Brytenwealda
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Se nama Brytenwealda is tītul þe syndrige cyningas þæs Engliscra rīces mōston brucan of 500 oþ 1000 A.D. Man hēold Brytenwealdan swā wealdend ofer syndrigum Engleseaxiscum rīcum. Se tītul næs ierfelāf and næs feoh ānfealdes rīces; þā mǣstan Brytwealdan þorfton feohtan for cynedōme.
Þæt word is ofgangen of þǣm Engliscum Bretanwealda, "Lord of Britain" — refering to the Saxon king's claim to overlordship of the Britons, or perhaps "wide-ruling".
Bede does not use the title Bretwalda, as is commonly thought, for the first seven of the following kings. Bretwalda is an Englisc word word and Bede was writing in Latin. Bede attributes these kings with holding imperium. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle uses Bede as its source for the first seven kings and adds later kings of Wessex, primarily due to it being of West Saxon origin. The term Bretwalda is a problematic one and is best left in favour of the word 'overlord' which better describes the relationship the king held with the various other kings and peoples of Britain.
Ān Brytenwealda, gif wē are to use the term, exercised overlordship over several other kingdoms, and often these were furthered through marriage. A clear sign of overlordship was a 'Bretwalda' granting land with charters in another kingdom. When a Bretwalda ruled over a larger kingdom, such as a Mercian ruler over East Anglia, the relationship would have been more equal than in the case of a larger kingdom ruling over a smaller one, as in the case of Mercia and Hwicce.
- Ælle of Sussex (477–circa 514)
- Ceawlin West-Seaxna (560–591)
- Æðelbryht of Kent (591–616)
- Raedwald of East Anglia (616–627)
- Edwin of Deira (627–632)
- Oswald of Bernicia (633–641)
- Oswiu of Northumbria (641–670)
- Ǣðelbald Miercna (circa 735–757)
- Offa Miercna (757–796)
- Egbert West-Seaxna (829–839)
- Æðelwulf West-Seaxna (839–855)
- Ǣðelbald West-Seaxna (855–860)
- Æðelbryht West-Seaxna (860–866)
- Æðelrēd West-Seaxna (866–871)
- Ælfrēd se Grēata West-Seaxna (871–899)
The original lists of Bretwaldas did not contain the kings Ethelbald and Offa of Mercia, but in all probability they were considered overlords in their time and are included above. Bede does not record Ethelbald or Offa as Ethelbald lived at the same time as Bede (Bede commented little on current affairs in his Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum) and Offa was after Bede's time (Bede died in 735).
There is little evidence of the extent to which the title 'Bretwalda' was used in the Anglo-Saxon period, but it gradually fell into disuse around or after the Danish invasion of the 860s and 870s. During this invasion and settlement the old powerful kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia, Essex and much of Mercia were defeated by the Vikings. Wessex held out under King Alfred, who made closer links between Wessex and Mercia, an important move towards an English kingdom, though such a development should never been seen as inevitable. Alfred was called 'King of the Anglo-Saxons' in charters, while his grandson Athelstan was first called King of the English. It was not until Edgar, however, that the English kingdom finally became firmly established.
[ādihtan] Sēo ēac
- Mythical pre-Saxon King of the Britons
- List of monarchs of England
- List of British monarchs
