View source for Tomsaete

{{Short description|Anglo-Saxon clan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
The '''Tomsaete''' or '''Tomsæte''' (dwellers of the Tame valley<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/articles/Willenhall/Beginnings.htm|title=Willenhall History|website=www.historywebsite.co.uk|access-date=2019-03-19}}</ref>) were a tribe or clan in [[Anglo-Saxon]] [[England]] living in the valley of the [[River Tame, West Midlands|River Tame]] in the [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]] of [[England]] from around 500<ref>[http://www.www.applebymagna.org.uk/appleby_history/context.htm Appleby Magna History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090911095920/http://www.applebymagna.org.uk/appleby_history/context.htm |date=2009-09-11 }}</ref> and remaining around [[Tamworth, Staffordshire|Tamworth]] throughout the existence of the Kingdom of [[Mercia]].<ref>[http://www.wirksworthwapentake.org.uk/Interpretation2.pdf "A historical timeline of Wirksworth"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219095924/http://www.wirksworthwapentake.org.uk/Interpretation2.pdf |date=2012-02-19 }}</ref> The tribe was identified as Anglian Mercens who came from the north, following the Trent Valley, and eventually settling along the valleys of the Tame.<ref name=":0" />
An [[Anglo-Saxon charters|Anglo-Saxon charter]] of 849 describes an area of [[Cofton Hackett]] in the [[Lickey Hills]] south of [[Birmingham]] as "the boundary of the Tomsæte and the [[Pencersæte]]",<ref>{{cite book|last=Hooke|first=Della|author2=Sawyer, P. H. |title=Worcestershire Anglo-Saxon charter bounds|access-date=2009-04-13|year=1990|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=0-85115-276-7|pages=135–142|chapter=Ninth-century lease with boundary clause|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5soGrhJ665AC&pg=PA135}}</ref> and another charter of 835 describes [[Humberht of the Tomsaete|Humberht]] as "[[Princeps]] of the Tomsæte",<ref>{{PASE|6430|Humberht 1|accessdate=2009-04-13|cw=1}}</ref> suggesting that the group retained its identity long after being subsumed into Mercia.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last=Kirby|first=D. P.|title=The Earliest English Kings|access-date=2009-04-19|year=2000|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-24211-8|page=10|chapter=The Tribal Hidage|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jfyOVPgSdVsC&pg=PA10}}</ref> The said boundary between Tomsæte and the Pencersæte often had [[Iron Age|Late Iron Age]] hill forts that also served as collecting points for territorial produce.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QJOaFp_qwJ8C&dq=Tomsaete&pg=PT142|title=Cultural Severance and the Environment: The Ending of Traditional and Customary Practice on Commons and Landscapes Managed in Common|last=Rotherham|first=Ian|date=2013-05-09|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9789400761599|language=en}}</ref> As part of Mercia, the Tomsaete was considered an important early group that settled in the heartland.<ref name=":1" />
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110909061909/http://www.conferencesdirect.co.uk/clacton/Mercia2.pdf "Wirksworth Roman Project"]
* On [https://books.google.com/books Google Book Search]:
**  D. P. Kirby, ''The Earliest English Kings''
** Barbara Yorke, ''Kings and kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England''
{{Heptarchy}}
[[Category:Peoples of Anglo-Saxon Mercia]]
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