Bretwalda

Bretwalda ( Engl.: the well- rulers ) is a term used in Anglo-Saxon England, which was used in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. With the compilation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was begun in the late 9th century, which was resorted to annals and king lists from earlier times. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle several rulers of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms from the fifth to the early 9th century are referred to with the term " Bretwalda ".

Term

In Manuscript A of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, called the Parker Chronicle, the word Bretwalda is used only once, in an entry that refers to the conquest of Mercia by the West Saxon King Egbert:

He wæs se ... eahteþa cyning se þe wæs bretwalda.

In this context Bretwalda is understood as the ruler of Britain, which is implicitly assumed by a special status Egberts as Overlord.

In the same entry, the names of the seven other kings are mentioned in chronological order:

• Aelle of Sussex ( circa 477- circa 514)
• Ceawlin of Wessex ( 477- circa 514)
• Aethelberht of Kent ( 591-616 )
• Raedwald of East Anglia ( 616-627 )
• Edwin of Northumbria ( 627-632 )
• Oswald of Northumbria ( 633-641 )
• Oswiu of Northumbria ( 641-670 )

Between the death Oswius and the entry Egberts as Bretwalda in the book so there are more than 150 years.

In the form of brytænwalda the term still appears later in Old English interpolation in a spurious charter of King Æthelstans England. However, this reigned 925-939, and at the time can forget the original meaning of the term and, as have been interpreted and used in the course of his claim to all areas of Britain, including Wales and Scotland " ruler of Britain ".

The author of the entry for the year 829 the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle took the concept and the enumeration of the ecclesiastical history of the English people of the Northumbrian monk Bede. In the original Latin, however, Bede reported not by kings, the ruler of Britain were, but used the noun or the verb imperium imperare around the perimeter of the power that had these rulers had to express. Empire could refer to various forms of authority and government power. The use of imperium and imperare by Bede also had stylistic reasons. For one, he used them to regnum as a variant to avoid its repetition, on the other hand preferred Bede the word imperium to describe secular realms while he called the kingdom of heaven rather regnum. If at times in the Bede's Anglo-Saxon England the concept of an Overlord would have existed with quasi- imperial flag, he would have for the existing word used imperator. However, there are only isolated cases in which parallels were indicated by the elevation to the Emperor on the battlefield after the Roman model. One such example is the equipment of the Mercian king Cenwulf after the conquest of the kingdom of Kent with imperial titles, and this seems to be done but only to emphasize its abundance of power.

Bede tried to create the image of an England which consisted of a closed entity. The Mercian kings, however, were not represented in its list of disposing of the empire rulers, despite the fact that, for example, King Penda had destroyed with Welsh allies 633 an army of Northumbria and the supremacy could exert over the previously dominant Northumbria. The fact that Penda had allied himself with the Welsh, and Heath was, should have no influence on the importance Penda for Beda since other pagan kings Aelle and Cealwin, are well represented in his list. Aelle and Cealwin, however, were called to a certain geographical and temporal balance within the Anglo-Saxon England play. Bede mentions in his Church History, moreover, that in the year 731 all southern provinces, that is all the area south of the river Humber, were subject to the Mercian king Aethelbald which he same plenitude of power ascribed to him as the other kings, he had equipped with the imperium. The fact that none of the Mercian kings as the imperium was held wealthy or later referred to as Bretwalda is, due to the fact that Bede wrote from Northumbrian view and that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was edited at a time in Wessex, at the Mercia, especially in the West -Saxon Kingdom had been incorporated, a process which had begun with the defeat of Mercia against King Egbert 829.

The term Bretwalda is therefore a subjective term used, which was used towards the end of the 9th century to illustrate the power and wealth of the claim to power of the dominant kingdom of Wessex. At no time Bretwalda was an institution, or even a title in Anglo-Saxon England, who was a ruler and officially awarded the rank him certain rights and sovereignty brought about other rulers.

Reception

The use of the word Bretwalda in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to describe the status ' king Egberts and former kings, whose name was taken from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English people, gave historians reason to believe that there would have been a title of the of overlords in Britain Anglo-Saxons was born. This concept was particularly attractive as it would lay the foundation for the establishment of an "English " monarchy. So postulated Frank M. Stenton 1943, the inaccuracy of the writer of the corresponding passage in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle will more than offset by the preservation of the English title, which was transferred to this outstanding ruler. The term Bretwalda passe to other documents that pointed to a Germanic origin of the earliest English institutions. This view has, however more and more called into question since the second half of the 20th century. Thus, it is unlikely that the term was ever used as a title or has been in common usage of Anglo-Saxon England. The fact that Bede mentioned no special title for the kings of his list, suggests that there was in his time no such title. Both Bede's concept of an Overlord south of the Humber as well as the one Bretwaldas that seeks to convey the writer of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, are artificial concepts that have no authorization outside the literary context in which they appear. According to these thoughts you can say goodbye to assumptions and theories with regard to political developments that are based on these concepts and associated with it. It is more than doubtful whether the kings of the 8th and 9th century were fixed on the establishment of a gesamtsüdhumbrischen Empire.

In more recent interpretations of the term Bretwalda is, therefore, seen as a complex concept. Currently, it is recognized that it is an important indication interpreted as a chronicler of the 9th century history and tried the West Saxon kings, who turned at that time their power quickly, insert in this story.