The Middle Saxons or Middel Seaxe were a people whose territory later became, with somewhat contracted boundaries, the county of Middlesex, England. It included the early London settlement, and probably Surrey, the "south region" of the Middle Saxon territory. The name reflects the situation of these people being in the middle between the West Saxons and the East Saxons. Unlike these neighbours, the Middle Saxons did not manage to create a lasting kingdom of their own. Rather, the area became part of the Kingdom of Essex, but was ceded to Mercia in the 9th century (825).