VI. The Kingdom of the East Angles.
The sixth was the kingdom of the East Angles, which contained Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, with the Isle of Ely; where the principal places were Norwich, Thetford, Ely, and Cambridge. It was founded by Uffa in 575, and continued 218 years, ending in 792, when it was united to the kingdom of the Mercians.
VII. The Kingdom of the Mercians.
The seventh and last was the kingdom of the Mercians, or the Middle Angles, founded by Cridda in 582; and contained Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Rutlandshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, part of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Nottinghamshire, and Cheshire; the principal places being Lincoln, Nottingham, Warwick, Leicester, Coventry, Litchfield, Northampton, Worcester, Gloucester, Derby
, Chester, Shrewsbury, Stafford, Oxford, and Bristol: it continued 292 years, and ended in 874; having been governed by 18 monarchs, of whom four were Pagans, and the rest Christians.
Egbert the Great, first King of England.
In the year 829, Egbert, the 17th King of the West Saxons, became sole monarch of all the seven kingdoms, and was crowned at Winchester, in Hampshire, by the unanimous consent both of the clergy and laity, King of England; and immediately afterwards a proclamation was published, whereby it was ordered, that no future distinctions should be kept up among the Saxon kingdoms; but that they should all pass under the common name of England.
Though Egbert was a wise and fortunate Prince, and though the English were a brave and numerous people, after the expulsion of the Picts and Scots; yet no sooner was he well established on the throne, but this island was exposed to new invasions.
In 832, the Danes, having made two descents before, landed a third time with great force at the Isle of Sheppey, in Kent; and in some few months afterwards at Charmouth, in Dorsetshire, with 18,000 men.
In 835, they landed again in Cornwall; but Egbert was then prepared for them, and gave them a total defeat. They renewed their depredations, however, in 836, but were again repulsed. Soon after which, this Prince having reigned King of the West Saxons 36 years, and sole monarch of England upwards of eight, died as great as he lived, and was buried at Winchester, where he was crowned. He was the father, in short, of the English monarchy, and therefore justly entitled to the name of Egbert the Great.