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BRETWALDA , a word used in the Anglo-Saxon See also:Chronicle under the date 827, and also in a See also:charter of sEthelstan, See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king of the See also:English. It appears in several variant forms (brytenwalda, bretenanwealda, &c.), and means most probably " See also:lord of the Britons " or " lord of See also:Britain "; for although the derivation of the word is uncertain, its earlier syllable seems to be cognate with the words Briton and Britannia. In the Chronicle the See also:title is given to See also:Ecgbert, king of the English, " the eighth king that was Bretwalda," and retrospectively to seven See also:kings who ruled over one or other of the English kingdoms. The seven names are copied from See also:Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica, and it is interesting to See also:note that the last king named, Oswiu of See also:Northumbria, lived 150 years before Ecgbert. It has been assumed that these seven kings exercised a certain superiority over a large See also:part of See also:England, but if such superiority existed it is certain that it was extremely vague and was unaccompanied by any unity of organization. Another theory is that Bretwalda refers to a See also:war-leadership, or imperium, over the English See also:south of the See also:Humber, and has nothing to do with Britons or Britannia. In support of this explanation it is urged that the title is given in the Chronicle to Ecgbert in the See also:year in which he " conquered the See also:kingdom of the Mercians and all that was south of the Humber." Less likely is the theory of See also:Palgrave that the Bretwaldas were the successors of the pseudo-emperors, See also:Maximus and See also:Carausius, and claimed to See also:share the imperial dignity of See also:Rome; or that of See also:Kemble, who derives Bretwalda from the See also:British word breotan, to distribute, and translates it " widely ruling." With regard to Ecgbert the word is doubtless given as a title in See also:imitation of its earlier use, and the same remark applies to its use in AEthelstan's charter.
See E. A. See also:Freeman, See also:History of the See also:Norman See also:Conquest, vol. i. (See also:- OXFORD
- OXFORD, EARLS OF
- OXFORD, EDWARD DE VERE, 17TH EARL
- OXFORD, JOHN DE VERE, 13TH EARL OF (1443-1513)
- OXFORD, PROVISIONS OF
- OXFORD, ROBERT DE VERE, 9TH EARL OF (1362-1392)
- OXFORD, ROBERT HARLEY, 1ST
Oxford, 1877) ; W. See also:Stubbs, Constitutional History, vol. i.
(Oxford, 1897) ; J. R. See also:Green, The Making of England, vol. ii. (See also:London, 1897) ; F. Palgrave, The Rise and Progress of the English See also:Commonwealth (London, 1832) ; J. M. Kemble, The See also:Saxons in England (London, 1876) ; J. Rhys, See also:Celtic Britain (London, 1884).
End of Article: BRETWALDA
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