With the Seven Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain--
449-1100
449 is the date usually given for the first landing of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain. The Romans had withdrawn from Britain by 410, and the Celtic peoples left behind soon came under pressure from raiding Picts and Scots (from what is now northern Scotland and Wales). The beleagered Britons called for aid to their "Saxon" brethren on the European continent. Sometime around 449 aid came: ships full of Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians. These tribes flourished in Britain, subjugating the Celtic Britons and driving survivors west and north.
The Anglo-Saxon settlement was comprised of seven kingdoms known as the the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy: Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria.
After the withdrawal of the Romans and the settlement of the Anglo-Saxons, perhaps the most important event during this period was the reintroduction of Christianity. In the south of Britain, King Aethelbert of Kent was converted in 597. In north Britain, St. Columba founded the monastery at Iona in 563, and from there missionaries converted much of Scotland.
The location of the battle is uncertain, although it was probably in the north of Britain, near the sea or a large estuary (?? mark plausible locations). Aethelstan and his brother Eadmund, grandsons of Alfred the Great, led a crushing defeat of a coalition of Picts, Scots, Welsh, and Vikings. The victory helped to cement the growing national unity under West Saxon dominion. The Seven Kingdoms had become one.
400
Northumbria (split near its center by Hadrian's wall) became the most powerful kingdom during the late seventh and eighth centuries. The eastern coastal monasteries of Lindisfarn, Jarrow, and Wearmouth were great centers of learning.
Although most of Ireland was controlled by Celtic chieftains during this period, certain coastal habitations were controlled by raiding Vikings. Modern-day Dublin was the stronghold of Anlaf, who led the Vikings at Brunanburh.
The kingdom of Mercia held its greatest power during the late eighth century.
The kingdom of Kent became a center of wealth and culture during the sixth century. By the end of the century, Aethelbert claimed obedience from all the other kingdoms south of the river Humber.
In 865 the Viking leader "Ivar the Boneless" led attacks against much of eastern Britain. East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria came under Viking domination during the following decade; by 878 East Anglia was ruled by a Danish king.
Late in the ninth century (878), with the Vikings ruling or raiding most of eastern Britain, Alfred king of Wessex (Alfred the Great) won an important victory over Guthrum, the Danish king of East Anglia, who promised to depart from Wessex and also to be baptized; the pendulum had swung toward the Anglo-Saxons. During the tenth century Alfred's sons and grandsons were able to control virtually all of England. Aethelstan, victor at Brunanburh, was Alfred's grandson.
Sussex. Even less to say about Sussex than about Cornwall.
Cornwall. Not much to say about Cornwall here.