From «Brytenwalda» to «Angol Saxonum Rex»: the Emergence and Development of the Discourse of Overlordship in Anglo-Saxon England

Relevance.The article investigates the process of the emergence and development of the discourse of overlordship in early medieval England as a key element of the political history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, based on narrative, documentary, and literary sources. The issue of constant rivalry among Anglo-Saxon kingdoms for political hegemony and the role of overlordship in this process does not lose its relevance for further research. The debatable nature of the issue lies in the presence of a certain contradiction between the idealized discourse of overlordship in the sources and the political reality. The study of the essence of the discourse of overlordship in Anglo-Saxon England and its correlation with the objective reality of the era is crucial for a deeper understanding of the socio-political processes of the designated period. Aim. The goal of this article is an attempt at a comprehensive examination of the emergence and development of the concept of overlordship in Anglo-Saxon England. Methodologically, the research relies on the fundamental principles of scientific validity and historism. It employs general scientific (induction, deduction, analysis, synthesis) and general historical (historical-critical, diachronic, comparative-historical, historical-typological, retrospective) methods. Another important method used in the research is the approach that views written monuments as an active element in the broad cultural discourse and provides for the parallel analysis of political realities and their conceptual understanding. Results. In the course of the research, it was traced that the concept of overlordship in Anglo-Saxon England underwent a noticeable transformation from denoting situational military dominance to a conscious ethnopolitical project. The origins of the discourse of overlordship were examined, which trace back to the chain of military command formed during the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain. It was determined that the early form of overlordship was conceptualized in the term brytenwalda and was not a stable institution but rather belonged to the sphere of courtly poetry and reflected the situational hegemony of the ruler of one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. It was established that in the 8th century, during the reign of the Mercian King Offa, the process of transformation of the overlordship discourse began, shifting from unstable hegemony to consistent unification and centralization. It was clarified that after the collapse of the Mercian political project, its ideological core was picked up and successfully implemented by the West Saxon dynasty. It was determined that the fundamental element in this process was the activity of Alfred the Great, who, against the backdrop of the existential threat from the Danes, managed to adapt the Mercian political project and, by combining it with West Saxon military-dynastic power, initiated the process of creating a unified Kingdom of England under the leadership of Wessex. The central conceptual articulation of this project became his title Angol Saxonum rex. Conclusions. The obtained results indicate that the discursive transformation of overlordship was of decisive significance for the political history of Anglo-Saxon England. The study emphasizes that the transformation of the discourse from the unstable situational dominance of the brytenwalda to the institutionalized concept of Angol Saxonum Rex provided the necessary ideological foundation for the unification of the fragmented Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into a single Kingdom of England led by the West Saxon dynasty.