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40-460: The List begins with Cerdic (claiming that he arrived in Wessex in 494) and extends to Alfred (r. 871–99). Thus the list probably took its surviving form during Alfred's reign. The list generally simply gives the reign-length of each king and names his successor, sometimes adding extra information about each king's genealogy and especially his ultimate descent from Cerdic; Æthelwulf , Alfred's father,

80-587: 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 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

120-501: 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 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

160-455: A mélange of competing petty kings. Although some or even all of the kings named in the List may have been real, their succession may not have been uninterrupted and their status not uniformly recognised. Since King Alfred and his brothers drew their legitimacy from descent from Cerdic, this agenda would fit, and might reflect, Alfred's late ninth-century political interests. Dumville concluded that

200-487: 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 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

240-501: Is derived from the British name *Caratīcos or Corotīcos (whose Old Welsh form was Ceretic ). This may indicate that Cerdic 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

280-469: Is even more certainly contemporary from that point. For the sixth century, however, the List and Chronicle are likely "a political fiction" designed to suggest "that a West Saxon monarchy of ninth-century type existed from the foundation of the kingdom, with one member of the Cerdicing dynasty following another in more or less lineal succession". Sixth-century West-Saxon political reality was more likely

320-980: Is given an especially full statement of pedigree. The List also notes that its sixth ruler, Cynegils, was the first of the West-Saxon kings to receive baptism. As edited by David Dumville , the List begins: Ða wæs agangen fram Cristes acennednysse .cccc. ⁊ .xciiii. wintra þa Cerdic ⁊ Cynric his sunu coman upp æt Cerdicesoran mid fif scipum — ⁊ se Cerdic was Elesing, Elesa Gewising, Gewis Wiging, Wig Freawining, Freawine Freoþogaring, Freodogar Bronding, Brond Bældæging, Bældæg Wodening. þæs ymbe .vi. gear ðæs þe hi upp coman, hi geeodan Westseaxna rice ⁊ þæt wæron ða ærestan cyningas þe Westseaxena land on Wealum geeodan. ⁊ he hæfde þæt rice .xvi. gear. þa gefor he, þa feng Cynric his sunu to þam rice ⁊ heold .xxvii. wintra. þa he forðferde, þa feng Ceaulin his sunu to ⁊ heold .vii. gear. When four hundred and ninety-four years had passed from

360-674: Is little divergence): Dumville inferred that the earliest version of the List might have drawn on a list of West-Saxon kings in the Anglian king-list , adding regnal dates to that. (The West-Saxon section of the Anglian king-list reads: "Ine Cenreding; Cenred Ceolwalding; Ceolwald Cuþwulfing; Cuþwulf Cuþwining; Cuþwine Celing; Celin Cynricing; Cynric Creoding; Creoda Cerdicing; Cerdic Alucing; Aluca Giwising; Giwis Branding; Brand Bældæging; Bældæg Wodning; Woden Frealafing".) He also noted that "on

400-693: 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 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

440-514: Is plausible, since it is similar to the chronology of political developments elsewhere in England. On two subsequent occasions in copies of chronicles based on the archetype of the List, which subsequently became sources for the surviving Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , the beginning of this chronology was pushed back by nineteen years (a period of time corresponding to a Paschal cycle and therefore a natural unit of time to early medieval clerics), extending

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480-619: 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 the Chronicle and the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List , which drew on a list of kings now lost, David Dumville showed that

520-457: Is the cycle of the moveable feasts built around Pascha (Easter). The cycle consists of approximately ten weeks before and seven weeks after Pascha. The ten weeks before Pascha are known as the period of the Triodion , referring to the liturgical book that contains the services for this liturgical season. This period includes the three weeks preceding Great Lent , the "pre-Lenten period",

560-580: 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 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

600-463: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for sixth-century West-Saxon kings, and possibly many subsequent ones, seem to be based on (or, at times, adapted from) the earliest reconstructable version of the List (via lost, intermediary chronicles), and these dates are thought to have provided the framework into which the dates of battles said to be fought by those kings were fitted. The archetype of the List may even have inspired some dates of non-West Saxon dynasties in

640-488: The Chronicle : Patrick Sims-Williams suggested that the thirty-three year reign that the Chronicle ascribes to Hengest and his son Oisc , the first kings of Kent, who supposedly reigned 455–88, was inspired by the thirty-four year reign ascribed to Cerdic (working alongside his son Cynric). The primary manuscripts of the List (from which a few other medieval and post-medieval copies are known to descend) are: Most or all of these are thought to be independent witnesses to

680-478: The antediluvian patriarchs . Kenneth Sisam has shown that this pedigree was constructed by borrowing and subsequently modifying 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,

720-586: The "Common Stock" of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , Thomas A. Bredehoft showed that, when adding new genealogical material to their sources, the List and the Chronicle shared a literary style different from the Anglian King-list, and argued that one scholar was involved in editing both the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List and the Chronicle , emphasising the idea that they were closely linked components of King Alfred

760-479: The "chief of the region", met by Germanus of Auxerre . J. N. L. Myres noted that when Cerdic and Cynric first appear in 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

800-504: The Great 's image-crafting. Understanding how the List came to be compiled and from what sources has been central to evaluating it and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as sources for West-Saxon history before Alfred's reign. Several manuscripts of the List also contain a separate copy of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , but the body of the Chronicle itself evidently drew on an earlier version of the List, and Dumville showed that all these witnesses to

840-436: The List diverge to some degree from what the earliest text of the List must have said. Through detailed textual criticism of all manuscripts of both the List and the Chronicle , he was able to reconstruct the likely archetype of the List and show how the surviving versions of the List and the Chronicle altered it. Dumville inferred that the archetype of the List gave the following reign-lengths down to Ine (after which there

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880-617: The List's seventh-century kings had the status of being mentioned by the prestigious historian Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People . These alterations to the length of the reigns in the archetype of the List were presumably made to put the beginning of the Cerdicing dynasty closer to what was believed to be the time of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain and to compete with claims to dynastic antiquity in rival kingdoms. The Anno Domini dates given in

920-475: The Romans that same day") and the 514 annal saying that the West Saxons arrived at Cerdicesora "⁊ fuhton wiþ Brettas ⁊ hie gefliemdon" ("and fought against the Britons and put them to flight"). The resulting gap between the beginning of the Cerdicing dynasty and the accurate regnal years of the seventh century was filled by extending the reign of Ceawlin from seven years to thirty-one, possibly because he alone of

960-421: The Romans. And he held that kingdom for sixteen years. When he passed, his son Cynric succeeded him, and held the kingdom for twenty-seven years. When he passed on, his son Ceaulin succeeded him, and held it for seven years. The surviving manuscripts of the List are close copies of a text which scholars agree was compiled to promote the West-Saxon royal dynasty and its legitimacy. In the analysis of Susan Irvine, in

1000-496: 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 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

1040-909: The Week of the Prodigal Son begins on the Monday that follows the Publican and the Pharisee. This is because everything in the Lenten period is anticipatory of Pascha. Starting on Pascha, the weeks again begin on Sunday, i.e., Thomas Week begins on the Sunday of St. Thomas. While the Pentecostarion closes after All Saints Sunday, the Paschal cycle continues throughout the year, until the beginning of

1080-429: The available evidence only the pre-christian period of West Saxon history presents severe chronological problems. That fact is itself suggestive both of an adequate means of transmission of chronological information (apparently without intentional manipulation of reign-lengths), from the first establishment of christian institutions". This suggests that the king list might reflect written records that started to be kept with

1120-410: The birth of Christ, Cerdic and his son Cynric landed at Cerdicesora with five ships — and that Cerdic was son of Elesa, Elesa of Gewis, Gewis of Wig, Wig of Freawine, Freawine of Freoþogar, Freoðogar of Brond, Brong of Bældæg, and Bældæg of Woden. Around six years after they landed, they occupied the kingdom of the West Saxons and they were the earliest kings to occupy the land of the West Saxons against

1160-400: The conversion of the West-Saxon kings around the 630s. Whatever its source(s), Dumville inferred that contemporary records began to be added to an initial version of the List from around the reign of Ine (which concluded in 726), due to the growing detail and precision of dating in the List. The List offers even more precise information from the reign of Ecgberht (r. 802–39), so its information

1200-555: The earliest manuscript of the Chronicle (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 173), the genealogical and regnal list acts as a preface to this version of the Chronicle [...] Though the range of the Chronicle itself extends across the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the West Saxon genealogical and regnal list with which it opens establishes the paramount importance of the dynasty springing from Cerdic. [...] The structural symmetry of

1240-490: 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 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

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1280-517: The forty days of Lent, and Holy Week . The 50 days following Pascha are called the Pentecostarion , also named after the liturgical book. The Sunday of each week has a special commemoration, named for the Gospel reading assigned to that day. Certain other weekdays have special commemorations of their own. The entire cycle revolves around Pascha. The weeks before Pascha end on Sunday, i.e.,

1320-412: The foundation of the dynasty first from 538 to 519, and then to 500. It was these dislocations that produced two obviously duplicated entries for the West Saxon arrival in Wessex, with a gap of nineteen years, in the Chronicle : the 495 annal saying that (six years before the beginning of Cerdic's rule) Cerdic and Cynric arrived at Cerdicesora "⁊ þy ilcan dæge gefuhtun wiþ Walum" ("and they fought against

1360-574: The founder of Wessex by later West Saxon kings, he would have been known to contemporaries as king of 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

1400-500: 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, the Genealogical Regnal List that served as preface to the Chronicle manuscripts instead interposes a generation between them, indicating that Cerdic

1440-620: The lost ninth-century archetype of the List. Cerdic Cerdic ( / ˈ tʃ ɜːr d ɪ tʃ / CHER -ditch ; Latin : Cerdicus ) 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

1480-411: 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 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,

1520-587: The preface—the reference at both the beginning and end to the conquering of the land of the West Saxons from the Britons—emphasises that the West Saxon dynasty is to be seen as culminating in Alfred's reign. Comparing stylistic traits of the genealogies in the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List with its likely early source material (represented by the Anglian King-list ), and with the genealogies in

1560-411: The regnal dates in the archetype of the List implicitly placed Cerdic's arrival in Britain not in 494, as stated in the Chronicle , but in 532, stating that "the earliest recoverable phase of West Saxon historiography indicates a view that West Saxon dynastic origins might be traced back to the 530s". He found the idea that the West Saxons first came under the dominance of a single dynasty around this time

1600-755: 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 . Paschal cycle Autocephaly recognized by some autocephalous Churches de jure : Autocephaly and canonicity recognized by Constantinople and 3 other autocephalous Churches: Spiritual independence recognized by Georgian Orthodox Church: Semi-Autonomous: The Paschal cycle , in Eastern Orthodox Christianity ,

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