House Of Wessex

The House of Wessex, also known as the House of Cerdic, the House of the West Saxons, the House of the Gewisse, the Cerdicings and the West Saxon dynasty, refers to the family, traditionally founded by Cerdic of the Gewisse, 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 Confessor's reign, with the Norman Conquest in 1066. All monarchs of England (and subsequently Great Britain) since William II have been descended from the House of Wessex through William the Conqueror's wife Matilda of Flanders, who was a descendant of Alfred the Great through his daughter Ælfthryth. Additionally, all English/British monarchs since Henry II have been descended from English kings from the House of Wessex through Henry I's wife Matilda of Scotland, who was a great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironside.

History

The House of Wessex began to dominate English politics after many years of Mercian hegemony with the reign of Egbert. Egbert's grandson Alfred the Great ruled as King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 onward. Alfred's son Edward the Elder united southern England under his rule by conquering the Viking occupied areas of Mercia and East Anglia. His son, Æthelstan, extended the kingdom into the northern lands of Northumbria, which lies above the Mersey and Humber, but this was not fully consolidated until after his nephew Edgar succeeded to the throne.

Their rule was often contested, notably by the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard who invaded in 995 and occupied the united English throne from 1013 to 1014, during the reign of Æthelred the Unready and his son Edmund Ironside. Sweyn, his son Canute and his successors ruled until 1042. After Harthacanute, there was a brief Anglo-Saxon restoration between 1042 and 1066 under Edward the Confessor, who was a son of Æthelred, who was later succeeded by Harold Godwinson, a member of the House of Godwin, possibly a side branch of the Cerdicings (see Ancestry of the Godwins). After the Battle of Hastings, the victorious Duke of Normandy became William I of England. Anglo-Saxon attempts to restore native rule in the person of Edgar the Ætheling, a grandson of Edmund Ironside who had originally been passed over in favour of Harold, were unsuccessful and William's descendants secured their rule. Chroniclers describe conflicting stories about Edgar's later years, including a supposed involvement in the First Crusade; he is presumed to have died around 1126. A Northumberland pipe roll mentions an "Edgar Adeling" in 1158, and 1167, by which time Edgar would have been over 100 years old. Beyond this, there is no existing evidence that the male line of the Cerdicings continued beyond Edgar Ætheling. Edgar's niece Matilda of Scotland later married William's son Henry I to consolidate his claim to the throne, since his father, William the Conqueror already had a tenuous claim to the English throne, and he had an even more tenuous one, forming a link between the two dynasties. Henry II was a descendant of the House of Wessex in the female line, something that contemporary English commentators noted with approval.Harper-Hill, C. and Vincent, N. (2007) ''Henry II: New Interpretations'', Boydell Press, p. 382.

Timeline

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DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:519 till:1066
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ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:10 start:520

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from:519 till:645 color:w text:Wessex
from:645 till:648 color:m text: Iclingas (Mercia)
from:648 till:1013 color:w
from:1013 till:1014 color:d text: Knýtlinga (Denmark)
from:1014 till:1016 color:w
from:1016 till:1042 color:d
from:1042 till:1066 color:w
from:1066 till:1066 color:eon text: House of Godwin
from:1066 till:1066 color:w

width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
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from:519 till:534 color:w text:" Cerdic"
from:534 till:560 color:w text:" Cynric"
from:560 till:591 color:w text:" Ceawlin"
from:591 till:597 color:w text:" Ceol"
from:597 till:611 color:w text:" Ceolwulf"
from:611 till:643 color:w text:" Cynegils"
from:626 till:636 color:w text:" Cwichelm
from:643 till:645 color:w text:" Cenwalh" "(first reign)"
from:645 till:648 color:m text:" Penda
from:648 till:674 color:w text:" Cenwalh" "(second reign)"
from:672 till:674 color:w text:" Seaxburh
from:674 till:674 color:w text:" Cenfus" (disputed)"
from:674 till:676 color:w text:" Æscwine"
from:676 till:685 color:w text:" Centwine"
from:685 till:688 color:w text:" Cædwalla" (abdicated)"
from:688 till:726 color:w text:" Ine"
from:726 till:740 color:w text:" Æthelheard"
from:740 till:756 color:w text:" Cuthred"
from:756 till:757 color:w text:" Sigeberht"
from:757 till:786 color:w text:" Cynewulf"
from:786 till:802 color:w text:" Beorhtric"
from:802 till:839 color:w text:" Egbert"
from:839 till:858 color:w text:" Æthelwulf"
from:858 till:860 color:w text:" Æthelbald"
from:860 till:866 color:w text:" Ætheberht"
from:866 till:871 color:w text:" Æthelred I"
from:871 till:899 color:w text:"Alfred the Great"
from:899 till:924 color:w text:" Edward the Elder"
from:924 till:924 color:w text:" Ælfweard" (disputed)"
from:924 till:939 color:w text:"Æthelstan"
from:939 till:946 color:w text:"Edmund I"
from:946 till:955 color:w text:" Eadred"
from:955 till:959 color:w text:" Eadwig"
from:959 till:975 color:w text:"Edgar the Peaceful"
from:975 till:978 color:w text:" Edward the Martyr"

from:978 till:1013 color:w text:" Æthelred II (first reign)"

from:1013 till:1014 color:w text:" Sweyn Forkbeard
from:1014 till:1016 color:w text:" Æthelred II (second reign)"

from:1016 till:1016 color:w text:" Edmund II Ironside"
from:1016 till:1035 color:d text:"Cnut the Great"
from:1035 till:1040 color:d text:" Harold Harefoot"

from:1040 till:1042 color:d text:" Harthacnut"

from:1042 till:1066 color:w text:"Edward the Confessor"

from:1066 till:1066 color:eon text:" Harold Godwinson

from:1066 till:1066 color:w text:" Edgar Ætheling" (disputed)"

barset:skip

Genealogy

For a family tree of the House of Wessex from Cerdic down to the children of King Alfred the Great, see:
* '' House of Wessex family tree''

A continuation into the 10th and 11th centuries can be found at
* '' English monarchs family tree''

See also

* List of monarchs of Wessex
* Wessex
* List of English monarchs

References

Sources

* Stephen Friar and John Ferguson (1993)
Basic Heraldry
W. W. Norton & Company,
*

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{{Kingdom of England

Wessex