There is a very interesting question connected with the position of the two counties in which London is situated. It is necessary to remember that London is older than these counties, whose names, viz., Middlesex and Surrey, indicate their relative position to the city and the surrounding country. We have neither record of their settlement nor of the origin of their names. Both must have been peopled from the river. The name Middle Saxons clearly proves that Middlesex must have been settled after the East and West Saxons had given their names to their respective districts.
There has been much discussion as to the etymology of Surrey, more particularly of the second syllable. A once favourite explanation was that Surrey stood for South Kingdom (A.S. _rice_), but there is no evidence that Surrey ever was a kingdom, and this etymology must surely be put aside.
In Elton's _Origins of English History_ there is the following note, p. 387: 'Three Underkings concur in a grant by the King of Surrey.--Cod. Diplom. 987.' This is a serious misstatement, for the document cited says: 'Ego Frithuualdus prouinciae Surrianorum subregulus regis Wlfarii Mercianorum ... dono concedo,' etc.
Frithwald is here described as 'subregulus' (under-king), subject to the King of the Mercians; and in the attestation clause it is added: 'Et isti sunt subreguli qui omnes sub signo suo subscripserunt.' Their names are Fritheuuold, Osric, Wigherd and Ætheluuold. Each is described as 'testis' merely. This does not seem to imply concurrence; but, even if it does, the title 'subregulus' does not mean an independent sovereign. In the description of the boundaries of the granted land, which is in Anglo-Saxon, the grantor is certainly described as 'Fritheuuold King,' but this cannot mean king in the full sense, and the Anglo-Saxon clause in the charter could not have been intended to contradict the Latin, which designates Frithwald as 'subregulus' throughout.
Dr. Stubbs (_Constitutional History_, vol. i. p. 189), after describing the gradual disappearance of the smaller sovereignties, and pointing out that 'the heptarchic King was as much stronger than the tribal King as the King of United England was stronger than the heptarchic King,' wrote: 'In Wessex, besides the Kings of Sussex, which has a claim to be numbered among the seven great States, were Kings of Surrey also.' The note to this, however, only refers to Frithewold, 'subregulus or ealdorman of Surrey,' and no mention is made of any ruler who was capable of making Surrey into a kingdom.