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.

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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

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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

He could hardly have been ignorant of what had occurred in England in the century previous—how Alfred had broken up the Saxon heptarchy and made himself practically sole king in England.

From Beauties and Antiquities of Ireland by Russell, T. O.

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

In fact, all traces of the heptarchy, or ancient division of the island into provinces, did not entirely disappear until some years after the Norman conquest.

From Old English Chronicles by Various

Bretwalda, the over-king of the Saxon rulers, established in England during the heptarchy.

From Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook by Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham

You would have England return to the conditions of the Saxon heptarchy.

From The Quest of the Simple Life by Dawson, William J.