Wessex in classical heraldry and is found on a number of church windows in derived shields such as the Arms of the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster (Westminster Abbey, which was founded by the king). At its greatest extent Wessex encompassed the modern areas of Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Dorset and Wiltshire, as well as the western half of Berkshire and the eastern hilly flank of Somerset. This covers an area of about . The English author Thomas Hardy used a fictionalised Wessex as a setting for many of his novels, adopting his friend William Barnes' term "Wessex" for
Waverley Novels Waverley Novels The Waverley Novels are a long series of novels by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). For nearly a century, they were among the most popular and widely read novels in all of Europe. Because Scott did not publicly acknowledge authorship until 1827, the series takes its name from "Waverley", the first novel of the series released in 1814. The later books bore the words "by the author of "Waverley"" on their title pages. The "Tales of my Landlord" sub-series was not advertised as "by the author of "Waverley"" and thus is not always included as part of the Waverley