Ancient history

Essex | Anglo-Saxon Kingdom, England, United Kingdom

Essex , one of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England; ie that of the East Saxons. As an area of ​​early settlement, it probably originally encompassed the area of ​​modern county Middlesex; London was its main location. Archaeological discoveries suggest that many of the new settlers were continental Saxons. Essex had sometimes shared kings, and from 664 they were the rulers of the kingdom Mercia subject to the midlands . From 825 Essex was controlled by Wessex, first as a sub-kingdom ruled by sons of the Wessex kings, and then from 860 without existence of its own. By contract between King Alfred the Great and the Danish king Guthrum in 878 acquired this Essex, but it became early 10th century from the Wessex Dynasty Reclaimed and thereafter ruled by Eldormen who were originally royal household officials. Essex had been slow to embrace Christianity wholeheartedly; An important missionary was the Northumbrian Cedd (died 664), whose church survives at Bradwell-on-Sea.