Meonwara | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5th century–7th century | |||||||||
| Common languages | Northwest Germanic Old English (Englisc) | ||||||||
| Religion | Paganism | ||||||||
| Government | Thing (assembly) | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 5th century | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 7th century | ||||||||
| |||||||||
TheMeonwara were one of the tribes ofAnglo-Saxon Britain. Their territory was afolkland located in the valley of theRiver Meon inHampshire that was subsumed by the Kingdom ofWessex in the late seventh century.
In the 8th century theVenerable Bede referred to the Saxon andJutish settlers that were living in the valley of theRiver Meon asMeonwara (Meon People) and described the area asProvincia Meanwarorum (Province of theMeonwara). The origin of the nameMeon and its meaning is not known for sure, but possibly thought to beCeltic or Pre-Celtic for 'swift one'.[1][2][3]
During the period after the Roman occupation and before the Norman conquest, people of Germanic descent arrived in England. Bede recorded the event in hisEcclesiastical History of the English People. He said that:
" Those who came over were of the three most powerful nations of Germany—Saxons, Angles, and Jutes. From the Jutes are descended the people of Kent, and of the Isle of Wight, and those also in the province of the West Saxons who are to this day called Jutes, seated opposite to the Isle of Wight."
— Bede 1910, 1.15
It is likely that the Jutes initially inhabited Kent (Cantaware) and from there they occupied the Isle of Wight (Wihtwara) and also possibly the area around Hastings in East Sussex (Haestingas). They also settled in what was to becomeMeonwara. As well as Bede's description, there is other evidence of Jutish occupation. Droxford, in the Meon valley, was the site of a large Jutish cemetery. Also one of the local manors had the medieval custom ofgavelkind, similar to that in Kent. Further there is placename evidence, linking Kent and Southern Hampshire.[4][5] In 686, Bede tells us, Jutish Hampshire extended to the western edge of theNew Forest; however that seems to include another Jutish people, theYtene, and it is not certain that these two territories formed a continuous coastal block.[6]
TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle records a series of landings by Anglo-Saxon settlers, during the years 449–514, in the area that becameMeonwara.[a] According to theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle the founders ofMeonwara were a man named Port and his two sons Bieda and Maegla. Most academics regard this as legend rather than fact.[8][b] Also the listed names may not be of Germanic origin, andMaegla appears to be aBrythonic word meaning "chief" or "prince" (i.e. cognate withOld Britishmaglos, Welshmael and the Breton given nameMaël).[10]
The origins of the Kingdom of Wessex are unclear.[11] The Chronicle has a foundation story, regarded by most as legend, that describes howCerdic and his sonCynric landed in southern Hampshire in 495, and settled the area that became occupied by the West Saxons. Historians however are sceptical of this version.[8][b]Most academics believe that initially the West Saxon royal house ruled over theGewisse and their power base was in the upper Thames Valley.[12] The missionary bishopBirinus established the episcopal see at Dorchester-on-Thames in the 630s. The history of the Gewisse is quite obscure before the arrival of Birinus, but there were probably several West Saxon groups in the upper Thames Valley and Wiltshire.[13]
The West Saxons' neighbours to the north were the Mercians. In the 7th century Mercian power was in the ascendent, so the West Saxons could not expand northwards. This led them to concentrate on the lands beyond their southern borders.[14]Wulfhere of Mercia advanced into southern Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in about 681. Shortly afterwards he gave the Isle of Wight and Meonwara toÆthelwealh of Sussex, possibly as a present after Æthelwealh was baptised and married Eafe the daughter of Eanfrith, a ruler of the Christian Hwicce people.[15][16] The alliance between theSouth Saxons and the Mercians and their control of southern England put the West Saxons under pressure.[17]
After Wulfhere's death Mercian power eventually declined, and there followed a time of relative peace. However the united Gewisse, now known as the Kingdom of Wessex, became resurgent under their kingCaedwalla.[18] Caedwalla, probably concerned at Mercian and South Saxon influence in Southern England, conquered the land of the South Saxons and took over the Jutish areas in Hampshire and theIsle of Wight, in the late 680s. Bede describes how brutally Caedwalla suppressed the South Saxons and slaughtered the people of the Isle of Wight and replaced them with people from "his own province".[c][20][21] Although quite young, Caedwalla abdicated shortly after this campaign and in 689 went on pilgrimage to Rome to be baptised, but died[d] about a week after his baptism. Bede says that he had received wounds during the fighting on the Isle of Wight, which may have led to his untimely death.[23][24]
The subsequent establishment of the very large trading settlement ofHamwic suggests that control over theSolent was a further factor motivating the conquest of the Jutish areas.[25]
With the takeover of Jutish lands by the West Saxons in Hampshire, thechurch of SS Peter and Paul, Winchester, built byCenwalh of Wessex in 648, became the new episcopal see in the 660s.[26]
The settlement ofExton, on the west bank of the Meon, is named after theEast Saxons, indicating some sort of settlement or other form of influence from that people. The first surviving record of the name is from 940[e] asEast Seaxnatune.[f][g]
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