Bretwalda

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A term from early English history signifying a monarch who rules over several kingdoms and is regarded as a leader among other rulers
2. A title from the Anglo-Saxon period indicating a king who exercises power over multiple territories and commands respect from fellow monarchs
3. An expression used in early English context to denote a king with authority over multiple realms, seen as a prominent leader among peers

Etymology: Bretwalda is a term that Anglo-Saxon chroniclers used for a king who held power over other kings, and the word itself is far older than most of the kings it describes. Its first element is Old English "Bret", meaning Britain or the Britons, and its second is "wealda", meaning ruler, so the whole word is roughly "ruler of Britain." Its earliest appearance is in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, where it is applied to Ælla of Northumbria and later to Ecgberht of Wessex, showing that the title was recognized as an honour bestowed on the most powerful king of the period. The word stayed in the Old English record and then largely vanished, and it was only revived in modern scholarship, where historians of early England adopted it to name a sequence of overlordships in the seventh to ninth centuries. The term is therefore a learned revival, not a survival from medieval speech. Its meaning, as modern writers use it, is a precise historical label rather than a general word for a powerful ruler.

Synonyms: overlord, warlord