The Southumbrians or 'Suðanhymbre' were the
Anglo-Saxon people occupying northern
Mercia
la, Merciorum regnum
, conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia
, common_name=Mercia
, status=Kingdom
, status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex ()
, life_span=527–918
, era= Heptarchy
, event_start=
, date_start=
, ...
. The term might not have been used by the Mercians and was instead possibly coined by the
Deiran or
Bernician people as a territorial response to their own Kingdom of
Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
.
[Blair, P. Hunter, "The Northumbrians and their Southern Frontier", ''Archaeologia Aeliana'', fourth series, 26 (1948), pp. 98-126] The ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' refers to King
Coenred as having become the King of the Southumbrians in 702, two years before he became King of all the Mercians. The fact that Coenred was the son of
Wulfhere
Wulfhere or Wulfar (died 675) was King of Mercia from 658 until 675 AD. He was the first Christian king of all of Mercia, though it is not known when or how he converted from Anglo-Saxon paganism. His accession marked the end of Oswiu of Nort ...
, the Mercian King, implies that Southumbria was a sub-kingdom of Mercia.
More generally, Southumbria is used by modern historians to refer conveniently to all of Anglo-Saxon England south of the
River Humber not in Northumbria, especially in the period before England was unified.
References
{{Heptarchy
Peoples of Anglo-Saxon England