In 'British Archaeology' (Issue 44, May 1999), Dr. John Schofield writes: "Of all the periods in London's history, the Saxon has produced the most surprises from excavations of recent years. Though the Dark Ages continue to be dark, there is increasing light on this formative period... Within the city itself, however, evidence remains meagre from the collapse of the Roman administration in 410 until the late Saxon reoccupation under King Alfred in the 9th century.  The extent to which the city was occupied during these intervening centuries, with its great Roman buildings slowly crumbling, remains one of London's - as yet - great unsolved mysteries.  By 410, the built-up area within the town walls had already contracted greatly in size. Parts had been cleared of buildings and were already covered by a horizon of dark silts (often described as 'dark earth') suggesting that land was converted to arable and pastoral use or abandoned entirely. The dark earth may have started forming in the 3rd century.  The protection afforded by the walls, however, suggests the town would have remained a centre of some importance, a place of refuge if not an urban centre. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 457 mentions the flight of the British to London after their defeat at Creaganford (Crayford, Kent) at the hands of Hengist and Horsa, leaders of the Saxon invaders. The first documented building work in the walled area after the departure of the Romans was the foundation of the cathedral church of St.Paul by King Aethelbert [Æthelberht] of Kent in or shortly after 604, as recorded by Bede. Its remains presumably underlie the present Wren church and churchyard, though any fragments beneath the cathedral would now be very badly damaged; and no Saxon remains of this period have been identified in excavations either here or elsewhere in the city.  The building of a cathedral does not necessarily imply the continuation of settlement, as it was papal policy to establish cathedrals in former Roman towns whatever their level of population."

Barbara Yorke ('Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England') suggests that conflict between Sigehere and Sæbbi "... provided opportunities for foreign intervention and the rival candidates appear to have looked to different outside kingdoms for support. Sigehere may have thrown in his lot with Cædwalla. A charter of Cædwalla, which Sigehere appears to have witnessed, refers to Sigehere's conquest of Kent. As any such conquest would have occurred at about the same time that Cædwalla's brother Mul became ruler of Kent it is possible that the two men worked together and briefly ruled Kent between them.  Sæbbi, on the other hand, seems to have sided with the Mercian kings, and may have done so as early as 664. After Cædwalla's abdication in 668 Mercian support ensured the supremacy of Sæbbi's family."

Barbara Yorke ('Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England'): "It is not clear how the reigns of Swæfberht and Selered interrelated and whether they ruled jointly or consecutively. Swithred, whose genealogy in the East Saxon collection shows that he was a grandson of the former king Sigeheard, may have been Selered's successor."