Bede lists Oswiu as the seventh and last king to hold " imperium " ( or bretwalda in the language of the " Anglo-Saxon Chronicle " ) over the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
32.
The " Anglo-Saxon Chronicle " does not list �thelbald as a bretwalda, or " Ruler of Britain ", though this may be due to the West Saxon origin of the " Chronicle ".
33.
According to this analysis, the next bretwalda, �thelberht of Kent, must have been already a dominant king by the time Pope Gregory the Great wrote to him in 601, since Gregory would have not written to an underking.
34.
What Bede seems to imply in his " Bretwalda " is the ability of leaders to extract tribute, overawe and / or protect the small regions, which may well have been relatively short-lived in any one instance.
35.
The exact meaning of " bretwalda " has been the subject of much debate; it has been described as a term " of encomiastic poetry ", but there also is evidence that it implied a definite role of military leadership.
36.
One unusual item was a large'sceptre'in the form of a whetstone that showed no sign of previous use as a tool : it has been suggested that this was a symbol of the office of " bretwalda ".
37.
He secured control of Deira, with his son Alhfrith serving as a sub-king, and for three years, Oswiu's power extended over Mercia, earning him recognition as " bretwalda " over much of Great Britain.
38.
Edwin, who accepted Christianity in 627, soon grew to become the most powerful king in England : he was recognised as Bretwalda and conquered the Isle of Man and Penda, king of Mercia, at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633.
39.
The title of " Bretwalda " appears to have conveyed the status of some sort of formal or ceremonial overlordship over Britain, but it is uncertain whether it predates the 9th century, and if it does, what, if any, prerogatives it carried.
40.
Hence, perhaps, the apparent double meaning of " bretwalda " which Patrick Wormald detected'at once southumbrian and pan-British'. " ( Kirby, 2000 : 18-19 ) qp10qp 16 : 02, 1 June 2007 ( UTC)
