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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Mercia
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One of the most powerful of the *Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, occupying the centre of England. By the 8C, when it was ruled by Offa (the builder of *Offa's Dyke), it extended from the Humber in the north to the Thames in the south and from the frontiers of Wales to those of East Anglia. With neighbouring rulers to some extent accepting his supremacy, Offa came closer than anyone since the departure of the Romans to re-establishing England as a political entity. Mercia subsequently declined, under pressure from Danish invasions in the east and the rise of *Wessex in the south.
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