A Brief History of the West Saxons and their Kingdom of Wessex.

Prologue:

After the last of the Roman Legions left British shores, around 410 AD, the former province was left to fend for itself. The once prosperous province rapidly began to fall into decline and a combination of a collapsed economy, famine, plague, and internal political feuding were added to by repeated incursions from the Picts - who resided north of Hadrian's Wall, and the Scots-Irish (Dalriada Scots) who had crossed the Irish Sea and were settling what is now south-western Scotland. Several delegations were sent to Rome to plead for military aid, but as the Western Roman Empire was also in a state of decline and under attack from the Goths and Franks, they were unable to help. Instead, the Romano-British were instructed to look to their own defences.

It is quite probable that there were already Germanic warriors and their families living in parts of eastern and southern Britain, originally employed by the Romans as auxiliary troops, manning the forts of the 'Saxon Shore'. More Germanic tribes were then invited over to help stop the Picts and Scots-Irish from their roving raids. Although the Jutes were the first of these 'tribes' to be named, other Germanics soon arrived as well; these would have included Friesians, Franks, Swedes, and of course Angles and Saxons.

These Germanic mercenaries were successful in defeating the Picts and Scots-Irish, but then found that the Romano-British were not so keen on having them stay. This then led to inevitable conflict and the various 'Germanics' consolidated and strengthened their areas of settlement. From these secured bases, they then pushed westward in an attempt to conquer and colonise the rest of southern Britain.

The Friesians settled in the area now known as Dumfries (meaning hill, or fort, of the Friesians) . The Angles settled in East Anglia (East Angles), Mercia (West Angles), and Northumbria (lands north of the Humber). The 'early' Saxons settled in Essex (East Saxons), and Sussex (South Saxons). The Jutes originally settled in Kent, but also went by ship to the Isle of Wight; from there they (along with small warbands of South Saxons) settled the coastal regions opposite the Isle of Wight.

At some point at the end of the C5th, or beginning of the C6th AD, the Saxon advance was halted after they suffered several defeats at the hands of the Romano-British. This culminated in a crushing defeat at the 'fabled' Battle of Mons Badonicus (Mount Badon), somewhere in southwest Britain. It is also at this time when the legends of the 'mythical' Arthur first appear. After the defeat at Mount Badon, there was a period of relative peace for nearly fifty years.

The founding of the Kingdom of Wessex:

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for the year 495 AD is as follows: "There came two ealdormen to Britain: Cerdic and Cynric his son, with five ships, to the place called 'Cerdicesora'; on the same day they fought the Welsh." By now the Saxons began to refer to the British as Welsh.

The tribal army led by Cerdic, were known as the 'Gewissae' and they soon became the over-lords of the small pockets of Jutes and South Saxons that had already begun to settle in the area. After some six years of Cerdic's arrival, he had galvanised the initial embryo state of Wessex. By 519 AD, Cerdic was declared King of Wessex, and he then turned his attentions towards expansion. By the time of his death, around 534 AD, he had subdued the Wilt's Saxons of Wiltshire.

Cynric, Cerdic's son, became king and during his reign expanded West Saxon control over Salisbury Plain (circa 552 AD). This expansion was continued by his son, Ceawlin (circa 560-591 AD), to include the Chiltern area - which was taken from the Ciltern Saete, or Chiltern Saxons. However, their advance towards London via the Thames was halted by the East Saxons who controlled the Middle Saxon (Middlesex) area at that time. Unperturbed, Ceawlin managed to occupy both the Thames and Cherwell valleys, areas taken from the Brito-Welsh. By the time of Ceawlin's death, he had expanded his control to cover the areas around Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester.

The Expansion of Wessex during the mid-Saxon period (circa 611-871 AD):

In 611 AD, Cynegils was crowned King of Wessex; he invaded the eastern region of the Brito-Welsh, Kingdom of Dumnonia, in 614 AD. Up to that point the Kingdom of Dumnonia covered Cornwall (Cerniu), and Devon (Defnas). Cynegils was baptised by Birinus in 635 AD; he died seven years later, in 642 AD.

At some point between 654 and 658 AD, Wessex fell under the control of the Kingdom of Mercia, with King Cenwalh being exiled. However, he was restored to power in 658 AD and reigned until 672 AD. During this later period, he defeated the Dormsaete (Dorset Saxons), the Somersaete (Somerset Saxons), and also took the Glastonbury area from the Brito-Welsh. He also defeated the Kingdom of Dumnonia again, this time permanently holding the eastern most parts of that kingdom.

Between circa 685-726 AD, all of Defnas fell under the yoke of Wessex, as did most of Suthrig (Surrey). Wessex now held sway over a vast area, that stretched from the borders of Kent, everywhere south of the Thames and as far west as the river Tamar.

By 802 AD, Wessex was the most powerful of all the Saxon Kingdoms, and under the stewardship of King Egbert (802-839AD), the Kingdom of Dumnonia was all but destroyed and was now referred to as West Wales. In 825 AD, he fought and defeated the might of Mercia, at the Battle of Ellandon (possibly Wroughton near Swindon), despite being outnumbered and on his return home after a successful campaign against the Cornish. He also invaded Kent, expelling the king and placing one of sons on the throne. From hereon in, all kings of Wessex were also given the prestigious title of Bretwalda - which possibly meant 'Warlord of Britain'.

The kings that followed Egbert were: Æthulwulf (839-856 AD), Æthelbald (856-860 AD), Æthelbert (860-866 AD) , and Æthelræd I (866-87 AD).

Wessex during the late-Saxon period (871-1066 AD):

The most famous of all Saxons, Alfred the Great, became King of Wessex in 871 AD. This was a very turbulent time for Britain as a whole. Back in 865 AD, the 'Great Army' of Guðrum invaded eastern England. This large army of Danish Vikings had come with one intent - to conquer and occupy Anglo-Saxon England. Systematically they had destroyed the kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia and Mercia. In the process they had killed Alfred's older brothers, which is the only reason that Alfred actually became king at all.

Southwest Mercia, in 874 AD, had somehow managed to survive the ravages of Guðrum's hordes and now accepted Alfred as their king too. With Wessex being the only survivor of this Viking onslaught, Alfred looked to consolidate and strengthen his position. Despite suffering some early setbacks, he managed to turn the tide. After several significant victories over the Danes - most notably the Battle of Ethandun (Edington, Wiltshire), in the middle of May 878 AD, Guðrum accepted peace terms and converted to Christianity. This is when the Danelaw was created effectively dividing England, diagonally, along the route of the old Roman road known as Watling Street.

Under the leadership of Alfred's offspring, Wessex grew in strength and eventually united both Saxon and Dane under one king - Æthelstan (924-940 AD). He went on to annexe East Anglia (918 AD), and completed the conquest of West Wales in circa 920 AD. His son, Eadred (946-955 AD), became the first King of England.

By the reign of Æthelræd II 'the Unræd' (978-1016 AD) - more commonly known as 'the Unready', although it actually meant 'ill-advised' - the threat from Danish Vikings returned. This time they were led by King Svein Forkbeard, who defeated Æthelræd II - which led to the latter's expulsion to Europe - the former then reigned as King of England and Denmark, until his 'unfortunate' drowning in 1014 AD. Æthelræd II was invited back to rule over England, but died in 1016 AD.

The throne was then contested by the son of Æthelræd II - Edmund Ironside - and the son of Svein - Cnut. The two rivals fought a collection of indecisive battles, before dividing the realm between them. However, Edmund died that same year and Cnut took overall control of the kingdom. Two years later, in 1018 AD, Cnut was also crowned King of Denmark. He went on to defeat the Norwegians and forged an empire out of the three kingdoms that he now ruled over. Cnut, also known as 'the Great', was believed to be as powerful as God by his sycophantic courtiers. In order to disprove this, he insisted on being carried on his throne to the sea's edge, where he ordered the waves to stop. As the tide was coming in, it lapped his feet; regrettably later Franco-Norman historians distorted this story in order to discredit Cnut's memory.

Two of Cnut's sons followed as kings, before the Saxon line was restored under King Edward (the Confessor), in 1042. Edward had spent most of his life in the court of the Normans, in France, and was a very religiously pious man. He married the daughter of one of his chief earls, Godwine of Wessex.

Godwine appears to have been a bit of a political manipulator, securing positions of power for his numerous sons, all holding titles over the earldoms, which were the former kingdoms of the heptarchy - his most notable son was Harold. Upon the death of Edward the Confessor, Harold (then Earl of Wessex) was proclaimed King of England - and the rest, as they say, is history!