Editing Kingdom of Kent (section)

===Development and westward expansion: 500–590===
In the sixth century the Kingdom of Kent had some relationship with the [[Merovingian]]-governed [[Kingdom of Francia]], which was then extending its influence in northwestern Europe.{{sfn|Brookes|Harrington|2010|p=46}} Textual sources suggest that Kent may have been under Merovingian control for part of this century.{{sfn|Brookes|Harrington|2010|pp=46–47}} Archeological evidence of Frankish material culture from this period has been found in Kent, but not in other areas of lowland Britain, suggesting a trade monopoly with the Frankish kingdom.{{sfn|Brookes|Harrington|2010|p=47}}

Sixth century Kentish artefacts have been found in continental Europe, in particular in the areas of modern [[Charente]], western [[Normandy]], the [[Rhineland]], [[Frisia]], [[Thuringia]], and southern Scandinavia. They are relatively absent between the [[Raz de Sein|Sein]] and the [[Somme (river)|Somme]] across the [[English Channel]] from the Saxons in Sussex, suggesting that trade was established between particular tribal or ethnic groups rather than by geography.{{sfn|Brookes|Harrington|2010|p=49}}
There is also archaeological evidence of Kentish trade links in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and copies or imitations appearing in cemeteries further afield, in areas such as [[Wiltshire]] and [[Cambridgeshire]].{{Sfn|Brookes|Harrington|2010|p=65}}

Archaeological evidence suggests that at some point in the sixth century, East Kent annexed West Kent.{{sfn|Brookes|Harrington|2010|p=65}}
To the south lay the [[Weald]], a dense forest of no value to the Kentish elite, leaving the fertile area west of the kingdom attractive for conquest, particularly the [[River Darenth|Darenth Valley]] and the dip slopes of the North Downs to the west of the Medway.{{sfn|Brookes|Harrington|2010|p=65}} During the sixth century, while the archaeological record in Kent includes items from [[Jutland]], the dominant influence became [[Francia|Frankish]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yorke |first=Barbara |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26404222 |title=Kings and kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England |date=1990 |publisher=Seaby |isbn=1-85264-027-8 |location=London |pages=26 |oclc=26404222}}</ref>