[5] They formed the defined territories of tribes or similar social groupings and were the building-blocks around which the larger Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were governed.
[8] Primary historical sources refer to these areas exclusively in Latin as regiones or provinciae and it is not known what the equivalent contemporary Old English term would have been.
[16] Alternatively regiones may have formed from earlier units based around centres such as hillforts in the aftermath of the end of Roman rule in Britain, subsequently transferred to Anglo-Saxon rulers.
[19] Many small shires have been identified in the area of the south east of modern Scotland that was under Northumbrian control during the early medieval period, but many with identical features have also been identified north of the River Forth in areas that were never under Anglo-Saxon or Roman rule, suggesting that the territories may have even earlier Celtic origins.
[22] They generally conformed to local topography, occupying a geographically coherent area such as a defined stretch of a river valley.
[23] They constituted self-contained and organised economic units of subsistence agriculture[24] including a diverse range of scattered settlements practising a mix of arable and pastoral farming[23] and sharing common grazing land.
[21] Anglo-Saxon England lacked the high volume trade in essential foodstuffs necessary to sustain a large royal household in a single location.
[27] Where they are recorded in charters or by Bede the rulers of regiones are referred to as principes (princes), reguli (kings) or subreguli (sub-kings).