The position, office, or status of being a Bretwalda; the authority exercised by a paramount Saxon king.
Combines 'bretwalda' with the suffix '-ship' (Old English 'scipe'), a common ending used to denote rank, office, or condition, tracking the formal position of these early English overlords.
This word perfectly shows how English speakers could create titles for new political concepts—they took an old word for a ruler and added '-ship' to make it sound official and important, just like modern words like 'leadership' or 'friendship'.
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