who rules britain before the coming of the anglo saxons
History of Anglo-Saxon England As the Roman occupation of Britain was coming to an end, Constantine III withdrew the remains of the army, in reaction to the barbarian invasion of Europe.[5][6] The Romano-British leaders were faced with an increasing security problem from seaborne raids, particularly by Picts on the East coast of England.[7] The expedient adopted by the Romano-British leaders was to enlist the help of Anglo-Saxon mercenaries (known as foederati), to whom they ceded territory.[7][8] In about 442 the Anglo-Saxons mutinied, apparently because they had not been paid.[9] The Romano-British responded by appealing to the Roman commander of the Western empire, AÃ«tius for help (a document known as the Groans of the Britons), even though Honorius, the Western Roman Emperor, had written to the British civitas in or about 410 telling them to look to their own defence.[10][11][12][13] There then followed several years of fighting between the British and the Anglo-Saxons.[14] The fighting continued until around 500, when, at the Battle of Mount Badon, the Britons inflicted a severe defeat on the Anglo-Saxons.[15]
Kingdom of England The kingdom of England emerged from the gradual unification of the early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms known as the Heptarchy: East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex, and Wessex. The Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, and native Anglo-Saxon life in general. The English lands were unified in the 10th century in a reconquest completed by King Ã†thelstan in 927 CE.
Kingdom of England During the Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda, a high king over the other kings. The decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful. It absorbed the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825. The kings of Wessex became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore, briefly making Egbert the first king to reign over a united England.
England in the Middle Ages Richard spent his reign focused on protecting his possessions in France and fighting in the Third Crusade; his brother, John, inherited England in 1199 but lost Normandy and most of Aquitaine after several years of war with France.[40] John fought successive, increasingly expensive, campaigns in a bid to regain these possessions.[41] John's efforts to raise revenues, combined with his fractious relationships with many of the English barons, led to confrontation in 1215, an attempt to restore peace through the signing of the Magna Carta, and finally the outbreak of the First Barons' War.[42] John died having fought the rebel barons and their French backers to a stalemate, and royal power was re-established by barons loyal to the young Henry III.[43] England's power structures remained unstable and the outbreak of the Second Barons' War in 1264 resulted in the king's capture by Simon de Montfort.[44] Henry's son, Edward, defeated the rebel factions between 1265 and 1267, restoring his father to power.[45]