Offa and the Mercian Wars by Chris Peers Page B

entities ranging in size from ‘Myrcna landes’, or Mercia proper, down to tiny groups of 300 hides, which would represent not much more than a cluster of villages. Of the bigger entities, the ‘Hwinca’ are presumably the Hwicce, who at this date still had their own ruling dynasty but were already subject to the Mercian kings, and the ‘Westerna’ are often identified with the similarly situated Magonsaetan, one of whose kings, Merewalh, was alleged to have been Penda’s son (M. Gelling, in Bassett).
    Two possible reasons for this uneven coverage are commonly put forward. One is that this is a Mercian document, probably of the eighth century, drawn up by clerks familiar with the internal subdivisions of their own kingdom, but not with those of their neighbours. On the other hand, if it was produced elsewhere it might reflect the actual condition of the area before the Mercian kings imposed their authority on it. This question cannot be settled from examination of the later surviving copies, but Brooks (in Bassett) argues that it is a tribute list, and that the most likely place of origin is Northumbria, precisely because the Northumbrian kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira do not appear – no king, after all, would impose tribute on himself. If this is correct, the Hidage must date from a period when a Northumbrian ruler claimed some sort of supremacy over the whole of southern England. Brooks favours Oswy’s short-lived supremacy after the death of Penda in 654. The other obvious candidate is Edwin, whose career is discussed below, and who, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, conquered the whole of Britain except for Kent. The Cantwarena might have been included in the list more in hope than expectation, or they may have promised to pay the tribute in order to avoid a Northumbrian invasion.
    Higham (1995) goes even further, suggesting that the list was completed in 626, in a brief period of triumph when Edwin seemed to have cowed even Wessex. It should be pointed out that others dispute this theory, and even doubt that it is a tribute list at all, suggesting that it may have been created in eighth-century Mercia as a sort of primitive census or tax assessment. In favour of an early Northumbrian provenance, however, are the archaic look of many of the ‘tribal’ names, and the suspiciously arbitrary valuations in multiples of 300 or 1,000. It is not likely that these ever bore much relation to the real extent of the territories mentioned, or the resources of their populations. The huge assessment of 100,000 hides for Wessex, in particular, may be deliberately punitive, if not entirely wishful thinking. If the Hidage really is a picture of central England in the 620s it is of great interest for our story. It explains how neighbouring powers could march unmolested across what was later to become Mercian territory to pursue their feuds against each other, because at that time there was no central authority in most of the country. It also explains why the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle prefers to call Penda’s people ‘Southumbrians’ rather than Mercians, because at that time the term ‘Mercia’ was still restricted to one kingdom among many.
    â€˜How the Folk-Kings Flourished’ ( Beowulf )
    At the head of a kingdom, by definition, was a ‘cyning’ or king, and our earliest written sources take the institution of monarchy as given, describing people and places according to their allegiance to geographically based kings and kingdoms. However, it is not clear exactly what distinguished a king from any other aristocratic leader. A king required a military following, but possession of one did not automatically confer the title, as is shown by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’s remark about the thirty commanders in Penda’s army at the Winwaed, that ‘some of them were kings’. The genealogies with which new rulers are routinely introduced in the same