The Westerne were an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

tribe, probably in western England. The name is a genitive plural and probably means "the westerners". They occur only in the

Tribal Hidage Image:Tribal Hidage 2.svg, 400px, alt=insert description of map here, The tribes of the Tribal Hidage. Where an appropriate article exists, it can be found by clicking on the name. rect 275 75 375 100 w:Elmet rect 375 100 450 150 w:Hatfield Ch ...

, an early eighth-century catalogue of kingdoms and principalities produced in Mercia for the purposes of tax or tribute. Little is known about them, not even precisely where they were. Their position in the Tribal Hidage list suggests a location on the western fringe of the Mercian heartland and it is possible that they were associated with the Magonsaetan, who occupied the lands around

Leominster Leominster ( ) is a market town in Herefordshire, England, at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is north of Hereford and south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of 11,700, Leominster is t ...

and

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

. There are very few Anglo-Saxon cemeteries from the area, which may indicate that Mercian rulers took over an existing British political region, possibly that of the Romano-British civitas of the

Cornovii The Cornovii is the name by which two, or three, tribes were known in Roman Britain. One tribe was in the area centred on present-day Shropshire, one was in Caithness in northernmost Scotland, and there was probably one in Cornwall. The name has a ...

. The Tribal Hidage assessment for the Westerne (7,000 hides ranks them alongside other minor kingdoms such as Lindsey, the

Hwicce Hwicce () was a tribal kingdom in 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 ...

, the East Saxons and the South Saxons. It is likely that the area was ruled by an ealdorman, a senior noble representing the interest of the kings of

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= , ye ...

. The tribe became part of the Kingdom of

, but the region continued as a significant political division as late as 1016 when ealdorman Eadric led the Magonsaetan against Cnut.

References

* Peter Featherstone ''The Tribal Hidage and the Ealdorman of Mercia'' in ''Mercia: an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Europe'' (2001)

External links

The Origins of Mercia essay
Peoples of Anglo-Saxon Mercia History of Cheshire Petty kingdoms of England {{UK-hist-stub

See also

References

External links