List of monarchs of Wessex
Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Anglo-Saxon Kings This is a list of monarchs of the Kingdom of the West Saxons (Wessex) until 886 AD. While the details of the later monarchs are confirmed by a number of sources, the earlier ones are in many cases obscure.
The names are given in modern English form followed by the names and titles (as far as is known) in contemporary Old English (Anglo-Saxon) and Latin, the prevalent languages of record at the time in England.
This was a period in which spellings varied widely, even within a document. A number of variations of the details below exist. Among these are the preference between the runic character thorn (Þ, lower-case þ, from the rune of the same name) and the letter eth (Ð or ð), both of which are equivalent to modern ⟨th⟩ and were interchangeable. They were used indiscriminately for voiced and unvoiced ⟨th⟩ sounds, unlike in modern Icelandic. Thorn tended to be more used in the south (Wessex) and eth in the North (Mercia and Northumbria). Separate letters th were preferred in the earliest period in Northern texts, and returned to dominate by the Middle English period onward.
The character ⁊ (Tironian et) was used as the ampersand (&) in contemporary Anglo-Saxon writings. The era pre-dates the emergence of some forms of writing accepted today; notably rare were lower case characters, and the letters W and U. W was occasionally rendered VV (later UU), but the runic character wynn (Ƿ or ƿ) was a common way of writing the /w/ sound. Again the West Saxons initially preferred the character derived from a rune, and the Angles/Engle preferred the Latin-derived lettering VV, consistent with the thorn versus eth usage pattern.
Except in manuscripts, runic letters were an Anglian phenomenon. The early Engle restricted the use of runes to monuments, whereas the Saxons adopted wynn and thorn for sounds which did not have a Latin equivalent. Otherwise they were not used in Wessex.
List
| Reign | Incumbent | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kingdom of the Gewissae | ||
| Cerdicing dynasty | ||
| 519 to 534 | Cerdic | Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name. King of Wessex (King of the Gewissae) |
| 534 to 560 | Cynric | Son, or according to some sources grandson, of Cerdic. |
| 560 to 591 | Ceawlin | Son of Cynric. Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name. |
| 591 to 597 | Ceol | Nephew of Ceawlin, grandson of Cynric. |
| 597 to 611 | Ceolwulf | Brother of Ceol, grandson of Cynric. |
| 611 to 643 | Cynegils | Sources derive him from Cynric, but name different dynasty members as his father. Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name |
| Template:Circa to 636 | Cwichelm | Co-ruler with Cynegils, perhaps his son of this name. |
| 643 to 645 | Cenwalh | Son of Cynegils. Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name; Deposed |
| Mercian dynasty | ||
| 645 to 648 | Penda | King of Mercia, expelled Cenwalh. |
| Cerdicing dynasty | ||
| 648 to 672 | Cenwalh | Restored; reigned until his death in 672 |
| 672 to 674 | Seaxburh | Only queen regnant, ruled after her husband's death. |
| 674 | Cenfus | (Disputed) Perhaps reigned between Seaxburh and his son Æscwine. Given a remote descent from Cynric. |
| 674 to 676 | Æscwine | Son of Cenfus. |
| 676 to 685 | Centwine | Traditionally son of Cynegils, but this is disputed. Deposed by Cædwalla |
| Kingdom of the West Saxons | ||
| Cerdicing dynasty | ||
| 685 to 688 | Cædwalla | Perhaps descendant of Ceawlin. Usurper; abdicated, possibly of British origin. |
| 688 to 726 | Ine | Descendant of Ceawlin. Abdicated |
| 726 to 740 | Æthelheard | Perhaps brother-in-law of Ine. |
| 740 to 756 | Cuthred | Relative, possibly brother, of Æthelheard. |
| 756 to 757 | Sigeberht | Distant relative of Cuthred. Deposed (and killed?) by Cynewulf |
| 757 to 786 | Cynewulf | Assassinated by Cyneheard, who was the brother of Sigeberht. Direct descendant of Cerdic. |
| 786 to 802 | Beorhtric | Possible direct descendant of Cerdic. Son-in-law of Offa of Mercia. |
| 802 to 839 | Ecgberht | Descendant of Ine's brother. |
| 839 to 858 | Æthelwulf | Son of Ecgberht. |
| 858 to 860 | Æthelbald | Son of Æthelwulf. |
| 860 to 865 | Æthelberht | Son of Æthelwulf. |
| 865 to 871 | Æthelred I | Son of Æthelwulf. |
| 871 to 886 | Alfred the Great | Son of Æthelwulf. The only English monarch to be given the epithet "the Great". |
Timeline
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DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:519 till:886 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:550 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:10 start:520
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from:519 till:645 color:w text:Wessex from:645 till:648 color:m text:Iclingas (Mercia) from:648 till:886 color:w
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from:519 till:534 color:w text:"Cerdic" from:534 till:560 color:w text:"Cynric" from:560 till:591 color:w text:"Ceawlin" from:591 till:597 color:w text:"Ceol" from:597 till:611 color:w text:"Ceolwulf" from:611 till:643 color:w text:"Cynegils" from:626 till:636 color:w text:"Cwichelm" from:643 till:645 color:w text:"Cenwalh (first reign)" from:645 till:648 color:m text:"Penda" from:648 till:674 color:w text:"Cenwalh (second reign)" from:672 till:674 color:w text:"Seaxburh" from:674 till:674 color:w text:"Cenfus (disputed)" from:674 till:676 color:w text:"Æscwine" from:676 till:685 color:w text:"Centwine" from:685 till:688 color:w text:"Cædwalla" from:688 till:726 color:w text:"Ine" from:726 till:740 color:w text:"Æthelheard" from:740 till:756 color:w text:"Cuthred" from:756 till:757 color:w text:"Sigeberht" from:757 till:786 color:w text:"Cynewulf" from:786 till:802 color:w text:"Beorhtric" from:809 till:839 color:w text:"Ecgberht" from:839 till:856 color:w text:"Æthelwulf" from:856 till:860 color:w text:"Æthelbald" from:860 till:865 color:w text:"Æthelberht" from:865 till:871 color:w text:"Æthelred" from:871 till:886 color:w text:"Alfred the Great"
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Family tree
Template:Sfn whitelist Template:Wessex family tree
Use of Celtic names
The Wessex royal line was traditionally founded by a man named Cerdic, an undoubtedly Celtic name cognate to Ceretic (the name of two British kings, ultimately derived from *Corotīcos). This may indicate that Cerdic was a native Briton and that his dynasty became anglicised over time.<ref>Koch, J.T., (2006) Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, Template:ISBN, pp. 392–393.</ref><ref name="Myres, J.N.L. 1989 pp. 146">Myres, J.N.L. (1989) The English Settlements. Oxford University Press, pp. 146–147</ref>
A number of Cerdic's alleged descendants also possessed Celtic names (see the list above), including the 'Bretwalda' Ceawlin.<ref>Ward-Perkins, B., "Why did the Anglo-Saxons not become more British?" The English Historical Review 115.462 (June 2000): p. 513.</ref> The last man in this dynasty to have a Brittonic name was King Caedwalla, who died as late as 689.<ref>Yorke, B. (1990), Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England, London: Seaby, Template:ISBN pp. 138–139</ref>
This is seen as evidence for a British influence on the emerging Anglo-Saxon elite classes within the ongoing debate about whether the Romano-Britons were forcefully expelled or gradually assimilated by the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain.
See also
- List of royal consorts of Wessex
- Governors of Roman Britain
- List of legendary kings of Britain
- Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies
- List of English Monarchs
Notes
References
- Barbara Yorke (1995), Wessex in the early Middle Ages, A & C Black, Template:ISBN; pp 79-83; table p. 81
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