HEPTARCHY. 
‘and part of Surrey. This kin cone was pitig ome! fitu- 
ated, having the fea on the Sia e Thames on the 
‘N.; and the little kingdom of ‘Guiles on che’ W. As ilong 
as it fubfitted, it ferved as a bulwark to the kings of Kent 
ft'the ambitious encroachments of the kings of phate 
69 wid in letigtly a 
royal os * Canter, where he died’ in 488, leaving his 
newly a d dominion to his pofterity, who retained it 
till the diffolution of the heptarch 
The fuccefs of Hengift fidueed other northern Germans 
to invade this ifland. 'Thefe e conquerors were chiefly com- 
pofed of three tribes under the ae of oe ns, 
Angles, and Jutes, who, {pe aking the fame language and be- 
the fame inftitutions, and a€iuated alto vin a 
cient inhabitants. 
dually enfeebled: and after a fucceffion of difafters, they 
were driven into Cornwall and Wales, where they were in- 
debted for their protection” to the remote fituation or inac- 
ceffible mountains of thofe countries. 
. OF all the fovereigns of = kingdom, pe idcag se —_ 
the king of Northumberland, to a {tate of sist an 
 eftablithing himfelf by force on the throne of Mercia, which 
indeed he afterwards refigned; an me 5 becaufe the 
Alric in 794, _ ma the 
every factious leader who afpired to the throne. Baldred, an 
illegitimate. branch of the royal family, was the laft oe 
reign; and after a troublefome and precarious reign, he 
Sufix which contained the county of Suflex a a ze 
tee of Surrey, and was not above = miles long 
road. It was bounded on the N. e Thames, om ge 
S. by the fea, on the E. by the Kiifedom of Kent, a 
the W. by Weffex. The capital city w was mci gh "Ths 
pee was founded by Ailla, hief, wl 
rought over an army from. 
ates “Ell ing a o re tation among 
the Saxons, cee be rr of re to et Hengilt. 
in the comm pon his death in 514, 
hé left the crown. ‘to his only furviving fon, Ciffa. 
the death of Ciffa, in 590, without iffue, Ceaulin, king of 
Weffex, and monarch of the Anglo-Saxons, feized the hing 
dom of Suflex ; from this time the South-Saxons_m 
feveral attempts to thake off the yoke of the meg of Weflex, 
till at loagth the kin esate was ne fubd ar 
ee 
— king ot Weflex, who ‘iffolved r 
“alfo made inroads into Kent, but could not 
HEE 
revolt _ place in the yeat 754, tn the reion of Sigebert; 
g of Wellex; and it is probable that his (eccet Ce- 
nulph css them again to a flate of fubjeQion. From 
that time the South Saxons do not appear to bites made any 
attempt for recovering their liberty ; ; their country being 
confidered ever after as a province of Weffex. The fub- 
s kingdom was the firft flep taken by the 
ft Saxons tsehaeth acquiring the fole monarchy of Eng- 
"The kingdom of Weffex, or of the Hef ial. was fituated 
S. of the Thames, being in breadth about 70 miles from the 
‘Thames to the Britifh channel, and i in length 150 pills from 
the frontiers of Suffex, to ager ver Tamar, which parted it 
from Cornwall. It Gaicabiin kd the counties of Hants, 
Dorfet, Wilts, Berks, and the Ifle of Wight. Its prin- 
cipal cities were hist ‘the capital, Southampton, 
Portfmouth, Sali {bur 1efter, She 
where many 
derived its name from its fituation, becaufe it lay W. of 
Suffex, Kent, and er t was guarded on the N. by 
the Thames, and on the S. by the fea; on the E. it was 
bounded by the little iin rdom of Suffex ; and on the W, 
y the Britons of Cornwall, divided from their countrymen 
the Welth by the mouth of the Severn, in fuch a mariner, 
that it was almoft imp hpoflible for them 
to affitt one anot other. 
Kent sad Suflex, :as well as poatlast de 
them by Art 
Ping hs now Nehoued the declining fate 
much ywtery in the 
See 
the Britons in the year 520, and the Saxons were there 
defeat a fevere y “a This misfortune ftopped the 
rrefs of Cerdic ; but it was not fufficient to wreit mt 
Pim the conquetts phich he had already made. Cerdic wa 
crowned for the firft time king of the Weit Saxons in sigs 
after having had furrendered to him the two counties of 
fhire and Somerfetthire, an a feo at Win- 
Hampfhire an , ; vkhhin 
gn in 686, entirely fubdued the roe 
Suffex, and ie eee it to his own dominions, te 
4 de pre- 
d, he was feized 
sme, where he was 
fed b pe Sergius II toes died in 689. 
oe his fa Calle: inherited the military virtues of Cocd- 
added to 
Scie nt more valuable ones of juttice, 
sritons in 
dom of 
yail. Tired at laft with wars pad es mee st 
olicy, and pru 
Somerlet 5 and bai 
rietors to bythe Sax ris senge the lands, enc rset an mar- : 
ian tween ¢ ; 
riages and alliances 102 —— 
