Kingdom of the Hwicce | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 577–780s | |||||||||
 Kingdom of the Hwicce (with later counties). Wychwood Forest, a former Hwicce territory, had apparently been lost before 679. | |||||||||
| Capital | Worcester | ||||||||
| Religion | Paganism,Christianity | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| Historical era | Heptarchy | ||||||||
• Established | 577 | ||||||||
• Assimilated into Mercia | 780s | ||||||||
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Hwicce (Old English:[ˈʍittʃe]) was a kingdom inAnglo-Saxon England. According to theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle, the kingdom was established in 577, after theBattle of Deorham. After 628, the kingdom became a client or sub-kingdom ofMercia as a result of theBattle of Cirencester.
TheTribal Hidage assessed Hwicce at 7,000hides, an agricultural economy akin to either the kingdom ofEssex orSussex.
The exact boundaries of the kingdom remain uncertain, though it is likely that they coincided with those of the oldDiocese of Worcester, founded in 679–680, the early bishops of which bore the titleEpiscopus Hwicciorum. The kingdom would therefore have includedWorcestershire except the northwestern tip,Gloucestershire except theForest of Dean, the southwestern half ofWarwickshire, the neighbourhood ofBath north of the Avon, part of westOxfordshire and small parts ofHerefordshire,Shropshire,Staffordshire and north-west Wiltshire.[1][2]
The etymology of the nameHwicce "the Hwiccians" is uncertain. It is the plural of a masculinei-stem. It may be from a tribal name of "the Hwiccians", or it may be from a clan name.
One etymology comes from the common nounhwicce "ark, chest, locker", in reference to the appearance of the territory as a flat-bottomed valley bordered by theCotswolds and theMalvern Hills.[3] A second possibility would be a derivation from a given name, "the people of the man called Hwicce", but no such name has been recorded.[4][5]Eilert Ekwall connected the name, on linguistic grounds, with that of theGewisse, the predecessors of theWest Saxons.[6] Also suggested byA. H. Smith is a tribal name that was in origin pejorative, meaning "the cowards", cognate toquake,Old Norsehvikari "coward". It is also likely that "Hwicce" referred to the native tribes living along the banks of theRiver Severn, in the area of today'sWorcester, who were weavers using rushes and reeds growing profusely to create baskets. The modern wordwicker, which is thought to be of Scandinavian origin, describes the type of baskets produced by these early people. However, there are potential objections to many of these possible explanations. For instance,Richard Coates argues that the essence of an ark is that it is closed, rather than open like a valley or plain, that no cognate ofhvikari or contemporary version ofwicker is known, and that no full etymological argument to relateGewisse toHwicce has been advanced.[7]
Stephen Yeates (2008, 2009) has interpreted the name as meaning "cauldron; sacred vessel" and linked to the shape of the Vale of Gloucester and theRomano-British regional cult of a goddess with a bucket or cauldron, identified with aMaterDobunna, supposedly associated withWest Country legends concerning theHoly Grail.[8][unreliable source?] However, his interpretation has been widely dismissed by other academics.[9]
Coates (2013) on the other hand believes that the name has aBrythonic origin, related to the modern Welshgwych[10] meaning 'excellent'.[11] The prefixhy- is an emphatic (roughly meaning 'very') giving something similar to *hywych. Similar known constructions in Welsh includehydda '(very) good',hynaws 'good-natured',hylwydd 'successful',hywiw '(very) worthy' andhywlydd '(very) generous'.[10] Coates notes that the meaning would be "comparable with bombastic British tribal names of the Roman period, such asAncalites 'the very hard ones',Catuvellauni 'the battle-excellent ones' orBrigantes 'the high ones'."[10] Coates does, however, admit that his explanation can also raise objections, not least thathywych is not a recorded and known early or later Welsh word.
The toponymHwicce survives inWychwood inOxfordshire,Whichford in Warwickshire,Wichenford,Wychbury Hill,Wyche andDroitwich inWorcestershire. (The 'wich' part of Droitwich is also commonly thought to refer to salt production in that area.[citation needed]) In addition, the local government district ofWychavon derived the first element of its name from the old kingdom.
The territory of the Hwicce may roughly have corresponded to theRomancivitas of theDobunni.[12] The area appears to have remained largelyBritish in the first century or so afterBritain left the Roman Empire, but pagan burials and place names in its north-eastern sector suggest an inflow ofAngles along theWarwickshire Avon and perhaps by other routes;[13] they may have exactedtribute from British rulers.[14]
According to theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle, there was aBattle of Deorham in 577 in which theGewisse (West Saxons) underCeawlin killed three British kings and capturedGloucester,Cirencester andBath. West Saxon occupation of the area did not last long,[citation needed] however, and may have ended as early as 584, the date (according to theChronicle) of thebattle of Fethanleag, in whichCutha was killed and Ceawlin returned home in anger; and certainly by 603 when, according toBede,Saint Augustine held a conference with British bishops at Augustine's Oak on the border of the Hwicce and the West Saxons.
The Angles strengthened their influence over the area in 628, when (says theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle) the West Saxons fought (the Anglian)Penda of Mercia at Cirencester and afterwards came to terms. Penda had evidently won, but had probably forged an alliance with local leaders, since the former Dobunnic polity did not immediately become part ofMercia but instead became an allied or client kingdom of the Hwicce.
The Hwicce sub-kingdom included a number of distinct tribal groups, including theHusmerae, theStoppingas and theWeorgoran.[15]
The first probable kings of whom we read were two brothers,Eanhere andEanfrith. Bede notes that QueenEafe "had been baptised in her own country, the kingdom of the Hwicce. She was the daughter of Eanfrith, Eanhere's brother, both of whom were Christians, as were their people."[16] From this, we deduce that Eanfrith and Eanhere were of the royal family and that theirs was a Christian kingdom.
It is likely that the Hwicce were converted to Christianity byCeltic Christians rather than by themission fromPope Gregory I, since Bede was well informed on the latter yet does not mention the conversion of the Hwicce.[17] Though place-names show that Anglo-Saxon settlement was widespread in the territory, the limited spread of pagan burials, along with twoeccles place-names that invariably identify Roman-British churches, suggests that Christianity survived the influx. There are also probable Christian burials beneathWorcester Cathedral andSt Mary de Lode Church, Gloucester.[18] So it seems that incoming Anglo-Saxons were absorbed into the existing church. The ruling dynasty of the Hwicce were probably key figures in the process. Perhaps they sprang from intermarriage between Anglian and British leading families.
By a complex chain of reasoning, one can deduce that Eanhere marriedOsthryth, daughter ofOswiu of Northumbria, and had sons by her namedOsric, Oswald andOshere. Osthryth is recorded as the wife ofÆthelred of Mercia. An earlier marriage to Eanhere would explain why Osric and Oswald are described as Æthelred'snepotes — usually meaning "nephews" or "grandsons" but here probably "stepsons".[19]
Osric was anxious for the Hwicce to gain their own bishop,[20] but it was Oshere whose influence was seen behind the creation of thesee of Worcester in 679–680. Presumably Osric was dead by that time.Tatfrid ofWhitby was chosen as the first bishop of the Hwicce, but he died before ordination and was replaced by Bosel.[21] A 12th-century chronicler of Worcester comments that Worcester was selected as the seat of the bishop because it was the capital of the Hwicce.[22]
Oshere was succeeded by his sonsÆthelheard,Æthelweard andÆthelric. At the beginning ofOffa's reign, we find the kingdom ruled by three brothers, namedEanberht,Uhtred and Aldred, the two last of whom lived until about 780. After them, the title of king seems to have been given up. Their successorÆthelmund, who was killed in a campaign against Wessex in 802, is described only as an earl.
The district remained in possession of the rulers of Mercia until the fall of that kingdom. Together with the rest of English Mercia, it submitted toKing Alfred about 877–883 underEarl Æthelred, who possibly himself belonged to the Hwicce.
No contemporary genealogy or list of kings has been preserved, so the following list has been compiled by historians from a variety of primary sources.[23] Some kings of the Hwicce seem to have reigned in tandem for all or part of their reign. This gives rise to an overlap in the dates of reigns given below. Please consult individual biographies for a discussion of the dating of these rulers.
Anealdorman was a high-ranking royal official and prior magistrate of an Anglo-Saxon shire. The term was rendered in Latin asdux,præfectus orcomes.
| Name | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 628 | Kingdom conquered byPenda of Mercia. | |
| Kings | ||
| Eanhere | mid-7th century | |
| Eanfrith | mid-7th century | Brother of Eanhere. |
| Osric | active 670s | Entombed inGloucester Cathedral. |
| Oshere | active 690s | Brother of Osric. Died before 716. |
| Æthelheard | active 709 | Son of Oshere. Issued charter with Æthelweard. |
| Æthelweard | active 709 | Son of Oshere. |
| Æthelric | active 736 | Son of Oshere. |
| Eanberht | active 750s | Not recorded after 759. |
| Uhtred | active 750s – 779 | |
| Ealdred | active 750s – 778 | |
| 780s | Assimilation of the Hwicce into Mercia is completed. | |
| Ealdormen | ||
| Æthelmund | c. 796-802 | Died in battle 802.[24] |
| ?Æthelric | fl. 804 | Son of Æthelmund. His will of 804 requests burial atDeerhurst.[25] |
| Leofwine | d.c.1023 | Father ofLeofric, Earl of Mercia |
| Odda | d.1056 | BuiltOdda's Chapel atDeerhurst for the soul of his brother Ælfric.[26] Buried atPershore.[27] The area of his jurisdiction probably did not include the Hwicce.[28] |
Æthelmod granted land to Abbess Beorngyth in October 680 and was probably a member of the royal family.[29]Osred (c. 693), who was a thegn of the Hwicce, has been described by some historians as a king.[30]
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