Kingdom of Kent
| Kingdom of the Kentish | ||||||||||
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Cantaware Rīce Regnum Cantuariorum |
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| Vassal of Mercia (764–769, 785–796, 798–825) Vassal of Wessex (825–871) |
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 The Kingdom of Kent.
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| Capital | Unknown | |||||||||
| Languages | Old English, Latin | |||||||||
| Religion | Paganism, Christianity | |||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | |||||||||
| King | ||||||||||
| • | ?–488 | Hengist (first) | ||||||||
| • | 866–871 | Æthelred (last) | ||||||||
| Legislature | Witenagemot | |||||||||
| Historical era | Heptarchy | |||||||||
| • | Established | c. 455 | ||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 871 | ||||||||
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The kingdom of the Kentish (Old English: Cantaware Rīce; Latin: Regnum Cantuariorum), today referred to as the Kingdom of Kent, was an early medieval kingdom in what is now South East England. Establishing itself in either the fifth or sixth centuries CE, it continued to exist until being fully absorbed into the Kingdom of England in the tenth century.
Under the preceding Romano-British administration, the area of Kent faced repeated attacks from seafaring raiders during the fourth century CE, with Germanic-speaking foederati likely being invited to settle in the area as mercenaries. Following the end of Roman administration in 410, further linguistically Germanic tribal groups moved into the area, as testified by both archaeological evidence and Late Anglo-Saxon textual sources. The primary ethnic group to settle in the area appears to have been the Jutes, who established their Kingdom in East Kent, which was potentially initially under the dominion of the Kingdom of Francia. It has been argued that an East Saxon community initially settled West Kent, before being conquered by the expanding East Kentish in the sixth century.
The earliest recorded king of Kent was Æthelberht, who as bretwalda wielded significant influence over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the late sixth century. The Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons began in Kent under Æthelberht’s reign with the arrival of the monk Augustine of Canterbury and his Gregorian mission in 597. It was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the so-called Anglo-Saxon heptarchy, but it lost its independence in the 8th century when it became a sub-kingdom of Mercia. In the 9th century, it became a sub-kingdom of Wessex, and in the 10th century, it became part of the unified Kingdom of England that was created under the leadership of Wessex. Its name has been carried forward ever since as the county of Kent.
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