Interesting map video – The History of Wessex by Ollie Bye on You Tube.
“Around 495 CE, a Saxon chieftain named Cerdic arrived in Britain, and by 519 CE had established the Kingdom of the West Saxons (Wessex). During the 6th Century, his successors continued to expand against local Celtic kingdoms.
By the 7th Century, the now Christian kingdom was competing with another Anglo-Saxon Kingdom, Mercia, for supremacy. This continued during the 8th Century, as the kingdom fell under Mercian lordship several times.
Weakened by Dane raids in the 9th Century, Mercia lost supremacy to Wessex. The kingdom lead the defense of Britain as the last independent Anglo-Saxon Kingdom, under King Alfred the Great. From 902 CE, Alfred’s son, Edward the Elder, would reconquer all Dane territory in Britain except York, which finally fell in 927 CE to Edward’s son, Æthelstan, who became king of the English the same year.”
