Even so, there is general agreement that the kingdoms of Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria housed significant numbers of Britons. Härke states that "it is widely accepted that in the north of England, the native population survived to a greater extent than the south," and that in Bernicia, "a small group of immigrants may have replaced the native British elite and took over the kingdom as a going concern." Evidence for the natives in Wessex, meanwhile, can be seen in the late seventh century laws of King Ine, which gave them fewer rights and a lower status than the Saxons. This might have provided an incentive for Britons in the kingdom to adopt Anglo-Saxon culture. Higham points out that "in circumstances where freedom at law, acceptance with the kindred, access to patronage, and the use and possession of weapons were all exclusive to those who could claim Germanic descent, then speaking Old English without Latin or Brittonic inflection had considerable value."