Wessex

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Wessex Anglo-Saxon kingdom established in Hampshire, sw England. Traditionally founded by Cerdic (r.519–534), by the beginning of the 9th century it had extended its territory to include much of s England. Egbert (r.802–39) became overlord of all England, but his successors relinquished much of their kingdom to the invading Danes. Alfred the Great managed to resist further Danish encroachment, and Wessex was the only English kingdom to escape Danish conquest.

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