XIX.—On the Anglo-Saxon Kings denominated Bretwaldas. By Henry Hallam, Esq. V.P. in a Letter to Sir Henry Ellis, K.H. Secretary

Extract

In turning my attention lately to some parts of our Anglo-Saxon history, I was struck by the obscurity attending the nature and extent of the authority pertaining to those shadowy sovereigns, called by the Saxon chronicler Bretwaldas; a name which writers of the 19th century have usually adopted to distinguish them. “Whether,” says Turner, “this was a mere title assumed by Hengist, and afterwards by Ella, and continued by the most successful Anglo-Saxon prince of his day, or conceded in any national council of all the Anglo-Saxons, or ambitiously assumed by the Saxon King that most felt and pressed his temporary power; whether it was in imitation of the British unbenneath, or a continuation of the Saxon custom of electing a war cyning, cannot now be ascertained.”—Vol. i. p. 331 (1828.)