Learnings: The Seven Kingdoms
Just as the tribes had sought to dominate each other, so too would the kingdoms. Their struggle for territories led to the emergence of stronger kingdoms that conquered the weaker ones. In the 7th century, only a dozen kingdoms were left standing, and only four when the Vikings arrived in the late 8th century. They each held a slice of Anglo-Saxon Britain's people and land. Their portions were divided into hides, units of land, wealth, and population. This manuscript is an extract of the Tribal Hidage, which detailed how many hides each tribe possessed.
In the 1100s, the historian Henry of Huntingdon identified seven of them as 'major' kingdoms: Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria; In the 16th century, this supposed 'rule of seven kingdoms' was called the 'Heptarchy' (Greek for 'rule of seven').