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Middlesex, historic county of southeastern England, incorporating central London north of the River Thames and surrounding areas to the north and west. Most of the county, for administrative purposes, became part of Greater London in 1965.

It was first recorded in a Saxon Charter of 704 A.D. as the “Provincia Middleseaxon” making it the third oldest recorded county name after Kent and Essex.

In the late ninth century the shires as we know them today were created. They were parts of kingdoms or provinces which were shorn off to create smaller units, thus Hertfordshire was detached from the Middlesex Province and Middlesex was never a shire.

The Saxons derived their name from seax, a kind of knife for which they were known. The seax has a lasting symbolic impact in the English counties of Essex and Middlesex, both of which feature three seaxes in their ceremonial emblem.

There were settlements in the area of Middlesex that can be traced back thousands of years before the creation of a county. Middlesex was formerly part of the Kingdom of Essex It was recorded in the Domesday Book as being divided into the six hundreds of Edmonton, Elthorne, Gore, Hounslow (Isleworth in all later records), Ossulstone and Spelthorne. The City of London has been self-governing since the thirteenth century and became a county in its own right, a county corporate.

The county was thickly wooded, with much of it covered by the ancient Forest of Middlesex. The highest point was the High Road by Bushey Heath at 502 feet (153 m), which is now one of the highest points in London.

It is arguably never, and certainly not since 1789, had a single, established county town. The City of London could be regarded as its county town for most purposes and provided different locations for the various, mostly judicial, county purposes. The County Assizes for Middlesex were held at the Old Bailey in the City of London.

Middlesex Day is celebrated each year on 16 May. This commemorates the role of the 57th West Middlesex regiment in the Battle of Albuera (1811) in the Peninsular War. During the battle, Lieutenant-Colonel William Inglis, despite his injuries, refused to retire from the battle but remained with the regimental colours, encouraging his men with the words "Die hard 57th, die hard!" as they came under intense pressure from a French attack. The regiment held and the battle was won.