Kingdom of Lindsey

Lindsey, the Isle of Lind, was the lesser Anglo-Saxon kingdom of north Lincolnshire, wet island between Humber and Wash from about 450 into the eighth century. Named for Lindum, Roman Lincoln shortened by Saxon mouths, it lay on Witham, Trent and Foss Dyke with Axholme marshes south, Lincoln southwest in unbroken dwelling-place tradition. Angles settled thick in Lindisfaras from the Humber coast while Britons held on, even speaking Brittonic to the eighth century in places. The genealogists run Aldfrith to Woden in Offa's day, Biscop betraying a post-conversion date. Before history proper Lindsey mattered; by the first records it was a prize passed between Deira, Northumbria and Mercia, subjugated perhaps around 500 when Paulinus had not yet come, long before any Dane came. In 625 the missionary stood before Lindum's reeve, the genealogists traced Aldfrith to Woden, and the little kingdom dissolved into Lincolnshire, leaving its name to the north riding.