Watt was a king in what is now the county of Sussex in southern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. His existence is attested by three charters that he witnessed, in the reign of Noðhelm, as ''Wattus Rex''. He probably would have ruled between about AD 692 and 725 and there is some suggestion that he may have been King of the Hæstingas.

Charter evidence

Some of the Anglo-Saxon charters that date from the

Kingdom of Sussex la, Regnum Sussaxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the South Saxons , capital = , era = Heptarchy , status = Vassal of Wessex (686–726, 827–860)Vassal of Mercia (771–796) , governm ...

provide evidence which suggests the existence of two separate dynasties in Sussex. The charters of Noðhelm (or Nunna), who ruled Sussex in the late 7th and early 8th century regularly attest a second king by the name of Watt.Kelly. Charters of Selsey. p. lxxviCharter S.45 Northelm, king of South Saxons grants land to his sister.
Retrieved 1 April 2013
Retrieved 1 April 2013
Retrieved 1 April 2013 Watt witnessed a charter from Noðhelm in 692, without any indication of his territory, he also witnessed (again as ''Wattus rex'') a charter where Bruny (Bryni), dux of Sussex, grants to Eadberht, abbot of

Selsey Selsey is a seaside town and civil parish, about eight miles (12 km) south of Chichester in West Sussex, England. Selsey lies at the southernmost point of the Manhood Peninsula, almost cut off from mainland Sussex by the sea. It is bounde ...

, 4 hides. The charter lacks a dating clause but as Eadberht was known to have been appointed bishop in 705 or slightly later, then the charter would have been created in 705 or slightly earlier. Watt is named as a witness on the charter together with Nunna.Kelly. Charters of Selsey. p. 23 Watt is also listed as a witness (as ''Uuattus rex'') of another charter, erroneously dated 775, which is believed to be a late copy or forgery.West Sussex Records Offic
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Retrieved 5 June 2017

King of the Hæstingas

The historian C.T. Chevalier has suggested that Watt may have ruled the Haestingas tribe, which settled around the

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

area of East Sussex. This is because place-names with the name ''Watt'' or ''What'' occur only in the Hastings area of Sussex.C.T. Chevalier. The Frankish origin of the Hastings tribe ''in'' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol 104. pp. 56-62Martin Welch. Early Anglo-Saxon Sussex in Peter Brandon's. The South Saxons. pp. 23-25. The theory has been seen as plausible by other historians.R. Coates. On the alleged Frankish origin of the Hastings tribe ''in'' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol 117. pp. 263-264 Chevalier goes on to suggest that the Haestingas may have been of

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

origin, but other historians reject this part of the theory as it is based solely on a misinterpretation of the place-name evidence.Kelly. Charters of Selsey. p. lxxix

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