Sublime

Bernician kings of the mid-seventh century were wont to install their sons as equivalent subreguli in Deira, partly as a policy of devolved dynastic government, partly as training and partly so that they could keep an eye on potential rivals coming up on the rails.

The first kings of Early Medieval Britain were not off-the-shelf products of a homogeneous history, geography or philosophy; they were experimenting with new forms of power born out of the necessity to rule self-identifying peoples and regions that generated a directly consumable surplus; by the needs of mobile lords and their warbands.

By the end of the sixth century a number of overlords were able to wield imperium over other kings by virtue of military superiority, political astuteness and luck. The most powerful of these must find a means to administer the increasing complexities of their domains while providing alternative career paths for an ever-expanding stable of rivals a

Ceawlin’s long reign over the West Saxons, from 560 to 592, is, nevertheless, instructive. He was the first of the West Saxon kings whose career is marked by tangible achievements in subduing rivals and poaching their territory. However, looking at the geography of his victories, it becomes clear that his wars were not campaigns of conquest but of