Editing Kingdom of Lindsey

{{short description|Minor Anglo-Saxon kingdom in eastern England}}
[[File:Lindsey.svg|thumb|300px|The kingdom of Lindsey]]
The '''Kingdom of Lindsey''' or '''Linnuis''' ({{langx|ang|Lindesege}}) was a lesser [[Anglo-Saxon kingdom]], which was absorbed into [[Northumbria]] in the 7th century. The name Lindsey derives from the [[Old English language|Old English]] toponym {{lang|ang|Lindesege}}, meaning "Isle of Lind". {{lang|la|[[Lindum Colonia]]}} was the Roman name of the settlement which is now the [[Lincoln, England|City of Lincoln]] in [[Lincolnshire]]. ({{lang|la|Lindum Colonia}} was shortened in Old English to {{lang|ang|Lindocolina}} and then {{lang|ang|Lincylene}}.)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anglo-Saxon Chronicle – Parker MS: entry for 942 |url=http://www8.georgetown.edu/departments/medieval/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/asc/a.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501203010/http://www8.georgetown.edu/departments/medieval/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/asc/a.html |archive-date=1 May 2011}}</ref> {{lang|la|Lindum}} was a [[Latinization of names|Latinised]] form of a [[Britons (Celtic tribe)|native]] [[Common Brittonic|Brittonic]] name which has been [[linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] as *''Lindon'' ({{literally|pool|lake}}; cf. [[modern Welsh]] ''{{lang|cy|{{linktext|llyn}}}}'').<ref>Delamarre, Xavier, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, Errance, 2003 (2nd ed.), p. 203.</ref>
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 7th century]]

==Geography==
Lindsey lay between the [[Humber]] estuary and [[the Wash]], forming its inland boundaries from the courses of the [[river Witham|Witham]] and [[river Trent|Trent]] rivers, and the [[Foss Dyke]] between them. A marshy region south of the Humber known as the [[Isle of Axholme]] was also included. It is believed that [[Lindum Colonia|Roman Lindum]] ([[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]]) was the capital of Lindsey: the continuity of the place name suggests continuity of settlement traditions: in 625, Bede recounts,<ref>Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'' II.16.</ref> the missionary [[Paulinus of York]] was received by the ''[[praefectus]]'' of Lindum.<ref>[[H. R. Loyn]], ''Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest'', 2nd ed. 1991:11f, notes that ''praefectus'' is the most usual translation of [[Reeve (England)|''gerefa'', "reeve"]] by Anglo-Saxons writing in Latin.</ref> Place-name evidence is suggestive that the [[Angles (tribe)|Anglian]] settlement known as [[Lindisfaras]] spread from the [[Humber]] coast.

Lindsey means the 'island of Lincoln': it was surrounded by water and very wet land. Lincoln was in the south-west part of the kingdom. During the [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain]], from about 450, Lindsey was one of the lesser kingdoms. Although it has its own list of kings, at an early date it came under external influence. It was from time to time effectively part of [[Deira (kingdom)|Deira]], of the [[Northumbria]]n kingdom and, particularly later, of [[Mercia]]. Lindsey lost its independence long before the arrival of the [[Danelaw|Danish settlers]].
[[File:Britain peoples circa 600.svg|thumb|Southern and eastern Britain in the early 7th century]]

==History==
Toby Martin and [[Catherine Hills]] identify Lindsey as an area in which large-scale settlement by the Angles occurred.<ref>Toby F. Martin, ''The Cruciform Brooch and Anglo-Saxon England'', Boydell and Brewer Press (2015), pp. 174-178</ref><ref>Catherine Hills, ''The Anglo-Saxon migration to Britain: an archaeological perspective'' (2016)</ref> However, a continuing British presence in the region is indicated by the fact that major settlements such as Lincoln, and Lindsey itself, have partially Celtic names. Caitlin Green suggests that some communities may have continued to speak Brittonic until the eighth century.<ref>Caitlin Green, ''The Origins of Louth: Archaeology and History in East Lincolnshire, 400,000 BC-AD 1086'' (2014), pp. 66-67</ref>

Lindsey's prominence was before the historical period. By the time of the first historical records of the kingdom, it had become a subjugated polity, under the alternating control of [[Northumbria]] and [[Mercia]]. Its subjugation may have occurred around AD 500. Its territories were absorbed into the historical [[England|English]] [[county]] of [[Lincolnshire]], the northern part of which is called [[Lindsey (government district)|Lindsey]]. 

===Kings of Lindsey===
The [[Anglian collection]] of [[genealogy|genealogies]], which was created in the last years of the reign of [[Offa of Mercia]], gives a pedigree for Aldfrið, presumed to have been ruler of Lindsey. It traces him to the Anglo-Saxon god, [[Odin|Woden]], likewise made ancestor of the other Anglo-Saxon dynasties, and provides Woden's ancestry for several further generations.

*Geot – Compare the [[Geats]] who are frequently mentioned in [[Beowulf]]'s story.
*Godulf
*Finn
*Frioðulf
*Frealaf
*Woden, the god. 
*Winta – Compare [[Winteringham]] (the homestead of Winta's people) and [[Winterton, Lincolnshire]] (the farm/village of Winta's people).
*Cretta
*Cuelgils
*Caedbaed
*[[King Bubba|Bubba]]
*[[Beda Bubbing]]
*[[Biscop Beding]]
*Eanferð
*Eatta
*Aldfrið

None of the individuals can be securely dated, though the name Biscop, [[Old English]] for '[[bishop]]', suggests a time after conversion. Likewise, the practice of agnatic inheritance akin to [[Tanistry#Blood tanistry|blood tanistry]] in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms means that it cannot be determined which of the listed male-line ancestors of Aldfrið actually ruled the kingdom.  Finally, it is uncertain at what point between Aldfrið and Woden the pedigree ceases to be historical, since this pedigree is the sole source for all of the individuals named, except perhaps Aldfrið.  With regard to Aldfrið, [[Frank Stenton]] referred to the witness list for a charter which includes an "Ealfrid rex", and dated its writing to some time between the years 787 and 796.<ref>Stenton, F. M. (1970) ''Preparatory to Anglo-Saxon England: The Collected Papers of Frank Merry Stenton''; ed. by D. M. Stenton. Oxford:  Clarendon Press, pp. 129-31. The charter is [http://www.aschart.kcl.ac.uk/content/charters/text/s1183.html Anglo-Saxon Charter S 1183 Archive Selsey] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070720073804/http://www.aschart.kcl.ac.uk/content/charters/text/s1183.html |date=2007-07-20 }} [[British Academy]] ASChart Project. Retrieved 1 March 2010.</ref> Scholars now believe that the name on the witness list should read "[[Ecgfrith of Mercia|Ecgfrið Rex]]", and refers to [[Offa of Mercia|Offa]]'s son. He was anointed King of the Mercians in 787, nine years before his succession in 796, and would have been correctly styled ''rex''. Stenton suggested that the name 'Biscop' came from the title 'bishop' and must post-date Paulinus's mission to Lindsey of 628 CE. But, as [[Sarah Foot]] has pointed out, Biscop does not need to have been derived from an external origin. The other genealogies in the Anglian collection close with historic personages whose dates are known, such as Edwin of Deira (616–33), Ethelred of Mercia (675–704) and Ethelbert II of Kent (725–62), but this wide range offers little help in dating Aldfrið.<ref>{{cite book |last=Leahy |first=Kevin |title=The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey: The Archaeology of an Anglo-Saxon Kingdom |publisher=History Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0752441115}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Lindisfaras]]
*[[Lindsey, Lincolnshire]]
*[[Bishop of Lindsey]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last=Leahy |first=Kevin |title=The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey: The Archaeology of an Anglo-Saxon Kingdom |publisher=History Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0752441115}}

==External links==
* [http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/EnglandLindsey.htm Lindisware (Lindissi / Lindsey)] at History Files.

{{heptarchy}}
{{Lincolnshire}}
[[Category:History of Lincolnshire]]
[[Category:Peoples of Anglo-Saxon England|Lindsey]]
[[Category:Petty kingdoms of England]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 5th century]]
[[Category:Sub-kingdoms of Mercia]]
[[Category:Parts of Lindsey]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of Europe]]