List of monarchs of Wessex

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 ReignIncumbentNotesKingdom of the GewissaeCerdicing dynasty519 to 534CerdicPossibly Celtic, Brythonic, name. King of Wessex (King of the Gewissae)534 to 560CynricSon, or according to some sources grandson, of Cerdic.560 to 591CeawlinSon of Cynric. Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name.591 to 597CeolNephew of Ceawlin, grandson of Cynric.597 to 611CeolwulfBrother of Ceol, grandson of Cynric.611 to 643CynegilsSources derive him from Cynric, but name different dynasty members as his father. Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name to 636CwichelmCo-ruler with Cynegils, perhaps his son of this name.643 to 645CenwalhSon of Cynegils. Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name; DeposedMercian dynasty645 to 648PendaKing of Mercia, expelled Cenwalh.Cerdicing dynasty648 to 672CenwalhRestored; reigned until his death in 672672 to 674SeaxburhOnly queen regnant, ruled after her husband's death.674Cenfus(Disputed) Perhaps reigned between Seaxburh and his son Æscwine. Given a remote descent from Cynric.674 to 676ÆscwineSon of Cenfus.676 to 685CentwineTraditionally son of Cynegils, but this is disputed. Deposed by CædwallaKingdom of the West SaxonsCerdicing dynasty685 to 688CædwallaPerhaps descendant of Ceawlin. Usurper; abdicated, possibly of British origin.688 to 726IneDescendant of Ceawlin. Abdicated726 to 740ÆthelheardPerhaps brother-in-law of Ine.740 to 756CuthredRelative, possibly brother, of Æthelheard.756 to 757SigeberhtDistant relative of Cuthred. Deposed (and killed?) by Cynewulf757 to 786CynewulfAssassinated by Cyneheard, who was the brother of Sigeberht. Direct descendant of Cerdic.786 to 802BeorhtricPossible direct descendant of Cerdic. Son-in-law of Offa of Mercia.802 to 839EcgberhtDescendant of Ine's brother.839 to 858ÆthelwulfSon of Ecgberht.858 to 860ÆthelbaldSon of Æthelwulf.860 to 865ÆthelberhtSon of Æthelwulf.865 to 871Æthelred ISon of Æthelwulf.871 to 886Alfred the GreatSon of Æthelwulf. The only English monarch to be given the epithet "the Great".

Timeline

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.Koch, J.T., (2006) Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, , pp. 392–393.Myres, J.N.L. (1989) The English Settlements. Oxford University Press, pp. 146–147

A number of Cerdic's alleged descendants also possessed Celtic names (see the list above), including the 'Bretwalda' Ceawlin.Ward-Perkins, B., "Why did the Anglo-Saxons not become more British?" The English Historical Review 115.462 (June 2000): p. 513. The last man in this dynasty to have a Brittonic name was King Caedwalla, who died as late as 689.Yorke, B. (1990), Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England, London: Seaby, pp. 138–139

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.

List of monarchs of Wessex

Bron en licentie