Editing Kingdom of Sussex (section)

===Capital===
At the time of the South Saxons it is unlikely that they would have had a capital in Sussex. The archaeologist [[Martin Biddle]] said that "the evidence we have for the residences and itineraries of English kings before the Norman conquest is all too thin"{{sfn|Biddle|1981|p=165}} and according to [[Frank Stenton]]  "In the eleventh century the conception of a capital city had not yet taken a definite shape anywhere in the west. The centre of government in England was the kings' mobile court. The king was free to hold a council at any point in his realm.."{{sfn|Stenton|1971|p= 539}} In Roman times Chichester was known as [[Noviomagus Reginorum]] and served as the capital of the ''[[Civitas]] Reginorum'', a [[client kingdom]] ruled by [[Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus]].{{sfn|Cunliffe|1973|p=54}} After the departure of the Romans, Noviomagus appears to have been largely abandoned with the earliest Saxon find, by archaeological excavation, being a small amount of mid-Saxon pottery dated around 8th-9th century.{{sfn|Down|1978|p=341}}{{sfn|Higham|Ryan|2013|p= 245}}{{sfn|Kirby|2000|p=169}}

Before Saxon occupation of Chichester,  Sussex had been annexed, by the Kingdom of Wessex, in the middle of the 7th century.{{sfn|Yorke|1995|p=59}}It was then ruled by Mercia and after regaining its independence, it was finally annexed and then absorbed, into Wessex, in 860.{{sfn|Higham|Ryan|2013|p= 245}}{{sfn|Kirby|2000|p=169}}{{sfn|Welch|1992|page=9}}
The [[Anglo Saxon Chronicle]]  suggests that Sussex was founded in the Selsey and Chichester area, however the archaeology does not support this.{{sfn|Welch|1992|page=9}} What the archaeology does show is that the initial settlement, of the South Saxons, was in the  downland areas, between the River Ouse and River Cuckmere to the east of Sussex. From there the South Saxons migrated to the west of Sussex and by the 680s the area between Chichester and Selsey had  become the political and ecclesiastical centre of the kingdom with the kings residence in ''Orreo Regis'' (Kingsham), south west of Chichester, and Wilfrid's religious centre in Selsey.{{sfn|Haslam|1984|p=25}}{{sfn|Welch|1978|p=29}} According to Martin Welch "After the Romans left there is no evidence for the reoccupation of Chichester till the 9th century", when it was rebuilt and fortified as part of a [[Burghal Hidage|programme of defence]], instigated by [[Alfred the Great]], of Wessex, to protect against Danish raids.{{sfn|Loyn|1991|pp=137-140}}{{sfn|Lavelle|2003|p=33}}