Ælle is recorded in early sources as the first king of the South
Saxons, reigning in what is now Sussex, England from 477 to perhaps as
late as 514. The information about him is so limited that it cannot be
said with certainty that Ælle even existed. Ælle and three of his sons
are reported to have landed near what is now Selsey Bill—the exact
location is under the sea, and is probably what is now a sandbank
known as the Owers—and fought with the British. A victory in 491 at
what is now Pevensey is reported to have ended with the Saxons
slaughtering their opponents to the last man. Although the details of
these traditions cannot be verified, evidence from the place names of
Sussex does make it clear that it was an area with extensive and early
settlement by the Saxons, supporting the idea that this was one of
their early conquests. Ælle was the first king recorded by the eighth
century chronicler Bede to have held "imperium", or overlordship, over
other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In the late ninth century Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle (around four hundred years after his time) Ælle is recorded
as being the first bretwalda, or "Britain-ruler", though there is no
evidence that this was a contemporary title. Ælle's death is not
recorded, and it is not known who succeeded him as king of the South
Saxons.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86lle_of_Sussex
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1558:
Francis, Duke of Guise retook Calais, England's last continental
possession, for France.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calais)
1610:
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei first observed three of Jupiter's
natural satellites through his telescope: Io, Europa, and Callisto
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_%28moon%29)
1785:
Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries became
the first to cross the English Channel by balloon.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Channel)
1924:
The International Hockey Federation, the global governing body for
field hockey, was founded in Paris in response to the sport's omission
from the 1924 Summer Olympics.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Hockey_Federation)
1979:
Phnom Penh, Cambodia fell to the People's Army of Vietnam,
effectively ending the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol_Pot)
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Wiktionary's Word of the day:
perspicacious: Of acute discernment; having keen insight; mentally
perceptive.
(
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perspicacious)
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Wikiquote of the day:
You cannot begin to preserve any species of animal unless you preserve
the habitat in which it dwells. Disturb or destroy that habitat and
you will exterminate the species as surely as if you had shot it. So
conservation means that you have to preserve forest and grassland,
river and lake, even the sea itself. This is not only vital for the
preservation of animal life generally, but for the future existence of
man himself — a point that seems to escape many people. -- Gerald
Durrell
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gerald_Durrell)