HWICCE

This article appears in Volume V14, Page 24 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: HOR-I25

HWICCE , one of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain. Its exact dimensions are unknown; they probably coincided with those of the old diocese of Worcester, the early bishops of which bore the title " Episcopus Hwicciorum." It would there-fore include Worcestershire, Gloucestershire except the Forest of Dean, the southern half of Warwickshire, and the neighbour-hood of Bath. The name Hwicce survives in Wychwood in Oxfordshire and Whichford in Warwickshire. These districts, or at all events the southern portion of them, were according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 577, originally conquered by the West

Saxons

SAXONS

under Ceawlin. In later times, however, the kingdom of the Hwicce appears to have been always subject to Mercian supremacy, and possibly it was separated from Wessex in the time of Edwin. The first kings of whom we read were two

brothers

BROTHERS, RICHARD (1757-1824)

, Eanhere and Eanfrith, probably contemporaries of

Wulfhere

WULFHERE (d. 675)

. They were followed by a king named Osric, a contemporary of /Ethelred, and he by a king Oshere. Oshere had three sons who reigned after him, lEthelheard, AEtbelweard and 1Ethelric. The two last named appear to have been reigning in the year 706. At the beginning of Offa's reign we again find the kingdom ruled by three

brothers

BROTHERS, RICHARD (1757-1824)

, named Eanberht, Uhtred and

Aldred

ALDRED, or EALDRED (d. 1069)

, the two latter of whom lived until about 780. After them the title of king seems to have been given up. Their successor lEthelmund, who was killed in a campaign against
Wessex in 802, is described only as an

earl

EARL

. The

district

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 King Alfred about 877883 under

Earl

EARL

IEthelred, who possibly himself belonged to the Hwicce. No genealogy or

list

LIST (O.E.
lisle
- LISLE, ALICE (c. 1614-1685)
, a Teutonic word, cf. Dut. lust, Ger. Leiste, adapted in Ital. lista and Fr.
lisle
- LISLE, ALICE (c. 1614-1685)
)
LIST,
FRIEDRICH
- FRIEDRICH, JOHANN (1836— )
(1789-1846)

of kings has been preserved, and we do not know whether the dynasty was connected with that of Wessex or Mercia.
See Bede, Historia eccles. (edited by C. Plummer) iv. 13 (

Oxford

, 1896) ; W. de G. Birch, Cartularium Saxonicum, 43, 51, 76, 85, 116, 117, 122, 163, 187, 232, 233, 238 (

Oxford

, 1885-1889). (F. G. M. B.)

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