The Tomsaete or Tomsæte (dwellers of the Tame valley [1]) were a tribe or clan in Anglo-Saxon England living in the valley of the River Tame in the West Midlands of England from around 500 [2] and remaining around Tamworth throughout the existence of the Kingdom of Mercia. [3] The tribe was identified as Anglian Mercens who came from the north, following the Trent Valley, and eventually settling along the valleys of the Tame. [1]
An Anglo-Saxon charter of 849 describes an area of Cofton Hackett in the Lickey Hills south of Birmingham as "the boundary of the Tomsæte and the Pencersæte", [4] and another charter of 835 describes Humberht as " Princeps of the Tomsæte", [5] suggesting that the group retained its identity long after being subsumed into Mercia. [6] The said boundary between Tomsæte and the Pencersæte often had Late Iron Age hill forts that also served as collecting points for territorial produce. [7] As part of Mercia, the Tomsaete was considered an important early group that settled in the heartland. [6]