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. The form of the name used by Bede, 'in regione Sudergeona' (_Hist. Eccles._, iv. 6), may suggest a derivation quite different from any yet suggested. Surrey was originally an integral part of Kent, and when it was severed from that county it became apparently an independent district, a sort of republic under its own alderman. In later times it became subject to the neighbouring kingdoms. At the date of this charter it was under Mercia. It was never reckoned as a separate member of the heptarchy. London fought an uphill fight with Winchester for the position of chief city of Southern England. Under Egbert London grew in importance, but Winchester, the chief town of Wessex, was still the more important place politically. In the trade regulations enacted by Edgar in the tenth century London took precedence of Winchester: 'Let one measure and one weight pass such as is observed at London and at Winchester.' In the reign of Edward the Confessor London had become the recognised capital of England.