Kingdom of Hwicce

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Approximate location of the Kingdom of Hwicce

Hwicce , also Hwicca or Wiccia , was one of the kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon Britain during the Heptarchy . Its exact boundaries are unknown, but it roughly coincided with the old diocese of Worcester and included what is now Worcestershire , Gloucestershire (with the exception of the Forest of Dean ), the southern half of Warwickshire and the environs of Bath .

Origin of name

The name Hwicce had in Old English the meaning "box", "box" or "chest". It was doubted, however, that the name of the Kingdom of Hwicce can be traced back to it; an alternative explanation is the derivation of the Gewissæ (also Gewisse), a Saxon ethnic group that settled on the Upper Thames in England towards the end of the 5th century.

It has been preserved to this day in the place names Wychwood ( Oxfordshire ) and Whichford (Warwickshire) and in the name of the Wychavon district in Worcestershire.

In the Tribal Hidage the size of Hwicces was given as 7,000 hides , which corresponded to the area of ​​the kingdoms of Essex or Lindsey .

history

The area, at least the southern part, was conquered in 577 in the Battle of Deorham by the West Saxons of the Kingdom of Wessex under Ceawlin . The northern part was settled by organized fishing groups . The early, still pagan Anglo-Saxon settlement can be proven mainly in the east of Hwicce, in the valley of the River Avon and in the Cotswolds , in the form of several hundred graves with grave goods . Since the early 7th century, it has been possible to find evidence of mostly unrelated burials, which are not necessarily attributed to Christianization, but are also viewed as adopting Romano-British customs.

Even before the year 603, when Augustine of Canterbury held an episcopal conference “on the borders of the Wiccii and West Saxons”, Hwicce had broken away from Wessex. The Kingdom of Hwicce may have emerged from a Romano-British predecessor state. It corresponded roughly to the settlement area of ​​the British Dobunni . In 628 King Penda of Mercien defeated Wessex at the Battle of Cirencester and appears to have brought the kingdom of Hwicce under his rule. The religious center of the kingdom was the bishopric of Worcester. The creation of the Kingdom of Hwicce probably went back to the union of the Anglic North with the Saxon South by Penda.

Ruler of Hwicce

Kings of Hwicce

The kings were probably related to each other and formed a dynasty. A family tree of the kings has not been preserved, which is why it is unclear to what extent the dynasty was connected to that of Wessex or Mercia . The royal family is mostly only known through documents. What is striking is the common rule of brothers that occurs several times. The royal family founded several monasteries and abbeys, the management of which was often entrusted to female family members.

The first known kings were the two brothers Eanhere and Eanfrith , contemporaries of Wulfhere (658–674 / 675) of Mercia, who ruled together around 660. Both kings were Christians, as were the people of Huicci (Hwicce). Eanfrith's daughter Eaba (also Eafe, Ebba) was married to Æthelwalh the king of Sussex and mentioned as regina (queen) around 681 .

King Osric (around 680) and his brother Oswald, who did not stand out politically, came from a noble family. He was a contemporary of Æthelred of Mercien (674 / 675-704), to whom he owed allegiance. In 675 Osric donated land in Bath to build a nunnery under Abbess Berta. He had the Abbey of St. Peter in Gloucester built in 679. The bishopric of Worcester, founded around 680, was generously endowed with lands by Osric and his successors. In Osric's time, Wilfrid , the Bishop of York, worked in Hwicce.

He was followed by rex (king) Oshere (around 690), who died before 716. Osheres sons Æthelheard (before 706–?) And Æthelweard (before 706–716) followed together as subregulus (under king) on ​​the throne. Then the rule passed to their brother Æthelric (? –736). Æthelric signed a charter from Æthelbald of Mercia as subregulus atque comes (sub-king and follower) .

At the beginning of the reign of Offa von Mercien (757–796), Hwicce was taken over by the three brothers Eanberht (755–759?), Uhtred (755 – after 779) and Ealdred (755 – after 778), who held the title regulus (small king) carried, ruled. Offa was able to strengthen his influence in Hwicce and around 778 Ealdred was dubbed a subregulus (sub-king) in a document .

Ealdormen from Hwicce

After them, the title of king did not seem to have been awarded. In the 780s, Offa merged Mercien and Hwicce. Hwicce was now administered by an Ealdorman . In 802 the Ealdorman Æthelmund fell in battle against Wessex. Presumably his son Æthelric succeeded him. The area remained under the rule of Mercien until the fall of that kingdom. Under Earl Æthelred it came between 877 and 883 with the rest of Mercien to King Alfred .

In the 10th century the territory was divided into the shires Worcestershire and Gloucestershire; Parts were incorporated into Warwickshire and Winchcombeshire . Leofwine , father of Leofric of Mercia and father-in-law of Godgifu ( Lady Godiva ), was Ealdorman of Hwicce in the early 11th century, but the office had changed and outgrew its regional importance.

swell

literature

  • Michael Lapidge, John Blair, Simon Keynes, Donald Scragg (Eds.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Michael Lapidge (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , p. 507.
  2. ^ Gerhard Köbler : Old English Dictionary, 2nd edition, 2003, online
  3. ^ Edward Dawson: Who were the Hwicce? Retrieved May 14, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Michael Lapidge (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , p. 289.
  5. ↑ The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 577 in Project Gutenberg (English)
  6. ↑ a b Frank Merry Stenton: Anglo-Saxon England , Oxford University Press, 2001 (3rd edition), ISBN 9780192801395 , pp. 44–45.
  7. ↑ Patrick Sims-Williams: Religion and Literature in Western England, 600-800 , Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-521-67342-6 , pp. 54-71.
  8. ↑ Beda Venerabilis: Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum II, 2.
  9. ↑ a b c d Michael Lapidge (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1 , p. 246.
  10. ^ Nicholas J. Higham: An English Empire: Bede, the Britons, and the Early Anglo-Saxon Kings , Manchester University Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-7190-4423-6 , p. 156.
  11. ↑ Patrick Sims-Williams: Religion and Literature in Western England, 600-800 , Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 9780521673426 , pp. 33-34.
  12. ^ Beda Venerabilis: Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum IV, 13.
  13. ↑ Michael Lapidge (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , p. 54; see: p 51
  14. ↑ Michael Lapidge (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , p. 210.
  15. ↑ Michael Lapidge (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , p. 488.
  16. ↑ Beda Venerabilis: Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum IV, 23.
  17. ↑ Michael Lapidge (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , p. 340.
  18. ↑ The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 800 in Project Gutenberg (English)
  19. ^ P. 1187
  20. ↑ Michael Lapidge (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , p. 282.
  21. ↑ Michael Lapidge (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , p. 421.