The ''Sunningas'' were a tribe or clan of early
Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom o ...
, whose territory formed a ''
regio'' or administrative subdivision of the early Kingdom of
Wessex.
The ''Sunningas'' inhabited
Sonning and its environs, in the modern county of
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
; their territory adjoined that of the ''
Readingas'', centered on
Reading to the west, and the ''
Basingas
The Basingas were an Anglo-Saxon tribe, whose territory in the Loddon Valley formed a '' regio'' or administrative subdivision of the early Kingdom of Wessex. Their leader, Basa, gave the tribe its name which survives in the names of Old Basing a ...
'', whose capital was
Basingstoke
Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...
, to the south.
The subdivision retained a role beyond the Anglo-Saxon period as Sonning remained the administrative centre for a distinctive grouping of
hundreds throughout the
Middle Ages.
References
History of Berkshire
Peoples of Anglo-Saxon England
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