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44-489: The invented name is based on Cerdic , the name of a 6th-century Anglo-Saxon king (itself from Brittonic Coroticus ). The name was not popularly used until the children's book Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett was published in 1885 to 1886, the protagonist of which is called Cedric Errol. The book was highly successful, causing a fashion trend in children's formal dress in America and popularized

88-406: A deacon. When in a short time Amator died, Germain was unanimously chosen to fill the vacant see, being consecrated 7 July, 418. His education now served him in good stead in the government of the diocese, which he administered with great sagacity. He distributed his goods among the poor, practised great austerities, and built a large monastery dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian on the banks of

132-666: A dream, revealing the details of his martyrdom. Some scholars have even interpreted the relevant passage in a postscript to the Passio Albani as implying the saint's name was unknown before it was revealed to Germanus but other scholars have disputed this. When Germanus awoke, he had the account written down in tituli , possibly to be engraved on the walls or illustrated placards at a church site, either in Britain, or in Auxerre. It has been suggested that this account formed

176-543: A fawning multitude'. The bishops debated and, despite having no popular support, Germanus was able to defeat the Pelagians using his superior rhetorical skills. Constantius also recounts the miraculous healing of the blind daughter of 'a man with tribunician power'. This use of the word tribune may imply the existence of some form of post-Roman government system. However, in Constantius' lifetime tribune had acquired

220-533: A link to Germanus. Germanus was the son of Rusticus and Germanilla, and his family was one of the noblest in Gaul in the latter portion of the fourth century. He received the very best education provided by the distinguished schools of Arles and Lyons , and then went to Rome , where he studied eloquence and civil law. He practiced there before the tribunal of the prefect for some years with great success. His high birth and brilliant talents brought him into contact with

264-595: A looser definition, and often was used to indicate any military officer, whether part of the Imperial army or part of a town militia. Germanus led the native Britons to a victory against Pictish and Saxon raiders, at a mountainous site near a river, of which Mold in North Wales is the traditional location. The enemy approaching, the former general put himself at the head of the Christians. He led them into

308-527: A pedigree tracing the ancestry of the kings of Bernicia , and hence before the generation of Cerdic himself the Wessex pedigree has no historical basis. The pedigree gives Cerdic's father as Elesa, who has been identified by some scholars with the Romano-Briton Elasius, the "chief of the region", met by Germanus of Auxerre . J. N. L. Myres noted that when Cerdic and Cynric first appear in

352-402: A second visit to Britain in the mid 430s or mid 440s, though this is contested by some scholars who suggest it may be a 'doublet' or variant version of the visit that has been mistaken as describing a different visit and erroneously included as such by Constantius, according to whom Germanus was joined by Severus, Bishop of Trier and met Elafius, "one of the leading men of the country". Germanus

396-491: A vale between two high mountains, and ordered his troops shout when he gave them a sign. When the Saxon pirates came near them, he cried out thrice, Alleluia, which was followed by the whole army of Britons. The sound echoed from the hills with a noise so loud that the barbarians, judging from the shout that they were facing a mighty army, flung down their arms and ran away, leaving behind their baggage and booty. Immediately after

440-871: Is a Church in Wales (Anglican) parish church by Bodley , opened in 1884. Germanus is traditionally credited with the establishment of the Diocese of Sodor and Man on the Isle of Man , though this may have been a different man of a similar name. In the medieval tradition Germanus was frequently conflated with the Welsh Saint Garmon, who is commemorated in several North Wales placenames and church dedications, including Capel Garmon , Llanarmon , Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog , Llanarmon Mynydd Mawr , Llanarmon-yn-Iâl , Llanfechain and Castle Caereinion . However, Sabine Baring-Gould and Fisher argued that Saint Garmon

484-686: Is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as a leader of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain , being the founder and first king of Wessex , reigning from around 519 to 534 AD. Subsequent kings of Wessex were each claimed by the Chronicle to descend in some manner from Cerdic. His origin, ethnicity, and even his very existence have been extensively disputed. However, though claimed as the founder of Wessex by later West Saxon kings, he would have been known to contemporaries as king of

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528-846: Is listed under July 31. He is described as 'passing at Ravenna, a bishop who defended Britain against the Pelagian heresy and travelled to make peace for Armorica'. The former priory church at St Germans in Cornwall bears his name and was in late Saxon times the seat of a bishop . A few other churches in England are dedicated to the saint, including St Germain's Church, Edgbaston , in Birmingham, St Germanus' Church, Faulkbourne , in Essex and St Germanus' Church, Rame , in Cornwall, as well as

572-586: Is purely a legendary figure, but this is a minority view. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , the earliest source for Cerdic, was put together in the late ninth century; though it probably does record the extant tradition of the founding of Wessex, the intervening 400 years mean that the account cannot be assumed to be accurate. The annals of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , along with the genealogical descents embedded in that source's accounts of later kings, describe Cerdic's succession by his son Cynric. However,

616-560: Is said to have cured Elafius' enfeebled son by a miracle that served to persuade the population that Gaulish Catholicism rather than Pelagianism was the true faith. According to a legend recorded in the Historia Brittonum of circa 829 it is during this second visit, around 447, that Germanus is said to have condemned for incest and other crimes Guorthigern, identified with the ' Vortigern ' of Welsh tradition. Vortigern ordered his daughter to bring her child to Germanus and name

660-522: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in s.a. 495 they are described as ealdormen , which at that point in time was a fairly junior rank. Myres remarks that: It is thus odd to find it used here to describe the leaders of what purports to be an independent band of invaders, whose origins and authority are not otherwise specified. It looks very much as if a hint is being conveyed that Cerdic and his people owed their standing to having been already concerned with administrative affairs under Roman authority on this part of

704-457: The Battle of Mount Badon , probably fought in 490 (and possibly later, but not later than 518). This cannot be the case if Dumville is correct, and others assign this battle to Ælle or another Saxon leader, so it appears likely that the origins of the kingdom of Wessex are more complex than the version provided by the surviving traditions. Some scholars have gone so far as to suggest that Cerdic

748-500: The Chronicle and the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List , which drew on a list of kings now lost, David Dumville showed that the earliest texts mentioning Cerdic must have put his reign as 538–554. (Through adaptation of this chronology, the beginning of Cerdic's reign was moved first from 538 to 519 and then again to 500. The resulting chronological gap between the beginning of Cerdic's dynasty and

792-726: The Gewissae , a folk or tribal group. The first king of the Gewissae to call himself 'King of the West Saxons', was Cædwalla , in a charter of 686. The name Ċerdiċ is thought by most scholars to be Brittonic rather than Germanic in origin. According to the Brittonic origin hypothesis, Ċerdiċ is derived from the British name *Caratīcos or Corotīcos (whose Old Welsh form was Ceretic ). This may indicate that Cerdic

836-438: The Isle of Wight is mentioned among his campaigns, and it later was given to his kinsmen Stuf and Wihtgar (who supposedly arrived with the West Saxons in 514). Cerdic is said by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to have died in 534, succeeded by his son Cynric. The early history of Wessex in the Chronicle has been considered unreliable, with duplicate reports of events and seemingly contradictory information. By careful analysis of

880-747: The Litus Saxonicum . As such he may well have been entrusted in the last days of Roman, or sub-Roman authority with its defence. He would then be what in later Anglo-Saxon terminology could be described as an ealdorman ... If such a dominant native family as that of Cerdic had already developed blood-relationships with existing Saxon and Jutish settlers at this end of the Saxon Shore, it could very well be tempted, once effective Roman authority had faded, to go further. It might have taken matters into its own hands and after eliminating any surviving pockets of resistance by competing British chieftains, such as

924-628: The Pope that the British church would not break away from the Augustinian teachings of divine grace . On the way to Britain they passed through Nanterre, where Germanus noticed in the crowd which met them a young girl, whom he bade live as one espoused to Christ, and who later became St. Geneviève of Paris. Germanus and Lupus confronted the British clergy at a public meeting before a huge crowd in Britain. The Pelagians were described as being 'conspicuous for riches, brilliant in dress and surrounded by

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968-585: The Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, which commemorate him on 31 July. The principal source for the events of his life is the Vita Germani , a hagiography written by Constantius of Lyon around 480, and a brief passage added onto the end of the Passio Albani , which may possibly have been written or commissioned by Germanus. Constantius was a friend of Bishop Lupus of Troyes , who accompanied Germanus to Britain, which provided him with

1012-523: The Yonne , whither he was wont to retire in his spare moments. Around 429, about twenty years after the Roman administration had been ejected from Britain, a Gaulish assembly of bishops chose Germanus and Lupus, Bishop of Troyes , to visit the island. It was alleged that Pelagianism was rife among the British clergy, led by a British bishop's son named Agricola. Germanus went to combat the threat and satisfy

1056-701: The 1990s and in the 2000s. It was among the top 100 names for boys in Switzerland between 1998 and 2004. Cedric Diggory is a character in the Harry Potter novel series by J.K. Rowling and films based on the novels. The name was also applied to Nissan 's executive car between 1960 and 2004 (private use) and 2015 (taxi) as Nissan Cedric . For the Moto G5 smartphone was Cedric as codename applied. Cerdic Cerdic ( / ˈ tʃ ɜːr d ɪ tʃ / CHER -ditch ; Latin : Cerdicus )

1100-755: The Genealogical Regnal List that served as preface to the Chronicle manuscripts instead interposes a generation between them, indicating that Cerdic was father of Creoda and grandfather of Cynric. Descent from Cerdic became a necessary qualification for later kings of Wessex, and he was claimed ancestor of Ecgberht, King of Wessex , progenitor of the English royal house and subsequent rulers of England and Britain . Germanus of Auxerre Germanus of Auxerre ( Latin : Germanus Antissiodorensis ; Welsh : Garmon Sant ; French : Saint Germain l'Auxerrois ; c. 378 – c. 442–448 AD)

1144-414: The Saxon Shore. Furthermore, it is not until s.a. 519 that Cerdic and Cynric are recorded as "beginning to reign", suggesting that they ceased being dependent vassals or ealdormen and became independent kings in their own right. Summing up, Myres believed that: It is thus possible ... to think of Cerdic as the head of a partly British noble family with extensive territorial interests at the western end of

1188-518: The basis of the Passio Albani , the foundational text of all information about Saint Alban: while this is fundamentally unprovable the evidence is strong that the Passio originated within the circle of Germanus at Auxerre. Germanus then deposited some of the bones of continental saints in the basilica, and took a sample of the earth at the site of Alban's martyrdom, which still bore the marks of

1232-465: The bishop as its father. The scheme having failed, Vortigern was cursed by Germanus and the council of Britons, and fled into Wales followed by Germanus and the clergy. They pursued him to a castle on the river Teifi, where they fasted and prayed for three days and three nights. Finally, fire fell from heaven consuming the castle, the guilty king, and his company. While the story appears to have no historical basis, it does indicate in what reverence Germanus

1276-579: The church at Germansweek in Devon . The name of the civil parish of Wiggenhall St Germans in Norfolk reflects a church dedication. In Wales, Germanus is remembered as an early influence on the Celtic Church. In the current Roman Catholic liturgical calendar for Wales, he is commemorated on August 3, July 31 being designated for Ignatius of Loyola . In Adamsdown , Cardiff , St German's Church

1320-690: The church of the Abbey of Saint-Germain d'Auxerre , which although now part of municipal museum remains open for worship at stated times. There is a tradition of a panegyric on the Sunday nearest to or preceding his festival in July. The cult of Saint Germanus of Auxerre spread in northern France , hence the church Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois facing the Louvre in Paris . His cult is clearly distinguished from that of

1364-512: The court, and he married Eustachia, a lady highly esteemed in imperial circles. The emperor sent him back to Gaul, appointing him one of the six dukes, entrusted with the government of the Gallic provinces. He resided at Auxerre. At length he incurred the displeasure of the bishop, Saint Amator by hanging hunting trophies on a certain tree, which in earlier times had been the scene of pagan worship. Amator remonstrated with him in vain. One day when

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1408-403: The debate with the Pelagians, Germanus gave thanks for his victory at the grave of Saint Alban , which was likely in some sort of tomb or basilica. Some translators use the word "shrine"; this word, which is not the original Latin, would have suggested that the cult of Saint Alban had been established before Germanus' visit to Britain. That night, Germanus claimed that Saint Alban came to him in

1452-507: The duke was absent, the bishop had the tree cut down and the trophies burnt. Fearing the anger of the duke, who wished to kill him, he fled and appealed to the prefect Julius for permission to confer the tonsure on Germain. This being granted, Amator, who felt that his own life was drawing to a close, returned. When the duke came to the church, Amator caused the doors to be barred and gave him the tonsure against his will, telling him to live as one destined to be his successor, and forthwith made him

1496-560: The given name. People named Cedric born in the years following the novel's publication include British naval officer Cedric Holland (1889–1950), American war pilot Cedric Fauntleroy (1891–1973), Irish art director Austin Cedric Gibbons (1893–1960) and British actor Cedric Hardwicke (1893–1964). The name has ranked among the top 1,000 names for boys in the United States at different points since 1903. It ranked 958th on

1540-606: The homonymous Saint Germanus of Paris . He is associated with the church at Charonne in the east of Paris and the cult of Saint Genevieve (Genoveva) in Nanterre to the west of the city, both situated on the late Roman road network. His journey to Britain is commemorated in his dedications at Siouville and at Saint-Germain-les-Vaux in the Cotentin (Manche). In the 2004 edition of the Roman Martyrology , Germanus

1584-727: The land was named 'Natanleaga' up to Cerdices Ford. He then fought another battle against the Britons at Cerdices Ford in 519 based on the Anglo Saxon Chronicle's account. Natanleaga is often identified as Netley Marsh in Hampshire , however, it could refer to the region of the New Forest and Cerdices Ford is associated with North Charford which was called 'Cerde Ford' in the Domesday Book . The conquest of

1628-486: The martyr's blood. Some have advanced arguments for the antiquity of the cult of Saint Alban (for example Martin Biddle ), while others suggest it was a rather artificial creation from the final years of Roman Britain, or soon after. Some have, in fact, concluded that Germanus, himself, was responsible for the creation as well as the promotion of the cult although this has been disputed by others. Germanus may have made

1672-419: The mysterious Natanleod of annal 508, it could "begin to reign" without recognizing in future any superior authority. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , Cerdic landed in Britain at a place called Cerdic's-ore, presumably in what is present-day Hampshire , in 495 with his son Cynric in five ships. He is said to have fought a Brittonic king named Natanleod and slew him and 5,000 men in 508 after which all

1716-669: The popularity chart in 2022. It is a name used for both sexes in French-speaking countries. It ranked among the top 500 names for boys in France between 1960 and 2010. It also ranked among the most used names for girls in France between 1966 and 1998. It was among the 100 most used names for boys in Quebec , Canada between 1980 and 2013. It ranked among the most popular names for children of both sexes in Belgium at different points in

1760-459: The records of this visit provide valuable information on the state of post-Roman British society . He also played an important part in the establishment and promotion of the Cult of Saint Alban . The saint was said to have revealed the story of his martyrdom to Germanus in a dream or holy vision, and Germanus ordered this to be written down for public display. Germanus is venerated as a saint in both

1804-404: The reliably datable, seventh-century kings was bridged by expanding the reign of Cerdic's distant successor Ceawlin from seven years (581–588) to thirty-two (560–591)). Because Geoffrey of Monmouth mentions a Cheldric as a Saxon war leader who fought at Bath in the same period, some scholars once suggested that (due to similarities of names) Cerdic was the Saxon leader defeated by the Britons at

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1848-439: Was a native Briton, and that his dynasty became Anglicised over time. This view is supported by the potentially non-Germanic names of some of his descendants including Ceawlin , Cedda and Cædwalla . The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle provides a pedigree tracing Cerdic's ancestry back to Wōden and the antediluvian patriarchs . Kenneth Sisam has shown that this pedigree was constructed by borrowing and subsequently modifying

1892-504: Was a western Roman clergyman who was bishop of Autissiodorum in Late Antique Gaul . He abandoned a career as a high-ranking government official to devote his formidable energy towards the promotion of the church and the protection of his "flock" in dangerous times, personally confronting, for instance, the barbarian king " Goar ". In Britain he is best remembered for his journey to combat Pelagianism in or around 429 AD, and

1936-738: Was held in the Church in that part of the land. He died in Ravenna while petitioning the Roman government for leniency for the citizens of Armorica , against whom Aëtius had dispatched the Alans on a punitive expedition . Germanus had famously confronted Goar, the king of the Alans, so Constantius's Life relates. Based on the scanty evidence, some scholars have argued that his death should be dated to 442 or 448, and others that it should be dated to c. 437. Saint Germanus' tomb continues to be venerated in

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