a state divided into seven regions each under its own ruler
3.
a.
the seven kingdoms into which Anglo-Saxon England is thought to have been divided from about the 7th to the 9th centuries ad: Kent, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, Mercia, and Northumbria
b.
the period when this grouping existed
Derived forms
heptarch (ˈheptarch) or heptarchist
noun
heptarchic (hepˈtarchic) or heptarchal (hepˈtarchal)