How does Thomas Hardy’s Wessex relate to the historical Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex?

Thomas Hardy’s "Wessex" is not a direct historical recreation of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom, but rather a fictionalized, literary landscape. While the historical Wessex was a powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom that eventually unified England, Hardy adopted the name as a collective, imaginative designation for the counties of southwestern England where he set his novels.123

Hardy, who was born and raised in Dorset, used the term to unify the geography of his fiction, drawing upon the region's deep historical roots to create a distinct setting for his work. While the historical kingdom encompassed areas like Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Somerset, Hardy’s Wessex serves primarily as a literary map of the southwest, blending the real-world topography he knew intimately with his own creative vision.231