The Cilternsæte (or Chiltern Sætna) were a tribe that occupied the Chilterns, probably in the 6th century AD.[1]
It is unclear whether they were native Britons, Angles, or Saxons. Mortimer Wheeler noted the absence of Anglo-Saxon evidence from the Chilterns and suggested the area was a Brittonic (or Romano-British) enclave into the 6th Century – possibly the remnants of a sub-Roman polity encompassing an area that included London, Colchester, and St Albans.[2] Eilert Ekwall suggested that "Chiltern" might be cognate with the ethnic name "Celt", such as the adjective celto- "high".[3] Earlier, J. Brownbill had suggested the Cilternsæte were a branch of the West Saxons.[4] Other sources claim that they were originally a Middle Angle tribe.[5]
There is some, circumstantial evidence linking four towns supposedly captured from Britons in 571, by a Saxon or Anglian leader named Cuthwulf may correspond to the Cilternsæte. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states "Her Cuþwulf feaht wiþ Bretwalas æt Bedcan forda. & .iiii. tunas genom, Lygeanburg. & Ægelesburg. Benningtun. & Egonesham. & þy ilcan geare he gefor" ("This year Cuthwulf fought with the Britons at Bedford and took four tuns, Limbury, Aylesbury, Benson and Eynsham. And this same year he died").[6] (An Anglo-Saxon tun "town" included significant surrounding countryside.) While Cuthwulf and his battles may be retrospective constructions, the Tribal Hidage (7th to 9th century) described the territory of the Cilternsæte as comprising 4,000 hides. This assessment is relatively large, compared to those of some other tribes of central England. In the Burghal Hidage (10th century) 4,000 hides are also recorded for the three burhs of Oxford, Buckingham and Sashes, corresponding to the tuns of Limbury, Aylesbury, Benson and Eynsham.
The Cilternsæte were definitely part of Mercia in the 7th century.[5]