South Saxon people. The Chronicle places them in the Sussex sphere in the eighth century, but a warband-service link to the Limenwara has been proposed and is not proven.

Established. The South Saxons carry 7,000 hides in the Hidage. Ælle is the first of Bede's overlords, and the see of Selsey was established under Wilfrid around 681. The kingdom was taken by Cædwalla of Wessex in the 680s and was later under Mercian and then West Saxon control.

Plausible inference. The Hæstingas (Hastings district) and the Pevensey (Anderida) zone were distinct sub-areas with their own identities, and the Chichester and Selsey area formed a western core. The Weald (Andredsweald) acted as a northern boundary.

Open questions. How far the Hæstingas were independent, and where the western edge with the Meonwara fell.

Established. The Gewisse formed the original core on the upper Thames and later Hampshire. The Hidage gives West Saxons 100,000 hides, which is out of scale with every other kingdom and suggests either a later insertion or very large conquered territories. The Isle of Wight (Wihtwara) and the Meon valley (Meonwara) are recorded by Bede as Jutish.

Plausible inference. Later shire peoples (Sumorsæte, Dornsæte, Wilsætan, Defnas) represent British lands taken westward in the seventh and eighth centuries, with Dumnonia surviving as a British kingdom in Devon and Cornwall until later absorption.

Open questions. Whether the Jutish labels reflect real ethnic distinctions or a later literary tidiness, and when the Meonwara lost independence.

The Tribal Hidage is a tribute list of some thirty-five peoples with hidage assessments. It is generally placed in the later seventh century and tied to Mercian or Northumbrian overlordship, but both date and purpose remain debated. Secure identifications exist for Lindsey, Elmet, the Hwicce and the major kingdoms. Many of the smallest entries are speculative, and the Heptarchy count itself is a retrospective frame that hides how fluid these units were.

Where this site says "no evidence," it means none in the published record — not that none exists; what follows is reconstruction from documents, place-names, and landscape logic, flagged as inference, not fact.

Here's the standard picture. Many of the smaller units come from the Tribal Hidage (a late 7th-century tribute list, with a debated date and purpose), and some are only a name in Bede or a charter, so how much "kingdom" status each had is open to question.

1. Northumbria (merged Bernicia and Deira c. 604-ish)

• Bernicia: Bamburgh core, with the Lindisfarne zone
• Deira: Yorkshire
• Elmet: British, absorbed c. 617
• Craven: British enclave in the Pennines
• Rheged: British, northwest, later absorbed or subordinated
• Lindsey: Lincolnshire, contested with Mercia
• Gododdin/Lothian: British, taken in the 7th century
• Related Anglian pockets: Hexham and Tynedale areas

2. Mercia

• Hwicce: Worcestershire, Gloucestershire
• Magonsæte: Herefordshire
• Wreocensæte: Wrekin, Shropshire
• Pecsæte: Peak District
• Middle Angles: Leicestershire and surrounds
• Tomsæte: Tame valley
• Wrocensæte and Westerna: Welsh March
• Lindsey: held at various times
• Smaller Tribal Hidage entries: Spalda, Gifla, Hicca, Færpingas, Bilmiga, Wideringas, Noxgaga, Ohtgaga, Hendrica, Unecungas, Arosæte, Cilternsæte (Chilterns), Sweordora, Faerpinga

3. East Anglia

• North Folk and South Folk
• Gyrwe: North and South, Fens
• Spalda: Fenland, Spalding area
• Fenland groups: Bilmiga and others (location uncertain)

4. Essex

• East Saxons
• Middle Saxons: Middlesex
• Surrey (Suthrige): shifted between Kent, Mercia, Wessex
• Verulamium zone: British continuity argued

5. Kent

• Cantware: Eastern Kent, Canterbury
• West Kent (Rochester): sub-kingdom with its own king for periods
• Thanet
• Limenwara: Lympne area
• Possibly Hæstingas, though Hastings was later tied to Sussex

6. Sussex

• South Saxons
• Hæstingas: Hastings district
• Pevensey/Anderida zone
• Selsey and the Chichester area
• Western Meon valley edges

7. Wessex

• Gewisse: original core
• Wihtwara: Isle of Wight, Jutish
• Meonwara: Meon valley, Hampshire, Jutish
• Sumorsæte, Dornsæte, Wilsætan, Defnas: later shire-type peoples
• Dumnonia: British, absorbed westwards
• Basingas and similar early groups

Caveats

• The "Heptarchy" label is a later (12th-century) construct. Kingdoms like Lindsey, Hwicce, Magonsæte and Surrey were semi-independent at times, so whether to count them as kingdoms or sub-kingdoms is a judgment call.
• Tribal Hidage identifications are secure for some (Hwicce, Lindsey, Elmet) and speculative for others (Wideringas, Bilmiga, Færpingas).
• Jutish groups (Wihtwara, Meonwara, possibly Cantware) are inferred from Bede's account and may reflect later tradition rather than reliable ethnic labelling.