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.

Timeline

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DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:519 till:1066 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:550 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

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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

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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

Sources

• Stephen Friar and John Ferguson (1993), Basic Heraldry, W. W. Norton & Company, Template:ISBN

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