Hep"tarch*y (?), n. [Hepta- + -archy: cf. F. heptarchie.]
A government by seven persons; also, a country under seven rulers.
⇒ The word is most commonly applied to England, when it was divided into seven kingdoms; as, the Saxon heptachy, which consisted of Kent, the South Saxons (Sussex), West Saxons (Wessex), East Saxons (Essex), the East Angles, Mercia, and Northumberland.
© Webster 1913.