Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms

Suther-ge (Suth Rig / Surrey)

Groups of Saxons were moving west along the lower bank of the Thames in the fifth century to create settlements there after the Britons had been forced back to the west, towards Aylesbury and Durocornovium (Swindon). On the northern bank of the Thames, fellow Saxons settled the countryside that encircled Londinium to form the Middel Seaxe, and it seems that they and the Saxons on the south bank were regarded as a single group for a time. To the east were the Cantware, to the west were the West Seaxe, and to the south was the great forest of Andredes leag.

Permanently settled by the invading Saxons by around AD 480. Suth Rig is Old English for 'south ridge' (pronounced suth-re), while Suther-ge means southern region, and both names indicate a link to the Middel Seaxe to the north of Londinium. Although the direct link was probably a brief one, as the association had passed out of memory before the days of written records, the region was controlled by the kings of the East Seaxe at the same time as they controlled the Middel Seaxe, from circa AD 600.

One certainty is the fact that Saxon settlement began in the region before the appearance of organised kingdoms in the Thames valley. The Saxon burial grounds at Croydon, Beddington, and Mitcham are among the most ancient in the whole Thames basin, and the place names of Eashing, Godalming, Tyting, and Woking, plus Getingas, the ancient name of Cobham, and Binton in Seale (formerly Bintungas), show that the Wey valley was a region of primary Saxon settlement. By the 670s the region was described in the Tribal Hidage (a record of settlements and land holdings) as a provincia with a subregulus - a sub-king - of its own. It may also have been home to the mysterious folks called the Noxgaga and the Ohtgaga. By 1086, the region was named as Sudrie in Domesday Book.

(Additional information from The Oxford History of England: The English Settlements, J N L Meyers, and The Oxford History of England: Anglo-Saxon England, Sir Frank Stenton.)

c.460 - 490

Saxon groups force their way westwards from the east coast, through Londinium, and along the Thames Valley, creating settlements along the way. A large group settle the territory west and north of Londinium and become the Middel Seaxe, and an associated group settle on the south side of the Thames to become the Suther-ge. Perhaps the main thrust of migration into the region is from the newly-conquered kingdom of Kent, which appears to retain a level of control over both Middel Seaxe and Suther-ge for a time.

568

Perhaps already detached from the Middel Seaxe, the Suther-ge area is the subject of a dispute between the kings of the West Seaxe and the Cantware at this early point. Ceawlin defeats Æthelbert of Kent, driving him back into his own land, and presumably gaining dominance over the Suther-ge.

c.600

The region comes under the dominance of the East Seaxe, who seem to treat it as a sub-kingdom.

c.623

All three joint kings of the East Seaxe are killed in battle against the West Seaxe. It has been realistically conjectured that the dispute concerns the control of Suth-rig. Sir Frank Stenton, in Anglo-Saxon England writes: 'Like the Saxons of Middlesex, the Saxons of Surrey have no independent history... At different periods in the seventh century Surrey appears as a province of Kent, Wessex, and Mercia... The only certainty in the early history of Surrey is the fact that its settlement had begun before the appearance of organised kingdoms in the Thames Valley.'

661

Mercia gains control of the region, but perhaps only temporarily and with little real authority, as Kent still lays claim to Suthrige, as it has always done.

673

The sudden death of Egbert I of Kent leaves a break in the kingship. Suthrige is detached from Kent by Mercia and entrusted to the otherwise unknown Frithuwold (Wulfhere's general policy is to subordinate rather than rule directly). Frithuwold begins his sub-kingship by continuing to add to the endowments of Egbert's abbey at Chertsey.

c.673 - 675

Frithuwold / Frithewold

Sub-king to Mercia. Baptised with his son in 675.

c.675 - 686

Frithuric

Son. Sub-king to Mercia.

680s

It is not know precisely when it happens, but by the later years of his reign, Hlothere controls Lundenwic (London), the first Kentish king to do so since 616. He maintains a hall there and his presence suggests that he has also regained Suthrige for Kent.

685 - 726

The region is conquered by the West Seaxe. By now it is certainly known as Suthrige (as mentioned in a charter dated 722).

694

Wihtred succeeds in freeing Kent of all foreign usurpers and vassals, and agrees with Ine of the West Seaxe on the borders of Kent, Suthrige and the Suth Seaxe (which confirms the Kentish loss of Surrey). Together, the West Seaxe and Kent hold the line against Mercia in this period, limiting its ability to interfere south of the Thames.

c. 775

Brorda

Sub-king to Mercia.

825

Ecgberht of Wessex defeats the mighty Mercians at the Battle of Ellandon. The sub-kingdoms of Essex, Sussex and Suthrige submit to him, and Suthrige (or Surrey) is ruled by his son, Æthulwulf, who is based in Kent. Surrey becomes little more than a province of Wessex, and then of England.