A succession of monarchs ruled the various independent kingdoms which arose in England following the end of Roman rule in Britain in the 5th century. The most prominent of these kingdoms were Kent, East Anglia, Sussex, Essex, Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria, with each kingdom often recognising their own monarch.
The early genealogies are based on the (semi-historical) Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies as compiled in the 9th century.