Editing Hwicce

{{Short description|Tribal kingdom in Anglo-Saxon England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox country
|native_name            = 
|conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the Hwicce
|common_name            = The Hwicce
|era                    = [[Heptarchy]]
|status                 = 
|status_text            = 
|government_type        = Monarchy
|event_start            = Established
|date_start             = 
|year_start             = 577
|event_end              = Assimilated into Mercia
|date_end               = 
|year_end               = 780s
|event1                 = 
|date_event1            = 
|event2                 = 
|date_event2            = 
|event3                 = 
|date_event3            = 
|event4                 = 
|date_event4            = 
|p1                     = Sub-Roman Britain
|flag_p1                = 
|s1                     = Mercia
|flag_s1                = 
|image_flag             = 
|flag                   = 
|flag_type              = 
|image_coat             = 
|symbol                 = 
|symbol_type            = 
|image_map              = Hwicce kingdom.png
|image_map_caption      = Kingdom of the Hwicce (with later counties). Wychwood Forest, a former Hwicce territory, had apparently been lost before 679.
|capital                = [[Worcester, England|Worcester]]
|national_motto         = 
|national_anthem        = 
|common_languages       = 
|religion               = [[Anglo-Saxon Paganism|Paganism]], [[Christianity]]
|currency               = 
|leader1                = 
|leader2                = 
|year_leader1           = 
|year_leader2           = 
|title_leader           = 
|legislature            = 
|stat_year1             = 
|stat_area1             = 
|stat_pop1              = 
|footnotes              = 
}}
'''Hwicce''' ({{IPA|ang|ˈʍittʃe|lang}}) was a kingdom in [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon England]]. According to the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'', the kingdom was established in 577, after the [[Battle of Deorham]]. After 628, the kingdom became a client or sub-kingdom of [[Mercia]] as a result of the [[Battle of Cirencester]].

The ''[[Tribal Hidage]]'' assessed Hwicce at 7,000 [[hide (unit)|hides]], an agricultural economy akin to either the kingdom of [[Kingdom of Essex|Essex]] or [[Kingdom of Sussex|Sussex]].

The exact boundaries of the kingdom remain uncertain, though it is likely that they coincided with those of the old [[Anglican Diocese of Worcester|Diocese of Worcester]], founded in 679–680, the early bishops of which bore the title ''Episcopus Hwicciorum''. The kingdom would therefore have included [[Worcestershire]] except the northwestern tip, [[Gloucestershire]] except the [[Forest of Dean]], the southwestern half of [[Warwickshire]], the neighbourhood of [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] north of the Avon, part of west [[Oxfordshire]] and small parts of [[Herefordshire]], [[Shropshire]], [[Staffordshire]] and north-west Wiltshire.<ref>Della Hooke, ''The Kingdom of the Hwicce'' (1985), pp.12-13</ref><ref>Stephen Yeates, ''The Tribe of Witches'' (2008), pp.1-8</ref>

==Name==
The etymology of the name {{lang|ang|Hwicce}} "the Hwiccians" is uncertain. It is the plural of a masculine ''i''-stem. It may be from a tribal name of "the Hwiccians", or it may be from a clan name.

One etymology comes from the common noun {{lang|ang|[[:wikt:hwicce|hwicce]]}} "ark, chest, locker", in reference to the appearance of the territory as a flat-bottomed valley bordered by the [[Cotswolds]] and the [[Malvern Hills]].<ref>J. Insley, "Hwicce" in: Hoops (ed.) [[Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde]], vol. 15, Walter de Gruyter, 2000, {{ISBN|978-3-11-016649-1}}, p. 295.</ref> A second possibility would be a derivation from a given name, "the people of the man called Hwicce", but no such name has been recorded.<ref>William Henry Duignan, ''Notes on Staffordshire place names'', 1902.</ref><ref>A. H. Smith, 'The Hwicce', in Medieval and Linguistic Studies in Honour of F. P. Magoun (1965), 56-65.</ref> [[Eilert Ekwall]] connected the name, on linguistic grounds, with that of the {{lang|ang|[[Gewisse]]}}, the predecessors of the [[West Saxons]].<ref>Eilert Ekwall, ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names'' (Oxford Clarendon Press, reprinted 1991){{Page needed|date=January 2012}}</ref> Also suggested by [[Albert Hugh Smith|A. H. Smith]] is a tribal name that was in origin pejorative, meaning "the cowards", cognate to ''quake'', [[Old Norse]] {{lang|non|hvikari}} "coward". It is also likely that "Hwicce" referred to the native tribes living along the banks of the [[River Severn]], in the area of today's [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], who were weavers using rushes and reeds growing profusely to create baskets. The modern word ''wicker'', which is thought to be of Scandinavian origin, describes the type of baskets produced by these early people. However, there are potential objections to many of these possible explanations. For instance, [[Richard Coates]] argues that the essence of an ark is that it is closed, rather than open like a valley or plain, that no cognate of {{lang|non|hvikari}} or contemporary version of ''wicker'' is known, and that no full etymological argument to relate {{lang|ang|Gewisse}} to {{lang|ang|Hwicce}} has been advanced.<ref>{{harvnb|Coates|2013|pp=4–5}}</ref>

[[Stephen James Yeates|Stephen Yeates]] (2008, 2009) has interpreted the name as meaning "cauldron; sacred vessel" and linked to the shape of the Vale of Gloucester and the [[Romano-British culture|Romano-British]] regional cult of a goddess with a bucket or cauldron, identified with a {{lang|la|Mater [[Dobunni|Dobunna]]}}, supposedly associated with [[West Country]] legends concerning the [[Holy Grail]].<ref>Stephen J. Yeates, ''The Tribe of Witches: The religion of the Dobunni and Hwicce'', Oxbow Books (2008). Stephen Yeates, ''A Dreaming for the Witches'' (2009).</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=January 2012}} However, his interpretation has been widely dismissed by other academics.<ref>{{harvnb|Coates|2013|p=5}} for instance</ref>

Coates (2013) on the other hand believes that the name has a [[Brythonic languages|Brythonic]] origin, related to the modern Welsh {{lang|cy|gwych}}<ref name="Coates2013_9">{{harvnb|Coates|2013|p=9}}</ref> meaning 'excellent'.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gwych|url=https://geiriadur.uwtsd.ac.uk/index.php?page=ateb&term=gwych&direction=we&type=all&whichpart=exact&submit=Search|website=Geiriadur: Welsh-English / English-Welsh On-line Dictionary|publisher=University of Wales Trinity St David}}</ref> The prefix {{lang|cy|hy-}} is an emphatic (roughly meaning 'very') giving something similar to *{{lang|cy|hywych}}. Similar known constructions in Welsh include {{lang|cy|hydda}} '(very) good', {{lang|cy|hynaws}} 'good-natured', {{lang|cy|hylwydd}} 'successful', {{lang|cy|hywiw}} '(very) worthy' and {{lang|cy|hywlydd}} '(very) generous'.<ref name="Coates2013_9"/> Coates notes that the meaning would be "comparable with bombastic British tribal names of the Roman period, such as [[Ancalites]] 'the very hard ones', [[Catuvellauni]] 'the battle-excellent ones' or [[Brigantes]] 'the high ones'."<ref name="Coates2013_9"/> Coates does, however, admit that his explanation can also raise objections, not least that {{lang|cy|hywych}} is not a recorded and known early or later Welsh word.

The toponym {{lang|ang|Hwicce}} survives in [[Wychwood]] in [[Oxfordshire]], [[Whichford]] in Warwickshire, [[Wichenford]], [[Wychbury Hill]], [[Wyche, Worcestershire|Wyche]] and [[Droitwich]] in [[Worcestershire]]. (The 'wich' part of Droitwich is also commonly thought to refer to salt production in that area.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}) In addition, the local government district of [[Wychavon]] derived the first element of its name from the old kingdom.

==History==
{{See also|History of Worcestershire#Anglo-Saxon}}
The territory of the Hwicce may roughly have corresponded to the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] ''[[civitas]]'' of the [[Dobunni]].<ref>J. Manco, [http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/saxon/dobunni.shtml Dobunni to Hwicce], ''Bath History'', vol. 7 (1998).</ref> The area appears to have remained largely [[Britons (historical)|British]] in the first century or so after [[Roman Britain|Britain]] left the Roman Empire, but pagan burials and place names in its north-eastern sector suggest an inflow of [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]] along the [[River Avon, Warwickshire|Warwickshire Avon]] and perhaps by other routes;<ref>D.Hooke, ''The Anglo-Saxon Landscape: The Kingdom of the Hwicce'' (Manchester, 1985), pp.8–10; Sims-Williams, 'St Wilfred and two charters dated AD 676 and 680', ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History'', Vol. 39, part 2 (1988), p.169.</ref> they may have exacted [[tribute]] from British rulers.<ref>N.Higham, ''The English Conquest: Gildas and Britain in the fifth century'' (Manchester, 1994), chaps. 2, 5.</ref>

According to the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'', there was a [[Battle of Deorham]] in 577 in which the [[Gewisse]] ([[Wessex|West Saxons]]) under [[Ceawlin of Wessex|Ceawlin]] killed three British kings and captured [[Gloucester]], [[Cirencester]] and [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]]. West Saxon occupation of the area did not last long,{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} however, and may have ended as early as 584, the date (according to the ''Chronicle'') of the [[battle of Fethanleag]], in which [[Cutha]] was killed and Ceawlin returned home in anger; and certainly by 603 when, according to [[Bede]], [[Augustine of Canterbury|Saint Augustine]] held a conference with British bishops at Augustine's Oak on the border of the Hwicce and the West Saxons.

The Angles strengthened their influence over the area in 628, when (says the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'') the West Saxons fought (the Anglian) [[Penda of Mercia]] at Cirencester and afterwards came to terms. Penda had evidently won, but had probably forged an alliance with local leaders, since the former Dobunnic polity did not immediately become part of [[Mercia]] but instead became an allied or client kingdom of the Hwicce.

The Hwicce sub-kingdom included a number of distinct tribal groups, including the [[Husmerae]], the [[Stoppingas]] and the [[Weorgoran]].<ref>David P. Kirby, ''The earliest English Kings'' (Routledge, 1990, 2000)</ref>

The first probable kings of whom we read were two brothers, [[Eanhere]] and [[Eanfrith of Hwicce|Eanfrith]]. Bede notes that Queen [[Eafe]] "had been baptised in her own country, the kingdom of the Hwicce. She was the daughter of Eanfrith, Eanhere's brother, both of whom were Christians, as were their people."<ref>Bede, ''The Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ed. J.McClure and R.Collins (Oxford, 1994), p.193.</ref> From this, we deduce that Eanfrith and Eanhere were of the royal family and that theirs was a Christian kingdom.

It is likely that the Hwicce were converted to Christianity by [[Celtic Christianity|Celtic Christians]] rather than by the [[Gregorian mission|mission]] from [[Pope Gregory I]], since Bede was well informed on the latter yet does not mention the conversion of the Hwicce.<ref>J. Manco, [http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/saxon/dobunni.shtml Saxon Bath: The Legacy of Rome and the Saxon Rebirth], ''Bath History'', vol. 7 (1998).</ref> Though place-names show that Anglo-Saxon settlement was widespread in the territory, the limited spread of pagan burials, along with two ''eccles'' place-names that invariably identify Roman-British churches, suggests that Christianity survived the influx. There are also probable Christian burials beneath [[Worcester Cathedral]] and [[St Mary de Lode Church]], Gloucester.<ref>C. Thomas, ''Christianity in Roman Britain to AD 500'' (1981), pp.253–71; Hooke, p.10; C. Heighway, 'Saxon Gloucester' in J. Haslam ed., ''Anglo-Saxon Towns in Southern England'' (Chichester, 1984), p.375.</ref> So it seems that incoming Anglo-Saxons were absorbed into the existing church. The ruling dynasty of the Hwicce were probably key figures in the process. Perhaps they sprang from intermarriage between Anglian and British leading families.

By a complex chain of reasoning, one can deduce that Eanhere married [[Osthryth]], daughter of [[Oswiu of Northumbria]], and had sons by her named [[Osric of the Hwicce|Osric]], Oswald and [[Oshere]]. Osthryth is recorded as the wife of [[Æthelred of Mercia]]. An earlier marriage to Eanhere would explain why Osric and Oswald are described as Æthelred's ''nepotes''&nbsp;— usually meaning "nephews" or "grandsons" but here probably "stepsons".<ref>John Leland, ''Collectanea'', vol. 1, p. 240.</ref>

Osric was anxious for the Hwicce to gain their own bishop,<ref>Charter ''S 51'', MS Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 111, pp. 59-60 (s. xii2)[http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=51 S51]</ref> but it was Oshere whose influence was seen behind the creation of the [[Anglican Diocese of Worcester|see of Worcester]] in 679–680. Presumably Osric was dead by that time. [[Tatfrid]] of [[Whitby]] was chosen as the first bishop of the Hwicce, but he died before ordination and was replaced by Bosel.<ref>Bede, ''The Eccesiastical History of the English People'', ed. J. McClure and R. Collins (1994), p. 212; ''Chronicle of John of Worcester'' ed. and trans. R.R. Darlington, J. Bray and P. McGurk (Oxford 1995), 136–8.</ref> A 12th-century chronicler of Worcester comments that Worcester was selected as the seat of the bishop because it was the capital of the Hwicce.<ref>"The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester" in ''The Church Historians of England'' ed. and trans. J. Stevenson, vol. 2, p.379.</ref>

Oshere was succeeded by his sons [[Æthelheard of the Hwicce|Æthelheard]], [[Æthelweard of the Hwicce|Æthelweard]] and [[Æthelric of the Hwicce|Æthelric]]. At the beginning of [[Offa]]'s reign, we find the kingdom ruled by three brothers, named [[Eanberht]], [[Uhtred of Hwicce|Uhtred]] and Aldred, the two last of whom lived until about 780. After them, the title of king seems to have been given up. Their successor [[Æthelmund]], who was killed in a campaign against Wessex in 802, is described only as an earl.

The district remained in possession of the rulers of Mercia until the fall of that kingdom. Together with the rest of English Mercia, it submitted to [[Alfred the Great|King Alfred]] about 877–883 under [[Earl Aethelred of Mercia|Earl Æthelred]], who possibly himself belonged to the Hwicce.

==Kings and ealdormen of the Hwicce==
No contemporary genealogy or list of kings has been preserved, so the following list has been compiled by historians from a variety of primary sources.<ref>''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', ed. M. Lapidge (Blackwell 1999), 507.</ref> Some kings of the Hwicce seem to have reigned in tandem for all or part of their reign. This gives rise to an overlap in the dates of reigns given below. Please consult individual biographies for a discussion of the dating of these rulers.

An [[ealdorman]] was a high-ranking royal official and prior magistrate of an Anglo-Saxon shire. The term was rendered in Latin as ''dux'', ''præfectus'' or ''comes''.
{|class="wikitable"
!Name
!Dates
!Notes
|-bgcolor="ABCDEF"
|||628||Kingdom conquered by [[Penda of Mercia]].
|-bgcolor="E0E060"
|colspan=3" align="center"|'''Kings'''
|-
|[[Eanhere]]|| mid-7th century ||
|-
|[[Eanfrith of Hwicce|Eanfrith]]|| mid-7th century || Brother of Eanhere.
|-
|[[Osric of the Hwicce|Osric]]|| active 670s|| Entombed in [[Gloucester Cathedral]].
|-
|[[Oshere]]|| active 690s|| Brother of Osric. Died before 716.
|-
|[[Æthelheard of the Hwicce|Æthelheard]]|| active 709 || Son of Oshere. Issued charter with Æthelweard.
|-
|[[Æthelweard of the Hwicce|Æthelweard]]|| active 709 || Son of Oshere.
|-
|[[Æthelric, king of the Hwicce|Æthelric]]|| active 736|| Son of Oshere.
|-
|[[Eanberht]]|| active 750s|| Not recorded after 759.
|-
|[[Uhtred of Hwicce|Uhtred]]|| active 750s&nbsp;– 779||
|-
|[[Ealdred of Hwicce|Ealdred]]|| active 750s&nbsp;– 778||
|-
|-bgcolor="ABCDEF"
|||780s|| Assimilation of the Hwicce into Mercia is completed.
|-bgcolor="E0E060"
|colspan=3" align="center"|'''Ealdormen'''
|-
|[[Æthelmund]]||''c.'' 796-802||Died in battle 802.<ref>''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''.</ref>
|-
|?[[Æthelric son of Æthelmund|Æthelric]]||''fl.'' 804||Son of Æthelmund. His will of 804 requests burial at [[Deerhurst]].<ref>Charter ''S 1187'', 1. BL Cotton Nero E. i, pt 2, 181v (s. xi; short version) 2. BL Cotton Tib. A. xiii, 49r-50r (s. xi1) 3. BL Cotton Tib. A. xiii, 198v-199v (s. xi2)[http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=1187 S1187]</ref>
|-
|[[Leofwine, Earl of Mercia|Leofwine]]||d.c.1023||Father of [[Leofric, Earl of Mercia]]
|-
|[[Earl Odda|Odda]]||d.1056||Built [[Odda's Chapel]] at [[Deerhurst]] for the soul of his brother Ælfric.<ref>Inscription on the chapel: "Earl Odda had this Royal Hall built and dedicated in honour of the Holy Trinity for the soul of his brother, Aelfric, which left the body in this place. Bishop Ealdred dedicated it the second of the Ides of April in the fourteenth year of the reign of Edward, King of the English."</ref> Buried at [[Pershore]].<ref>''Victoria County History of Worcestershire'', Vol.2, p.128.</ref><br>The area of his jurisdiction probably did not include the Hwicce.<ref>See [[Earl Odda]]</ref>
|}

==Other notables of the Hwicce==
[[Æthelmod]] granted land to Abbess Beorngyth in October 680 and was probably a member of the royal family.<ref>Charter ''S 1167'', Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 111, pp. 60-1 (s. xii2)[http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=1167 S1167]</ref>
Osred (''c.'' 693), who was a thegn of the Hwicce, has been described by some historians as a king.<ref>For example he appears on this list of [http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/hwicce.html Kings of Hwicce]. Retrieved on 10 March 2005.</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
{{EB1911 poster|Hwicce}}
* {{Cite book |first=Della |last=Hooke |title=The Anglo-Saxon Landscape: The Kingdom of the Hwicce |year= 1985 }}
* {{Cite ODNB |first=Patrick |last=Sims-Williams |title=Hwicce, kings of the (''act. c''.670–''c''.780) |year= 2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/52342 |url= http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/52342 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Sims-Williams |first=Patrick |title=Religion and Literature in Western England, 600-800 |series=Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 3 |location=Cambridge |year=1990 }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Coates |first1=Richard |title=The name of the Hwicce: A discussion |journal=Anglo-Saxon England |date=2013 |volume=42 |pages=51–61 |doi=10.1017/S0263675113000070 |s2cid=162854566 |url=http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/25802 |issn=0263-6751}}
*https://wikishire.co.uk/wiki/Mercia
*https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesBritain/EnglandHwicce01.htm

{{heptarchy}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:History of Gloucestershire]]
[[Category:Peoples of Anglo-Saxon Mercia]]
[[Category:Petty kingdoms of England]]
[[Category:Sub-kingdoms of Mercia]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 570s]]
[[Category:History of Worcestershire]]
[[Category:History of Warwickshire]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 8th century]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of Europe]]