The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain (including both modern-day England and Wales) and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales. It had a land border with the Kingdom of Scotland to the north, and at the start of the period its capital and chief royal residence was Winchester, but Westminster and Gloucester were accorded almost equal status—with Westminster gradually gaining preference.
England as a nation state began in the 9th or 10th century, but broadly traces its origins to the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain and the Heptarchy of petty states that followed and ultimately united. The Norman invasion of Wales from 1067–1283 (formalised with the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284) put Wales in England's control, and Wales came under English law with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542. England was united with the neighbouring Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707. Despite a political union with Scotland, modern England endures as one of the countries of the United Kingdom.
The City of Westminster in London had become the de facto capital by the beginning of the 12th century. London has thus served as the capital of the Kingdom of England, then the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1801) and subsequently—and to this day—as the capital of the United Kingdom.
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