palaces of the archbishops of Canterbury at Mayfield and West Tarring; Amberley Castle, a residence until the 16th century of the bishops of Chichester; and the Elizabethan mansions of Parham and of Danny at Hurstpierpoint. There are many fine residences dating from the 18th century or later; Goodwood is perhaps the most famous. Here and elsewhere are fine collections of paintings, though the county suffered a loss in this respect through the partial destruction by fire of the modern castle of Knepp in 1904.
Monastic remains are few and generally slight. The ruins of Bayham Abbey near Tunbridge Wells, and of Battle Abbey, may be noticed. There are numerous churches, however, of great interest and beauty. Of those in the towns may be mentioned the cathedral of Chichester, the churches of Shoreham and Rye, and the mother church of Worthing at Broadwater. Construction of pre-Norman date is seen in the churches of Bosham, Sompting and, most notably, Worth. There is very rich Norman work of various dates in the church of St Nicholas, Steyning. Several perfect specimens of small Early English churches are found, as at West Tarring, and at Climping near Littlehampton. Perhaps the most interesting church in the county is the magnificent Decorated fragment at Winchelsea; another noteworthy church of this period is at Etchingham, near the eastern border. The church of St Denis, Midhurst, is mainly Perpendicular; but this style is not otherwise predominant. The large church at Fletching, of various styles, contains the tomb of Gibbon the historian. At Cowfold, south-east of Horsham, is a great Carthusian monastery, founded in 1877. The iron memorial slabs occurring in several churches recall the period of the iron industry in Sussex.
Dialect.—A large number of Saxon words are retained and pronounced in the old style; thus gate becomes ge-at. The letter a is very broad in all words, as if followed by u, and in fact converts words of one syllable into words of two, as faüs (face), taüst (taste), &c. Again, a before double d becomes ar, as arder and larder for adder and ladder; oi is like a long i, as spile (spoil), intment (ointment); an e is substituted for a in such words as rag, flag, &c. The French refugees in the 16th and 17th centuries introduced many words which are still in use. Thus a Sussex woman when unprepared to receive visitors says she is in dishabille (déshabillé, undress); if her child is unwell, it looks pekid (piqué), if fretful, is a little peter-grievous (petit-grief); she cooks with a broach (broche, a spit), and talks of coasts (coste, O. Fr.), or ribs of meat, &c.
Authorities.—See T. W. Horsfield, History, Antiquities and Topography of Sussex (Lewes, 1835); J. Dallaway, History of the Western Division of Sussex (London, 1815–1832); M. A. Lower, History of Sussex (Lewes, 1870), Churches of Sussex (Brighton, 1872) and Worthies of Sussex (Lewes, 1865); Sussex Archaeological Society’s Collections; W. E. Baxter, Domesday Book for . . . Sussex (Lewes, 1876) ; Sawyer, Sussex Natural History and Folklore (Brighton, 1883), Sussex Dialect (Brighton, 1884) and Sussex Songs and Music (Brighton, 1885); A. J. C. Hare, Sussex (London, 1894).
SUSSEX, KINGDOM OF (Súŏ Seaxe, i.e. the South Saxons), one of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain, the boundaries of which coincided in general with those of the modern county of Sussex. A large part of that district, however, was covered in early times by the forest called Andred. According to the traditional account given in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, it was in 477 that a certain Ella (Ælle) led the invaders ashore at a place called Cymenes ora and defeated the inhabitants. A
further battle at a place called Mearcredes burne is recorded under the year 485, and in the annal for 491 we read that Ella and Cissa his son sacked Anderida and slew all the inhabitants. Ella is the first king of the invading race whom Bede describes as exercising supremacy over his fellows, and we may probably regard him as an historical person, though little weight can be attached to the dates given by the Chronicle.
The history of Sussex now becomes a blank until 607, in which year Ceolwulf of Wessex is found fighting against the South Saxons. In 681 Wilfrid of York, on his expulsion from Northumbria by Ecgfrith, retired into Sussex, where he remained until 686 converting its pagan inhabitants. According to Bede, Æthelwald, king of Sussex, had been previously baptized in Mercia at the suggestion of Wulfhere, who presented him with the Isle of Wight and the district about the Meon. After Wilfrid’s exertions in relieving a famine which occurred in Sussex the king granted to him eighty-seven hides in and near the peninsula of Selsey which, with a lapse until 709 after Wilfrid’s retirement, remained the seat of the South Saxon bishopric until the Norman Conquest. Shortly afterwards, however, Æthelwald was slain and his kingdom ravaged by the exiled West Saxon prince Ceadwalla. The latter was eventually expelled by two princes named Berhthun and Andhun, who thereupon assumed the government of the kingdom. In 686 the South Saxons attacked Hlothhere, king of Kent, in support of his nephew Eadric, but soon afterwards Berhthun was killed and the kingdom subjugated for a time by Ceadwalla, who had now become king of Wessex.
Of the later South Saxon kings we have little knowledge except from occasional charters. In 692 a grant is made by a king called Nothelm to his sister, which is witnessed by two other kings called Nunna and “Uuattus.” Nunna is probably to be identified with Nun, described in the Chronicle as the kinsman of Ine of Wessex who fought with him against Gerent, king of the West Welsh, in 710. According to Bede, Sussex was subject to Ine for a number of years. A grant, dated by Birch about 725, is made by Nunna to Eadberht, bishop of Selsey, and to this too “Uuattus” appears as a witness. In 722 we find Ine of Wessex at war with the South Saxons, apparently because they were supporting a certain Aldbryht, probably an exile from Wessex. An undated grant is made by Nunna about this time, which is witnessed by a King Æthelberht. After this we hear nothing more until shortly before 765, when a grant of land is made by a king named Aldwulf with two other kings, Aelfwald and Oslac, as witnesses. In 765 and 770 grants are made by a King Osmund, the latter of which is witnessed by Offa of Mercia. Offa also appears as witness to two charters of an Æthelberht, king of the South Saxons, and in 772 he grants land himself in Sussex, with Oswald, dux of the South Saxons, as a witness. It is probable that about this time Offa definitely annexed the kingdom of Sussex, as several persons, Osmund, Ælfwald and Oslac, who had previously used the royal title, now sign with that of dux. In 825 the South Saxons submitted to Ecgberht, and from this time they remained subject to the West Saxon dynasty. The earldom of Sussex seems later to have been held sometimes with that of Kent.
Authorities.—Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 449, 477, 485, 491, 607, 722, 725, 823, 827 (ed. Earle and Plummer, Oxford, 1899); Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, i. 15, ii. 5, iv. 13, 15, 16, 26, v. 18, 19, 23 (ed. C. Plummer, Oxford, 1896); W. de G. Birch, Cartularium Saxonicum, Nos. 78, 144, 145, 197, 198, 206, 208, 211, 212, 1334 (London, 1885–1893). (F. G. M. B.)
SUTHERLAND, EARLS AND DUKES OF. The first earl of
Sutherland was a certain William (d. 1284), whose father, Hugh
Freskin (d. 1204), acquired the district of Sutherland about
1197. Probably about 1230 William was created earl of Sutherland.
His descendant William, the 4th earl (d. 1370), was a
person of some importance in the history of Scotland; he married
Margaret (d. 1358), daughter of King Robert Bruce. His
descendant John, the 9th earl, a man of weak intellect, died
unmarried in 1514.
John’s sister Elizabeth (d. 1535) married Adam Gordon (d. 1537), a younger son of George Gordon, 2nd earl of Huntly, and a grandson of King James I., and before 1516 Gordon became earl of Sutherland by right of his wife. He was succeeded by his grandson John (c. 1526–1567), the 2nd earl of his line, who played his part in the turbulent politics of the time and was poisoned at the instigation of George Sinclair, 4th earl of Caithness. His great-grandson John, the 5th earl (1609–1663), was a strong Covenanter, being called by his associates “the good Earl John”; he fought against Montrose at Auldearn, but afterwards he rendered good service to Charles II. John Gordon (c. 1660–1733), who became the seventh earl in 1703, supported the revolution of 1688 and was a commissioner for the union of England and Scotland. He was a Scottish representative peer in four parliaments, president of the board of trade and manufactures, and lord-lieutenant of the eight northern counties of Scotland. He was active in putting down the rising
