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Wessex was, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, founded by Cerdic and Cynric, although the specifics given by the ASC are considered to be mostly fictitious. The first datable event in Wessex is the baptism of Cynegils around the year 640.
Wessex expanded its boundaries to clash its neighbours, including Celtic Dumnonia (essentially modern day Devon and Cornwall, which it eventually came to dominate), and with Mercia. After King Egbert defeated Mercia in 825 and the Northumbrians accepted his overlordship in 829 Egbert became the first King of England.
The Burghal system of fortified towns (the "burhs") under Alfred the GreatAlfred ( 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, described in both Asser and the ASC and documented in a unique hidage, [1] helped to prevent the conquest of southern England by the DanishThe Danelaw (from the Old English Dena lagu was an area of England under the administrative control of the Vikings (or Danes, or Norsemen) from the late 9th century. The term is also used to describe the set of legal terms and definitions established betw invaders in the 870sCenturies: 8th century 9th century 10th century Decades: 820s 830s 840s 850s 860s 870s 880s 890s 900s 910s 920s Years: 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 Events and trends The Danes invade England (870) and conquer East Anglia. Several battles are fo. The hidage identifies thirty-three forts, which ensured that no one in Wessex was more than a long day's ride from a place of safety.
SouthwarkThe Borough or Southwark(e (pronounced "suthuk" or "suthark") is the area of London immediately south of London Bridge and part of the larger London Borough of Southwark. It has been called The Borough since the 1550s, to contrast it with the neighbouring is included, but LondonLondon is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England, and with over seven million inhabitants in the Greater London area, is the second-most populous conurbation in Europe (after Moscow). From being Londinium the capital of the Roman province of Bri fell beyond West Saxon territory. Important West Saxon settlements included old Roman settlements such as DorchesterDorchester is a market town in south west Dorset, England, situated on the River Frome and A35 road 20 miles west of Poole and five miles north of Weymouth. In 2001 the town had a population of 16,171 and a catchment population of approximately 40,000., or Winchester, which Alfred made the capital in 871, and new burhs such as Wallingford.There is some evidence that kingship in Wessex was not rigidly hereditary. The strongest candidate from the pool of the senior families was elected or forced his control on the lesser kings. The internal feuding produced by this may have delayed the rise of Wessex as a full kingdom, but this is conjecture.
After the Mercian conquest of its original territories in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, its northern boundary was probably the River Thames, and its heartland was the present-day counties of Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, and Berkshire.