Government in Anglo-Saxon England covers English government during the Anglo-Saxon period from the 5th century until the Norman Conquest in 1066.
Until the 9th century, England was divided into multiple Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Each kingdom had its own laws and customs, but all shared a common basis in the Germanic legal tradition. In the 9th century, the Kingdom of Wessex absorbed the other kingdoms, creating the unified Kingdom of England.
The king's primary responsibilities were to defend his people, dispense justice, and maintain order. Kings had extensive powers to make laws, mint coins, levy taxes, raise armies, regulate trade, and conduct diplomacy. The witan or royal council advised the king, and the royal household provided the administrative machinery of government.
England was divided into ealdormanries led by ealdormen (later earls) appointed by the king. An ealdormanry was divided into shires. The ealdorman enforced royal orders, presided over the shire court, and led the local fyrd (army). A sheriff administered each shire as the ealdorman's deputy. Shires were divided into administrative units called hundreds.
Before unification
Anglo-Saxon settlement (300–500)
England was part of the Roman Empire since the 1st centuryCE. Roman Britain was a civil diocese extending from the south coast up to Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall. The diocese was divided into four or five provinces and further divided into civitates (a territorial unit roughly the size of a modern county and centred on a town).
The period between 375 and 425 saw a "total collapse of Romano-British civilisation". Britain's security deteriorated as the Roman army was gradually withdrawn and redeployed to other parts of the Empire to defend against barbarian invasions. After 402, no new Roman coins were issued in Britain, the military stopped being paid, and the military-based economic system collapsed. Most of the Roman army left Britain in 407 to join the revolt of Constantine III, and the Romano-Britons were forced to defend themselves. In 409, the Britons revolted and expelled the Roman authorities, marking the formal end of Roman rule. After Roman rule, Britain experienced widespread anarchy, peasant revolt, and the rise of warlords, such as Vortigern and Ambrosius Aurelianus.
Archaeological evidence for Anglo-Saxon-style jewellery is first found in sites dating to around 430. According to the 6th-century writer Gildas, the Britons hired the Saxons as federate soldiers, but the Saxons eventually seized power from the native Britons. According to Bede, writing , the settlers came mainly from three Germanic tribes: Saxons, Angles, and Jutes.
Eastern and southern Britain fragmented into small, independent political communities. Based on archaeological evidence (such as burials and buildings), these early communities appear to have lacked any social elite. Around half the population were free, independent farmers (Old English: ) who cultivated enough land to provide for a family (a unit called a hide). Slaves, mostly Britons, made up the other half.
Origins of kingship (500–600) By the end of the 6th century, the leaders of Anglo-Saxon political communities were calling themselves kings. The development of kingdoms can partly be explained by the Late Antique Little Ice Age and the Plague of Justinian. These caused famine and other societal disruptions that may have increased violence and led previously independent farmers to submit to the rule of strong lords. The Old English word for lord is ( or ). Grander buildings and burial practices, such as the construction of burial mounds, also indicate the development of kingship and a social elite.
Germanic kingship provided a model for early Anglo-Saxon kings. Anglo-Saxons inherited the concept of sacred kingship. The Old English word for king was (). The term implied the king was part of a "specially selected kindred, divinely called to rule over a people". Kingship was passed down through royal dynasties that all claimed descent from a deity, usually Woden. After the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England, royal families linked their origins to biblical genealogies .
A Germanic king's power was based on success as a warrior and the collection of land and tribute. A king employed a (armed retinue) who lived with him in his hall. In addition to providing these warriors with a place to live and food, the king also gave his warriors gifts. Generosity was the mark of a good king.
Anglo-Saxon societies were based on Germanic law and custom. Germanic tribes such as the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, and Lombards became Romanized to varying degrees by the 5th century. Nevertheless, this was not true of the Anglo-Saxons, who originated from northern Germany and Denmark and had no direct contact with the Roman Empire. For this reason, Roman law only influenced Anglo-Saxon institutions after Christianisation began in the 7th century.
Nevertheless, Roman Britain did have an impact on the organisation of early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The kingdoms of Kent, Lindsey, Deira, and Bernicia were based on old Roman . Royal administration centred on the royal vill (Latin: ; Old English: ), which was a residence surrounded by dependent settlements. The surrounding population delivered food rent to a royal vill, which would be consumed by the king and his comitatus when they visited on their regular travels through the kingdom.
Early kingdoms (600–871)
According to the Tribal Hidage, possibly created in the time of Wulfhere of Mercia (r. 658–675), there were 35 political groups south of the Humber. Many had kings, such as Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia, Kent, the Magonsæte, Lindsey, the Hwicce, Essex, and Sussex. Consolidation through war and marriage meant that by the 9th century only four kingdoms remained: East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex.
In his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Bede lists seven kings who achieved or overlordship over England south of the Humber. The first four overlords were Ælle of Sussex (late 5th century), Ceawlin of Wessex (), Æthelberht of Kent (), and Rædwald of East Anglia (). Rædwald was followed by Edwin (), Oswald (), and Oswiu () of Northumbria.
The 8th century was a period of Mercian supremacy, but Wessex surpassed Mercia in the 820s during the reign of Ecgberht. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle referred to Ecgberht as bretwalda ( or ) and added his name to Bede's list of overlords. Historian H. R. Loyn remarked that "some hazy imperial ideas" were associated with the bretwaldaship, such as influence over the English church, military leadership against the native Britons, and receiving tribute. Historian Barbara Yorke defines it as the collection of tribute from other kings.
Electing and deposing kings Succession did not follow strict primogeniture. When the throne became vacant, a kingdom's witan (secular and ecclesiastical "wise men") chose the new king from among eligible candidates of the ruling dynasty. A candidate's age, ability, popularity, and the wishes of the previous king were all factors that could influence the succession. Since a king was primarily a war leader, he needed to be able to lead an army. For this reason, infant sons could be bypassed in favor of the king's adult brothers. Some kings retired to monasteries when they could no longer perform a military role.
Rites of royal consecration developed slowly. In 787, Ecgfrith of Mercia became the first Anglo-Saxon king anointed with holy oil, imitating Carolingian and biblical precedents.
Witans could formally depose kings. Cynewulf and the West-Saxon witan deposed King Sigeberht in 757. Councils formally deposed several Northumbrian kings. In 774, King Alhred was deposed and replaced by Æthelred I, who was himself ousted in 779. Æthelred was restored as king in 790 and reigned until his murder in 796.
Christian kingship Kings played a crucial part in converting their kingdoms to Christianity. Afterward, kings continued to be involved in church affairs. Kings summoned and presided over synods, such as the 664 Synod of Whitby, where Oswiu of Northumbria decided that his kingdom would follow the Roman date of Easter instead of the Celtic date. Christianisation resulted in the production of written law codes, the earliest being Kent's Law of Æthelberht. These early laws attempted to preserve the peace and prevent blood feuds . The church itself operated according to canon law, a legal system based on Roman civil law.
A king had the power to make law and give legal judgment with the advice of his witan. He presided in person as judge of the royal court, which could sentence freemen to death, enslavement, or impose financial penalties. In some instances, the witan could overturn royal decisions. In 840, for example, the Mercian witan ruled that King Berhtwulf had unjustly confiscated land from Heahbeorht, bishop of Worcester. The bishop regained his land, and Berhtwulf gave gifts to the church as compensation.
Local administration In the 7th and 8th centuries, kingdoms were divided into administrative units called regiones, which were themselves divided into groups of royal vills. Administrative divisions had different names, such as the shire in Wessex, lathe in Kent, or rape in Sussex.
In the 8th century, the term ealdorman first appeared in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. In Wessex, these were royal officials tasked with leading the army and administering justice in a shire. In return, an ealdorman received part of the judicial fines owed to the king. He also may have been granted land for his service. Sometimes, ealdormen were former kings reduced to sub-king status; such was the case in Mercia's absorption of the Hwicce.
All free men had the right to bear arms and a duty to defend the kingdom through service in the (army). The army's core was the king's . Fyrd service was one of the obligations known as the ("three necessities"). The other two were equally related to military preparedness: the repair of burhs (fortifications) and the repair of bridges (essential for communications).
Alfred the Great (871–899)
In the 850s, England faced a formidable threat as Viking invaders, led by their Great Heathen Army, conquered most Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. However, under the leadership of Alfred the Great (), Wessex successfully resisted the invaders. In 886, the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum defined the boundaries of the Danelaw, and Alfred received the submission of all the English, including London, not under the Danelaw.
In response to the Viking invasions, royal government in Wessex became more sophisticated and effective. Alfred built over 30 burhs (fortifications), some of which became permanent towns. Each burh was allocated several hides for its maintenance and support, as illustrated in the Burghal Hidage.
Under Alfred, there were always nine or ten ealdormen. Each West Saxon shire had one ealdorman, while East and West Kent had two. The ealdormen were entrusted with crucial responsibilities, including the management of the army, fortifications, and tax collection in their respective shires. The king granted them estates and special privileges, such as the "third penny" (a third of the shire court's judicial profits). The royal reeves (Latin: ) supervised royal estates and were responsible for administering finances and manpower.
Alfred's heirs continued the work of reconquest. By 955, the newly forged Kingdom of England encompassed Mercia, the Danelaw, and Northumbria. The kingdom's boundaries ran north to the Firth of Forth.
Royal government Kingship
The king was answerable to God alone; however, a good king surrounded himself with wise counsellors and listened to their advice. The king's inner circle (his family and royal household) helped him to govern. Kings usually legislated in consultation with a witan .