Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Government by seven persons.
- noun A state governed by seven persons.
- noun The informal confederation of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms from the fifth to the ninth century, consisting of Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A government by seven persons; also, a group of seven kingdoms or governments: in the latter sense used only in English history, of the seven principal Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A government by seven persons; also, a country under seven rulers.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
government byseven people - noun A
state governed by seven people, or an association of seven states (as in Anglo-Saxon Britain)
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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By the term heptarchy is understood that complexus of seven kingdoms, into which, roughly speaking, Anglo-Saxon Britain was divided for nearly three centuries, until at last the supremacy, about the year
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913
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Egbert established the "heptarchy"; [17] that is, became overlord of all the lesser kings.
The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 04 Rossiter Johnson 1885
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After the Germanic conquest of Britannia, the Anglo-Saxon invaders established a heptarchy of kingdoms across the island, pushing the Celtic Britons into modern Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Scotland and Brittany.
Offa's Dyke Carolingian 2007
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After the Germanic conquest of Britannia, the Anglo-Saxon invaders established a heptarchy of kingdoms across the island, pushing the Celtic Britons into modern Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Scotland and Brittany.
Archive 2007-01-01 Carolingian 2007
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'Doubtless,' says Risdon, 'in the Saxons' heptarchy, it was a town of some note, that felt the furious rage of the merciless Danes. '
Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts Rosalind Northcote
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The kingdoms of the heptarchy, or octarchy, had been united under the dominion of Egbert, the King of Wessex, in the year 827, and thus formed the kingdom of
English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History Designed as a Manual of Instruction Henry Coppee
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The kingdom of Kent having enjoyed a continued peace for about a hundred years, was arrived at a degree of power and riches which gave it a pre-eminence in the Saxon heptarchy in Britain, and so great a superiority and influence over the rest, that Ethelbert is said by Bede to have ruled as far as the Humber, and Ethelbert is often styled king of the English.
The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints January, February, March Alban Butler
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Kent, Sussex, Essex, and the counties of the Saxon heptarchy.
Lynton and Lynmouth A Pageant of Cliff & Moorland F. J. Widgery
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Norman Conquest, being 547 years, and ended in 1066, having been governed by 17 monarchs, during the heptarchy, of whom five were
A Museum for Young Gentlemen and Ladies Or, a Private Tutor for Little Masters and Misses
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One objection made against it is that, upon the analogy of other similar compounds, heptarchy ought strictly to mean a ruling body composed of seven persons.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913
asativum commented on the word heptarchy
Rule by seven cool cats.
June 28, 2008