heptarchy

[ hep-tahr-kee ]

/ ˈhɛp tɑr ki /

(often initial capital letter) the seven principal concurrent Anglo-Saxon kingdoms supposed to have existed in the 7th and 8th centuries.

government by seven persons.

an allied group of seven states or kingdoms, each under its own ruler.

Origin of heptarchy

First recorded in 1570–80; hept- + -archy

hep·tarch, hep·tar·chist, noun hep·tar·chic, hep·tar·chi·cal, hep·tar·chal, adjective

Even within the short memorials of modern history we find a heptarchy in England.

The Columbiad |Joel Barlow
Mr. O'Mahony had but a confused idea of what the Heptarchy had been.

The Landleaguers |Anthony Trollope
But, as in the Saxon times this country was an heptarchy, it is now a strange sort of pentarchy.

The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. II. (of 12) |Edmund Burke
Milton likens the contests of the Heptarchy to "the wars of kites or crows flocking and fighting in the air."

Charles Sumner; his complete works; Volume 2 (of 20) |Charles Sumner

The Danish invaders expected to set kingdom against kingdom throughout the Heptarchy, and subject them all to the sceptre of Odin.

Legends of the Saxon Saints |Aubrey de Vere

heptarchy

/ (ˈhɛptɑːkɪ) /

government by seven rulers

a state divided into seven regions each under its own ruler

the seven kingdoms into which Anglo-Saxon England is thought to have been divided from about the 7th to the 9th centuries ad : Kent, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, Mercia, and Northumbria
the period when this grouping existed

heptarch, noun heptarchic or heptarchal, adjective