Cerdic of Wessex

Cerdic (also Ceartic, Certic; † 534/554 ) was in the early 6th century king of Gewissæ, an ethnic group known as " West Saxons " the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex was formed in the 7th century.

Source location

Family

Cerdic is regarded as founder of the House of Wessex. After the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Cynric his son.

After the Anglian Collection Cerdic was the son of ALUCA whose mythical ancestry goes back to Frealafing about Giwis, fire, Bældæg, Woden. Cerdic 's son was the otherwise unknown Creoda, father of Cynric.

Bishop Asser Vita Alfredi adds between Woden and Frealafing a one Frithowald and extended the line of ancestors back to Adam and Eve.

Rule

After the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle landed Cerdic and his son Cynric in 495 with five ships at Cerdicesora and established themselves on the coast. In the year 508 they won in Natanleaga ( Netley Marsh, Hampshire ) against the Briton king Natanleod. 514 Cerdic landed Related ( nefum = " nephew ", often generally for " relative" ) Stuf and Wihtgar at Cerdicesora with three ships as reinforcement.

In 519 Cerdic and Cynric received the royal crown, so this year is considered the beginning of the kingdom of Wessex. They fought against the Britons at Cerdicesford ( Charford in Hampshire ). More battles against the Britons followed 527 at Cerdicesleaga ( location unknown), its output is unknown. In 530 Cerdic and Cynric conquered in the battle of Wihtgarabyrg ( Carisbrooke ) the Isle of Wight. On Wight sat Cerdic Stuf and Wihtgar as a ruler. Cerdic died in 534 and was succeeded by Cynric.

State of research

The source location poses some intractable problems. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was written almost 400 years after the actual events and many of the details given here must be regarded as legendary. A possible historical core was distorted in the tradition and it is rather the ideas of the 9th century on the origin of the Kingdom again as historical facts.

The chronology is very likely to be erroneous and some events seem to be called twice in a span of 19 years. For example, the landing Cerdic in 495 and the landing of Stuf and Wihtgar in the year 514 be regarded as a later copy errors or misunderstandings, which date back to the Easter calculation of Dionysius Exiguus, grouped the events into 19 - jahrigen cycles. Cerdic 's reign 519-534 coincides indeed with the 16- jahrigen tenure in the West-Saxon king lists, but suggest differences between the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other lists of kings out that his reign is dated to early. A dating of Cerdic " arrival" to 532 and his reign 538-554 has been proposed.

The arrival of a founder couple with alliterative names and few ships, as do other Anglo-Saxon origin myths (eg Hengest and Horsa ) and is part of the Indo-European tradition. Another topos of people are derived place names such as Natanleaga ( after King Natanleod ), which means likely " wet forest ". Presumably, the reverse is also true that the people are named after existing place names.

Another problem is the name " Cerdic " that which is the anglicized form of the Celtic name " Caraticos ". The most plausible explanation for this is that Cerdic did not come from the mainland, but came from a region in which a mixed population of Old Saxons and Britons römisierten was established. On the since the 5th century by Germanic settlers inhabited the area around Dorchester-on -Thames on the upper Thames, where in later times was proven to be an early center of power Gewissæ and their first diocese was founded, this is true. Also Cerdic descendants, such as Ceawlin and Caedwalla, show a striking accumulation Celtic name.

The kingdom of Cerdic, when he was actually the first king of Gewissæ is to locate likely there on the upper Thames and possibly also on the upper reaches of the Avon in Wiltshire than in southern Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, where Jutland until the late 7th century dynasties prevailed. The eastern Wiltshire was inhabited by 500 of Saxony. The conquest of the Isle of Wight is apparently a later addition which should legitimize the West Saxon expansion to the south.

In the 7th and 8th century it seems to have been crucial to the throne claims that the pretender its origin attributed to Cerdic, even if no further genealogical information has been handed down. The authenticity of these claims descent is contested by historians in question.

Swell

  • Anonymous: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Online in Project Gutenberg (English)
  • Anglian Collection
  • Asher Vita Alfredi; The Life of King Alfred (English) at Online Medieval and Classical Library
  • Æthelweard: Chronica
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