Editing Bretwalda (section)

==Overlordship==
A complex array of dominance and subservience existed during the [[History of Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon period]]. A king who used [[Anglo-Saxon Charters|charters]] to grant land in another kingdom indicated such a relationship. If the other kingdom were fairly large, as when the Mercians dominated the [[Kingdom of East Anglia|East Anglians]], the relationship would have been more equal than in the case of the Mercian dominance of the [[Hwicce]], which was a comparatively small kingdom. Mercia was arguably the most powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom for much of the late 7th though 8th centuries, though Mercian kings are missing from the two main "lists". For Bede, Mercia was a traditional enemy of his native Northumbria and he regarded powerful kings such as the pagan Penda as standing in the way of the Christian conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. Bede omits them from his list, even though it is evident that Penda held a considerable degree of power. Similarly powerful Mercia kings such as Offa are missed out of the West Saxon ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', which sought to demonstrate the legitimacy of their kings to rule over other Anglo-Saxon peoples.