Kingdom of Sussex: Map & History

History

The account of Ælle and his three sons landing at Cymenshore appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of seven vernacular manuscripts, commissioned in the 9th century, some 400 years or more after the events at Cymenshore.

The account describes how on landing Ælle slew the local defenders and drove the remainder into the Forest of Andred. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle goes on to describe Ælle's battle with the British in 485 near the bank of Mercredesburne, and his siege of the Saxon Shore fort at Andredadsceaster (modern day Pevensey) in 491 after which the inhabitants were massacred.

The legendary foundation of Saxon Sussex, by Ælle, is likely to have originated in an oral tradition before being recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Culture

There is significant evidence for Frankish cultural influence on the kingdom of Sussex as well as the neighbouring kingdom of Kent; occasional references in Continental works suggest that Frankish kings may at one point have thought of the people of Sussex and other south eastern kingdoms as their political dependants.

According to Gabor Thomas, there are clear cultural differences between how wealth and status were expressed in South Saxon society compared with Anglo Saxon kingdoms to the north. In the kingdom of Sussex and the neighbouring kingdom of Kent the range of ornamented dress accessories metalwork is significantly more austere and limited that in kingdoms to the north. However alternative status symbols were used fully in Sussex by those with higher status.

Geography

The Kingdom of Sussex had its initial focus in a territory based on the former kingdom and Romano-British civitas of the Regni and its boundaries coincided in general with those of the later county of Sussex. For a brief period in the 7th century, the Kingdom of Sussex controlled the Isle of Wight and the territory of the Meonwara in the Meon Valley in east Hampshire. From the late 8th century, Sussex seems to have absorbed the Kingdom of the Haestingas, after the region was conquered by the Mercian king Offa.

A large part of its territory was covered by the forest that took its name from the fort of Anderitum at modern Pevensey, and known to the Romano-British as the Forest of Andred and to the Saxons as Andredsleah or Andredsweald, known today as the Weald.