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House of Wessex
Cerdicings
Golden Wyvern of Wessex
Golden Wyvern of Wessex[1]
Country
Foundedc. 519
FounderCerdic of Wessex
Final rulerEdward the Confessor
Titles
Dissolutionin or after 1125, death of Edgar Ætheling
Deposition1066, death of Edward the Confessor

The House of Wessex, also known as the Cerdicings and the West Saxon dynasty, refers to the family, traditionally founded by Cerdic, that ruled Wessex in Southern England from the early 6th century. The house became dominant in southern England after the accession of King Ecgberht in 802. Alfred the Great saved England from Viking conquest in the late ninth century and his grandson Æthelstan became first king of England in 927. The disastrous reign of Æthelred the Unready ended in Danish conquest in 1014. Æthelred and his son Edmund Ironside attempted to resist the Vikings in 1016, but after their deaths the Danish Cnut the Great and his sons ruled until 1042. The House of Wessex then briefly regained power under Æthelred's son Edward the Confessor, but lost it after the Norman Conquest in 1066. All kings of England since Henry II have been descended from the House of Wessex through Henry I's wife Matilda of Scotland, who was a great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironside.

Genealogy

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To Alfred the Great

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The chart shows their (claimed) descent from the traditional first king of Wessex, Cerdic, down to the children of Alfred the Great. A continuation of the tree into the 10th and 11th centuries can be found at English monarchs family tree.

The tree is largely based on the late 9th-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List (reproduced in several forms, including as a preface to the [B] manuscript of the Chronicle),[2] and Asser's Life of King Alfred. These sources are all closely related and were compiled at a similar date, and incorporate a desire in their writers to associate the royal household with the authority of being a continuation of a unified line of kingship descended from a single original founder.[3]

One apparently earlier pedigree survives, which traces the ancestry of King Ine back to Cerdic. This first appears in a 10th-century manuscript copy of the "Anglian collection" of Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies. The manuscript is thought to have been made at Glastonbury in the 930s during the reign of King Æthelstan [4] (whose family traced their own royal descent back to Cerdic via a brother of King Ine), but the material may well date back to the earliest reconstructable version of the collection, c. 796; and possibly still further back, to 725–6.[5] Compared to the later texts, this pedigree gives an ancestry for Ceolwald as son of Cuthwulf son of Cuthwine which in the later 9th-century texts sometimes seems confused; and it states Cynric as son of Creoda son of Cerdic, whereas the Chronicle annals go to some length to present Cerdic and Cynric as a father-and-son pair who land in and conquer the southern part of Wessex together (a narrative now considered spurious by historians).[6]

Many of the links shown are disputed. Egbert, who became King of Wessex in 802, was probably of Kentish origin, and his ancestry back to Cerdic may have been invented to legitimize his claim to the throne of Wessex.[7] There are also a number of discrepancies between different sources.

Key

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  • - The red border indicates the monarchs
  • - The bolded border indicates the close relatives of the monarchs (parents, spouses and children)
  • - The thin border indicates other relatives


Cerdic
King of Wessex
?–519-534
Cynric
King of Wessex
c. 494534-560
Ceawlin
King of Wessex
c. 535560-592
Cutha
Cuthwine
b. c. 565
Ceol
King of Wessex
?–592-597
Ceolwulf
King of Wessex
?–597-611
Cenfus
King of Wessex
?–674-674
Cedda
b.590
Cuthwulf
b.592
Cynegils
King of Wessex
?–611-642
Pybba
King of Mercia
Æscwine
King of Wessex
?–674-676
Cenberht
620-661
CeolwaldCwichelm
King of Wessex
?–626-636
Centwine
King of Wessex
?–676-685
Seaxburh
Queen of
Wessex
?–672-674
Cenwalh
King of Wessex
?–642-645,
648-672
sister
of Penda
Penda
King of Mercia
c. 606 - c. 626-655
King of Wessex
645-648
Eowa
Caedwalla
King of Wessex
659–685-688
Mul
King of Kent
660-686-687
Cenred
b. 640
CuthredOsmod
IngildAldfrith
King of
Northumbria
?–685–704/5
Cuthburh
d. c. 718
Cwenburh
d. c. 735
Ine
King of Wessex
c. 670688-726
ÆthelburhÆthelheard
King of Wessex
?–726-740
Cuthred
King of Wessex
?–740-756
Eanwulf
EoppaCynric
aethling
d. 748
Thingfrith
EafaSigeberht
King of Wessex
?–756-757
Cyneheard
d. 786
Cynewulf
King of Wessex
?–757-786
Offa
King of Mercia
?–757-796
Ealhmund
King of Kent
?–784-784
Beorhtric
King of Wessex
?–786-802
Eadburh
Egbert
King of Wessex
771/5–802-839
Judith
of France
Æthelwulf
King of Wessex
795–839-858
Osburh
Æthelstan
King of Kent
830–839-858
Æthelbald
King of Wessex
831–858-860
Burgred
King of Mercia
?–852-874
Æthelswith
833–889
Æthelberht
King of Wessex
835–860-865
Æthelred
King of Wessex
c. 848865-871
Alfred
the Great
King of Wessex
849–871-886
English
monarchs'
family tree


Houses of Wessex, Knýtlinga and Godwinson

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Houses of Wessex and Knýtlinga
Alfred
the Great

King of Wessex
849–899
r.871–899
Ealhswith
d.902
Æthelred
Lord of the Mercians
d.911
Æthelflæd
Lady of the Mercians
c. 870–918
EcgwynnEdward
the Elder

"King of the Anglo-Saxons"
c. 874/877–924
r.899–924
Eadgifu
of Kent

c. 903–966
ÆlfflædÆthelweard
d.920.922
Ælfthryth
877–929
Baldwin II
the Bald

Mgve. of Flanders
c. 865–918
Ælfwynn
Ruler of Mercia
b.c. 888
Æthelstan
c. 893/895–939
"King of the Anglo-Saxons
r.924–927
"King of the English"
r.927–939
Ælfweard
of Wessex
c. 902–924
Charles III
the Simple

King of the Franks
879–929
Eadgifu
of Wessex
902–after955
Herbert III
of Omois
910–980/985
Edwin
d.933
Ælfgifu
of Shaftesbury Saint Elgiva
d.944
Edmund I
"King of the English"
921–946
r.939–946
Æthelflæd
of Damerham
Eadred
"King of the English"
923–955
r.946–955
Eadburh
of Winchester
d.960
Eadgyth
of England
910–946
Otto I
the Great

Holy Roman Emperor
912–973
Eadhild
d.937
Hugh
the Great

Duke of the Franks
898–956
Sigrid
the Haughty

btwn. 960/972–
d.1014
Sweyn
Forkbeard

"King of the English"
963–1014
r.1013–1014
Gunhild
of Wenden
ÆlfgifuEadwig
All-Fair
"King of England"
?–959
r.955–959
ÆthelflædEdgar I
the Peaceful

"King of England"
c. 943–975
r.959–975
Ælfthryth
c. 945–1000/1001
Harald II
King of Denmark
c. 996–998c. 1018
Estrid
Svendsdatter
990/997–
1057/1073
Richard I
Comté de Rouen
933–996
Edward
the Martyr

"King of England"
c. 962–978
r.975–978
Edmund
c. 966 – c. 970
Ælfgifu
of York
fl. c. 970
–1002
Æthelred
the Unready

"King of the English"
c. 966–1016
r.978–1013,
1014–1016
Emma
of Normandy
c. 985–1052
Cnut
the Great

"King of England"
c. 985/995–1035
r.1016–1035
Ælfgifu
of Northampton
c. 990after1040
Richard II
Duke of Normandy
963–1026
Æthelstan
Ætheling

980s–1014
Edmund II
Ironside

"King of the English"
c. 990–1016
r.1016
Ealdgyth
c. 992-after1016
Eadred
Ætheling

d. c. 1012
Eadwig
Ætheling

d.1017
Godwin
Earl of Wessex
1001–1053
Harthacnut
"King of England"
c. 1018–1042
r.1040–1042
Gunhilda
of Denmark
c. 1020–1038
Svein
Knutsson

King of Norway
c. 1016–1035
Harold I
Harefoot

"King of England"
c. 1015–1040
r.1035/1037–1040
Harold
Godwinson

"King of the English"
c. 1022–1066
r.1066
Edith
of Wessex
c. 1025–1075
Edward
the Confessor

"King of the English"
1003/1005–1066
r.1042–1066
Alfred Aetheling
d.1036
Godgifu
1004–c. 1047
Edmund
Ætheling

c. 1015/1017
before1054
Edward
the Exile

1016–1057
Agatha
before1030–
after1070
Gytha
of Wessex
d.1098/1107
Gunhild
of Wessex
Robert I
Duke of Normandy
1000–1035
Edgar II
the Ætheling

"King of England"
c. 1051–1126
r.1066
Cristina
d. c. 1100
Margaret
of Scotland
c. 1045–1093
Malcolm III
King of Scots
c. 1031–1093
William I
the Conqueror

"King of England"
c. 1028–1087
r.1066–1087
Matilda
of Scotland
c. 1080–1118
Henry I
"King of England"
c. 1068–1135
r.1100–1135
House of Normandy


Chart of Family Tree

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House of Wessex Family Tree
House of Wessex Family Tree

Attributed coat of arms

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A coat of arms was attributed by medieval heralds to the Kings of Wessex. These arms appear in a manuscript of the thirteenth century, and are blazoned as Azure, a cross patonce (sometimes a cross fleury or cross moline) between five martlets Or.[8] The assigning of arms to the West Saxon kings is prochronistic, as heraldry did not develop in a form as we know it until the twelfth century. These arms continued to be used to represent the kingdom for centuries after their invention. They have been incorporated into heraldic charges of institutions that associate themselves with Wessex, especially Edward the Confessor, where they are used at Westminster Abbey and in the arms of the City of Westminster.[9] The arms attributed to Edward were probably based on the design of a type of coin minted during his reign. This silver penny, often called a 'cross/eagle' type, showed an equal-armed cross within a circle, with birds depicted in the spaces between the arms of the cross.[10]


Succession to the English Throne/Succession crisis, 1120–1124

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Picture of Matilda
Henry's first wife, Matilda of Scotland

On 11 November 1100 Henry married Matilda, the daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland,[11] in Westminster Abbey. Henry was now around 31 years old, but late marriages for noblemen were not unusual in the 11th century.[12] The pair had probably first met earlier the previous decade, possibly being introduced through Bishop Osmund of Salisbury.[13] Historian Warren Hollister argues that Henry and Matilda were emotionally close, but their union was also certainly politically motivated.[14][nb 1] Matilda had originally been named Edith, an Anglo-Saxon name, and was a member of the West Saxon royal family, being the niece of Edgar the Ætheling, the great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironside and a descendant of Alfred the Great.[16] For Henry, marrying Matilda gave his reign increased legitimacy, and for Matilda, an ambitious woman, it was an opportunity for high status and power in England.[17]

All kings of England since Henry II have been descended from the House of Wessex through Henry I's wife Matilda of Scotland, who was a great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironside.


====>From The Anarchy

After Henry's death, the English throne was taken not by his daughter Matilda, but by Stephen of Blois, ultimately resulting in civil war. Stephen was the son of Stephen-Henry of Blois, one of the powerful counts of northern France, and Adela of Normandy, daughter of William the Conqueror. Stephen and Matilda were thus first cousins. His parents allied themselves with Henry, and Stephen, as a younger son without lands of his own, became Henry's client, travelling as part of his court and serving in his campaigns.[18] In return he received lands and was married to Matilda of Boulogne in 1125, the daughter and only heiress of the Count of Boulogne, who owned the important continental port of Boulogne and vast estates in the north-west and south-east of England.[19] By 1135, Stephen was a well established figure in Anglo-Norman society, while his younger brother Henry had also risen to prominence, becoming the Bishop of Winchester and the second-richest man in England after the king.[20] Henry of Winchester was keen to reverse what he perceived as encroachment by the Norman kings on the rights of the church.[21]

However, the English rules of succession in this age were not hard and fast. Under the Anglo-Saxon system, any prince of the Royal House was deemed eligible to succeed if they were deemed "throne worthy" Aetheling. This could be passed on from father to daughter to son.

On the other hand, the Empress Matilda had several factors in her favor. First, she was the only living legitimate child of the previous king. Second, she was married to a powerful in his own right, Geoffrey "Plantagenet", Count of Anjou, whose lands bordered on the Duchy of Normandy. Third, she had a following in Normandy. Finally, she was, through her mother, a descendant of the old Anglo-Saxon Royal line, the House of Wessex. Matilda's mother, also Matilda, had originally been named Edith, an Anglo-Saxon name, and was a member of the West Saxon royal family, being the niece of Edgar the Ætheling, the great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironside and a descendant of Alfred the Great.[22] For Henry, marrying Matilda gave his reign increased legitimacy.[23]. All kings of England since Henry II have been descended from the House of Wessex through the Empress and her son, Henry II of England.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Friar, Basic Heraldry, 12.
  2. ^ D.N. Dumville (1985), "The West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List and the Chronology of Early Wessex", Peritia 4 21–66 doi:10.1484/J.Peri.3.96
    D.N. Dumville (1986), "The West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List: Manuscripts and Texts", Anglia 104 1–32 doi:10.1515/angl.1986.1986.104.1
  3. ^ A "political fiction", according to D.P. Kirby (1992), The Earliest English Kings. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-09086-5, p. 49)
  4. ^ Kenneth Sisam (1953), "Anglo-Saxon Royal Genealogies", Proceedings of the British Academy 39 287–348
    David Dumville (1976) "The Anglian collection of royal genealogies and regnal lists", in Anglo-Saxon England, Clemoes, ed., 5 (1976), pp. 23–50. doi:10.1017/S0263675100000764
  5. ^ Dumville (1976), pp. 40, 42, 46. It is also possible that the material may first have been joined in with the collection in a copy made in Mercia c. 840.
  6. ^ Barbara Yorke (1989), "The Jutes of Hampshire and Wight and the origins of Wessex" in S.R. Bassett (ed), The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, Leicester: Leicester University Press. ISBN 0718513177 pp. 84-96.
    Yorke's theory "has met with general acceptance (I cannot find any historian or archaeologist that disagrees with her conclusions)", according to Robin Bush at "Were the West Saxons guilty of ethnic cleansing?". Time Team Live 2001. Channel 4. 2001-08-28. Archived from the original on 2006-02-19.
  7. ^ Heather Edwards (2004), Ecgberht, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  8. ^ College of Arms MS L.14, dating from the reign of Henry III
  9. ^ For example in Divi Britannici by Winston Churchill, published in 1675, and Britannia Saxona by G W Collen, published in 1833.
  10. ^ Delmar, E. (1953) Observations on the Origin of the Arms of Edward the Confessor, The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 95, No. 608 (Nov., 1953), pp. 358-363, Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.
  11. ^ Hollister 2003, p. 130
  12. ^ Hollister 2003, p. 43; Thompson 2003, p. 134; Green 2009, p. 26
  13. ^ Thompson 2007, p. 24; Huneycutt 2003, p. 27
  14. ^ Hollister 2003, pp. 126–127; Green 2009, p. 58
  15. ^ Hollister 2003, p. 127
  16. ^ Hollister 2003, pp. 126–127
  17. ^ Hollister 2003, pp. 127–128; Thompson 2003, p. 137
  18. ^ King (2010), p.13.
  19. ^ Davis, p.8.
  20. ^ King (2010), p.29.
  21. ^ Stringer, p.66.
  22. ^ Hollister 2003, pp. 126–127
  23. ^ Hollister 2003, pp. 127–128; Thompson 2003, p. 137

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Hollister, C. Warren; Baldwin, John W. (1978). "The Rise of Administrative Kingship: Henry I and Philip Augustus". The American Historical Review. 83 (4): 867–05. doi:10.2307/1867650. ISSN 0002-8762. JSTOR 1867650.
  • Hollister, C. Warren (2003). Frost, Amanda Clark (ed.). Henry I. New Haven, US and London, UK: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-09829-7.


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