Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms

The 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

Saxons 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.

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.

c.673 - 675

Frithuwold

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

c.675 - 686

Frithuric

Son. Sub-king to Mercia.

685 - 726

The region is conquered by the West Saxons. By now it is known as Suthrige (charter dated 722).

c. 775

Brorda

Sub-king to Mercia.

825

Egbert of Wessex defeats the mighty Mercians at the Battle of Ellandon. The sub-kingdoms of Essex, Sussex and Suthrige submit to Egbert.

839

Ruled by Kent, which by this time is itself a dependency of Wessex.