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List of monarchs of Wessex
monarch of the West Saxons / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of monarchs of Wessex until 927. For later monarchs, see the List of English monarchs. Details for many of the later English monarchs are confirmed by a number of sources. But the earliest kings of Wessex predate many written sources.[1] Wessex was one of the seven kingdoms of the British Heptarchy. This is a later name given to the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England during the early Middle Ages.[2] Besides Wessex it included Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, and Sussex.
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The year 865 saw the arrival of the Great Heathen Army in East Anglia.[3] One by one the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were defeated by the Danes (Vikings). By the close of the ninth century the last four independent kingdoms of England had been reduced to just one.[4] Wessex was the only remaining kingdom not destroyed by the Vikings.[4] Under Alfred the Great Wessex became the core of a unified England.[5] His grandson, Athelstan was the first King of England.[6]