|
|
Suther-ge (Suth Rig / Surrey)
Saxons were moving west along the lower bank of the Thames to create settlements
there after the Britons had been forced back north of the river and west towards
Aylesbury and Durocornovium (Swindon).
Permanently settled by the invading
Saxons
in circa AD 480. Suth Rig is Old English for South Ridge (pr. 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.
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 have been home to the mysterious folks called the Noxgaga and
the Ohtgaga. By 1086, the region was named as Sudrie in Domesday Book.
|
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. |
|
|
|
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, Ęthulwulf, who is based in
Kent. Surrey becomes little
more than a province of Wessex, and then of England. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|