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The name Hwicce survives in Wychwood in Oxfordshire, Whichford in Warwickshire and the Wychavon district of Worcestershire. These districts, or at least the southern portion of them, were originally conquered by the West Saxons under Ceawlin, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 577. In later times, however, the kingdom of the Hwicce appears to have been always subject to Mercian supremacy, and possibly it was separated from Wessex in the time of Edwin.

The first kings of whom we read were two brothers, Eanhere and Eanfrith , probably contemporaries of Wulfhere. They were followed by a king named OsricOsric was a king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the Hwicce, who ruled from at least 676 to 693, the dates of his surviving charters. Osric was probably a son of Eanhere, a previous King of the Hwicce, by Osthryth, daughter of Oswiu of Northumbria. The only, a contemporary of Æthelred of MerciaMercian monarchs For the later earl, see Earl Aethelred of Mercia. thelred (d. 716) was a King of Mercia ( 675 704). He was the brother of Wulfhere, who he succeeded as king. In 676 he ravaged Kent with fire and sword, destroying monasteries and churches, and he by a king Oshere . Oshere had three sons who reigned after him, Æthelheard, Æthelweard and Æthelric. The two last named appear to have been reigning in the year 706Events Umayyad Caliph al-Walid I begins the Great Mosque of Damascus Births Deaths 706..

At the beginning of Offa's reign we again find the kingdom ruled by three brothers, named Eanberht , Uhtred and AldredAldred or Ealdred (d. 11 September, 1069), English ecclesiastic, became abbot of Tavistock about 1027, in 1044 was made bishop of Worcester, and in 1060 archbishop of York. He had considerable influence over King Edward the Confessor, and as his interests, the two latter of whom lived until about 780Events Constantine VI becomes Byzantine Emperor with Irene as guardian. Tang De Zong becomes emperor of China. Drest III succeeds Alpin II as king of the Picts. The city of Osnabruck is founded by Charlemagne (approximate date) Births al-Khwarizmi, Muslim. After them the title of king seems to have been given up. Their successor Æthelmund, 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 to King AlfredAlfred ( 849? 26 October, 899) (sometimes spelt lfred was king of England from 871 to 899, though at no time did he rule over the whole of the land. Alfred is famous for his defence of the kingdom against the Danes ( Vikings), and gained the epithet "the about 877-883 under Earl Æthelred, who possibly himself belonged to the Hwicce. No genealogy or list of kings has been preserved, and we do not know whether the dynasty was connected with that of Wessex or Mercia.

See BedeBede commonly known as the Venerable Bede (c. 672 May 25, 735) was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Wearmouth (today part of Sunderland), and of its daughter monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow. He is well known as an author an, Historia eccles. (edited by C Plummer) iv. 13 (Oxford, 1896);W de G Birch, Cartularium Saxonicum, 43, 51, 76, 85, 116, 117, 122, 163, I87, 232, 233, 238 (Oxford, 1885-1889).

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.