heptarchy

American  

[hep-tahr-kee] / ˈhɛp tɑr ki /

noun

plural

heptarchies

1. (often initial capital letter) the seven principal concurrent Anglo-Saxon kingdoms supposed to have existed in the 7th and 8th centuries.

2. government by seven persons.

3. an allied group of seven states or kingdoms, each under its own ruler.

---

heptarchy British  

/ ˈhɛptɑːkɪ /

noun

1. government by seven rulers

2. a state divided into seven regions each under its own ruler

3. 1. the seven kingdoms into which Anglo-Saxon England is thought to have been divided from about the 7th to the 9th centuries _ad : Kent, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, Mercia, and Northumbria

   2. the period when this grouping existed

---

Other Word Forms

• heptarch noun
• heptarchal adjective
• heptarchic adjective
• heptarchical adjective
• heptarchist noun

Etymology

Origin of heptarchy

First recorded in 1570–80; hept- ( def. ) + -archy

Example Sentences

Trifling as this place now seems, it must have been the manor-house of Solihull, under the Saxon heptarchy; but went to decay so long ago as the conquest.

From An History of Birmingham (1783) by Hutton, William

But the priests in the heptarchy, after the first missionaries, were wholly Saxons, and almost as ignorant and barbarous as the laity.

From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 04 by Horne, Charles F. (Charles Francis)

But, as in the Saxon times this country was an heptarchy, it is now a strange sort of pentarchy.

From The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 02 (of 12) by Burke, Edmund

But, as in the Saxon times this country was an heptarchy, it is now a strange sort of PENTARCHY.

From Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke by Burke, Edmund

One thousand years have now elapsed since Egbert laid the foundation of England's glory, by uniting the kingdoms of the heptarchy.

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 10, No. 279, October 20, 1827 by Various