define heptarchy
The Heptarchy, according to Bartholomew's A literary & historical atlas of Europe (1914) The Heptarchy is a collective name applied to the seven petty kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England from the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in 5th century until their unification into the Kingdom of England in the early 10th century. The term Heptarchy alludes to the tradition that there were seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, usually enumerated as: East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex and Wessex. The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms eventually unified into the Kingdom of England. The historiograph