Before the Viking invasions of the late ninth century, Anglo-Saxon England was divided into multiple smaller kingdoms. And yet, some kings are said to have ruled over many others, with titles like "Bretwalda" being used to describe them in modern history books. Were these kings anything like the high kings of Ireland or other lands? Was this an official position in Anglo-Saxon society? As usual, the truth is a little more complicated.
Follow me on Instagram: 
/ studium.historiae
Recommendations for further reading:
-B. Yorke, "The Vocabulary of Anglo-Saxon Overlordship," in Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History, 2 (1981): 171-200.
-D.P. Kirby, The Earliest English Kings (1991).
-N.J. Higham, An English Empire: Bede and the Early Anglo-Saxon Kings (1995).
-N.J. Higham, The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England (1997).
-Patrick Wormald, The Times of Bede: Studies in Early English Christian Society and its Historian (2006).
-Damian Tyler, "An Early Mercian Hegemony: Penda and Overkingship in the Seventh Century," in Midland History, 30 n.1 (2005), pp.1-19.
-Alexander Langlands and Ryan Lavelle, eds., The Land of the English Kin: Studies in Wessex and Anglo-Saxon England in Honour of Professor Barbara Yorke (2020).
/ studium.historiae
Recommendations for further reading:
-B. Yorke, "The Vocabulary of Anglo-Saxon Overlordship," in Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History, 2 (1981): 171-200.
-D.P. Kirby, The Earliest English Kings (1991).
-N.J. Higham, An English Empire: Bede and the Early Anglo-Saxon Kings (1995).
-N.J. Higham, The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England (1997).
-Patrick Wormald, The Times of Bede: Studies in Early English Christian Society and its Historian (2006).
-Damian Tyler, "An Early Mercian Hegemony: Penda and Overkingship in the Seventh Century," in Midland History, 30 n.1 (2005), pp.1-19.
-Alexander Langlands and Ryan Lavelle, eds., The Land of the English Kin: Studies in Wessex and Anglo-Saxon England in Honour of Professor Barbara Yorke (2020).
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are subject to deletion if they are not germane. I have no problem with a bit of colourful language, but blasphemy or depraved profanity will not be allowed. Attacks on the Catholic Faith will not be tolerated. Comments will be deleted that are republican (Yanks! Note the lower case 'r'!), attacks on the legitimacy of Pope Leo XIV as the Vicar of Christ, the legitimacy of the House of Windsor or of the claims of the Elder Line of the House of France, or attacks on the legitimacy of any of the currently ruling Houses of Europe.