Editing Cerdic of Wessex

{{Short description|King of Wessex from 519 to 534}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Cerdic
| succession   = [[King of Wessex]] (King of the [[Gewissae]])
| image        = Cherdik - John Speed.JPG
| caption      = Imaginary depiction from [[John Speed]]'s 1611 "Saxon Heptarchy"
| reign        = c. 519–534
| death_date   = 534
| predecessor  = ''None (title established)''
| successor    = [[Cynric of Wessex|Cynric]] or possibly [[Creoda of Wessex|Creoda]]<ref>Kirby, D. P. (1965) Problems of Early West Saxon History, ''The English Historical Review'', January 1965, Vol. 80, No. 314, Oxford University Press, pp. 10–29.</ref><ref>Stevenson, W. H. (1899), "The Beginnings of Wessex", ''The English Historical Review'', January 1899, Vol. 14, No. 53, Oxford University Press, pp. 32–46.</ref><ref>Walker, H. E. (1956), "Bede, and the Gewissae: The Political Evolution of the Heptarchy and Its Nomenclature", ''The Cambridge Historical Journal'', 1956, Vol. 12, No. 2, Cambridge University Press, pp. 174–186</ref>
| house        = [[House of Wessex|Wessex]]
| father       = Possibly Elesa or [[Elafius]]
| issue        = [[Cynric of Wessex|Cynric]] or possibly [[Creoda of Wessex|Creoda]]
}}

'''Cerdic''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|tʃ|ɜr|d|ɪ|tʃ}} {{respell|CHER|ditch}};<ref>Durkin, Philip, 'Old English in contact with Celtic', ''Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English'' (Oxford, 2014; online edn, Oxford Academic, 16 April 2014), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199574995.003.0005, accessed 28 September 2023.</ref> {{langx|la|Cerdicus}}) is described in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' as a leader of the [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain]], being the founder and first king of [[Wessex]], reigning from around 519 to 534 AD. Subsequent kings of Wessex were each claimed by the ''Chronicle'' to descend in some manner from Cerdic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Giles |first=John Allen |url=https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=The_Anglo-Saxon_Chronicle_(Giles)&oldid=6969378 |title=The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle |publisher=G. Bell and Sons |others=Transcribed by [[Wikisource]] Contributors |year=1914 |pages=9–10 |language=en}}</ref> His origin, ethnicity, and even his very existence have been extensively disputed. However, though claimed as the founder of Wessex by later West Saxon kings, he would have been known to contemporaries as king of the [[Gewissae]], a folk or tribal group. In a charter dating to 686, [[Cædwalla of Wessex|Cædwalla]] was the first king of the Gewissae to call himself 'King of the West Saxons'.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yorke |first=B. |title=The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms |date=1989 |publisher=Leicester University Press |isbn=978-0-7185-1367-2 |editor-last=Basset |editor-first=Steven |location=[[London]] and [[New York City|New York]] |pages=85–92, 96 |language=en |chapter=The Jutes of Hampshire and Wight and the origins of Wessex}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The name ''Ċerdiċ'' is thought by most scholars to be [[Common Brittonic|Brittonic]] rather than Germanic in origin. According to the Brittonic origin hypothesis, ''Ċerdiċ'' is derived from the British name ''*Caratīcos'' or ''Corotīcos'' (whose [[Old Welsh]] form was [[Ceretic (disambiguation)|''Ceretic'']]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Kenneth |title=Language and History in Early Britain |date=1953 |publisher=University Press |location=Edinburgh, Scotland |pages=554, 557, 613, 680}}</ref><ref>Richard Coates, '[http://www.snsbi.org.uk/Nomina_articles/Nomina_13_Coates.pdf On Some Controversy Surrounding ''Gewissae'' / ''Gewissei'', ''Cerdic'' and ''Ceawlin'']', ''Nomina'', 13 (1989–90), pp. 1–11.</ref><ref>Parsons, D. (1997) ''British *Caraticos, Old English Cerdic'', Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, 33, pp, 1–8.</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=John T. |last=Koch |author-link=John T. Koch |date=2006 |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=1-85109-440-7 |pages=394–395}}</ref><ref>Hoops, J. (2002) ''Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde'', Volume 20, Walter de Gruyter, Germanic Antiquities, pp. 560–561</ref><ref name="Yorke, B. 1995 p. 190">Yorke, B. (1995) ''Wessex in the Early Middle Ages'', A&C Black, p. 190</ref> This may indicate that Cerdic was a native Briton, and that his dynasty became Anglicised over time.<ref>Koch, J.T., (2006) Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, {{ISBN|1-85109-440-7}}, pp. 392–393.</ref><ref>Yorke, B. (1995) ''Wessex in the Early Middle Ages'', A&C Black, pp. 190–191</ref> This view is supported by the potentially non-Germanic names of some of his descendants including [[Ceawlin]], [[Cedda]] and [[Cædwalla]].<ref name="Yorke, B. 1995 p. 190"/><ref>Howorth, H.H., "The Beginnings of Wessex", ''The English Historical Review'', Vol. 13, No. 52 (October 1898), pp. 667–671</ref><ref>Eagles, B., 2001. Anglo-Saxon presence and culture in Wiltshire c. AD 450-c. 675. In: Ellis, P. D., ed. Roman Wiltshire and After, Papers in Honour of Ken Annable, Wiltshire Archaeological Society, pp. 199–233, p. 204</ref><ref>Hills, C. (2003), Origins of the English, London: Duckworth, p. 105</ref>

== Background ==
[[File:Anglo.Saxon.migration.5th.cen.jpg|thumb]]

The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' provides a [[Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies|pedigree tracing Cerdic's ancestry]] back to [[Odin|Wōden]] and the [[Patriarchs (Bible)|antediluvian patriarchs]]. [[Kenneth Sisam]] has shown that this pedigree was constructed by borrowing and subsequently modifying a pedigree tracing the ancestry of the [[List of monarchs of Northumbria|kings of Bernicia]], and hence before the generation of Cerdic himself the Wessex pedigree has no historical basis.<ref>Sisam, Kenneth, "Anglo-Saxon Royal Genealogies", ''Proceedings of the British Academy'', vol. 39, pp. 287–348 (1953)</ref> The pedigree gives Cerdic's father as Elesa, who has been identified by some scholars with the Romano-Briton Elasius, the "chief of the region", met by [[Germanus of Auxerre]].<ref>Grosjean, P., ''Analecta Bollandiana'', 1957, Hagiographie Celtique, pp. 158–226.</ref><ref>Nicholl, D. (1958) ''Celts, Romans and Saxons'', Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, Vol. 47, No. 187 (Autumn 1958), p. 300</ref>

[[J. N. L. Myres]] noted that when Cerdic and [[Cynric]] first appear in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' in s.a. 495 they are described as ''[[ealdormen]]'', which at that point in time was a fairly junior rank.<ref>Myres, J. N. L. (1989), ''The English Settlements'', Oxford University Press, pp. 146–147</ref> Myres remarks that:
{{blockquote|It is thus odd to find it used here to describe the leaders of what purports to be an independent band of invaders, whose origins and authority are not otherwise specified. It looks very much as if a hint is being conveyed that Cerdic and his people owed their standing to having been already concerned with administrative affairs under Roman authority on this part of the Saxon Shore.}}

Furthermore, it is not until s.a. 519 that Cerdic and Cynric are recorded as "beginning to reign", suggesting that they ceased being dependent vassals or ealdormen and became independent kings in their own right.

Summing up, Myres believed that:
{{blockquote|It is thus possible ... to think of Cerdic as the head of a [[Celtic names in the Wessex royal line|partly British]] noble family with extensive territorial interests at the western end of the [[Saxon Shore|Litus Saxonicum]]. As such he may well have been entrusted in the last days of Roman, or sub-Roman authority with its defence. He would then be what in later Anglo-Saxon terminology could be described as an ealdorman ... If such a dominant native family as that of Cerdic had already developed blood-relationships with existing Saxon and Jutish settlers at this end of the Saxon Shore, it could very well be tempted, once effective Roman authority had faded, to go further. It might have taken matters into its own hands and after eliminating any surviving pockets of resistance by competing British chieftains, such as the mysterious [[Natanleod]] of annal 508, it could "begin to reign" without recognizing in future any superior authority.<ref>Myres, Chapter 6&nbsp;– for all preceding comment.
</ref>}}

== King of Wessex ==
[[Image:Britain.early.6th.century.nascent.kingdoms.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|South Britain in the early 6th century]]

According to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', Cerdic landed in Britain at a place called Cerdic's-ore, presumably in what is present-day [[Hampshire]], in 495 with his son Cynric in five ships. He is said to have fought a Brittonic king named [[Natanleod]] and slew him and 5,000 men in 508 after which all the land was named 'Natanleaga' up to Cerdices Ford. He then fought another battle against the Britons at Cerdices Ford in 519 based on the ''Anglo Saxon Chronicle's'' account.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wessex: pt 1 of 3 |url=https://www.dot-domesday.me.uk/wessex.htm |access-date=26 March 2024 |website=www.dot-domesday.me.uk}}</ref> Natanleaga is often identified as [[Netley Marsh]] in [[Hampshire]], however, it could refer to the region of the [[New Forest]] and Cerdices Ford is associated with [[North Charford]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hants/vol4/pp560-563 |title=Parishes: North Charford with South Charford &#124; British History Online|website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref> which was called 'Cerde Ford' in the [[Domesday Book]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=[North] Charford {{!}} Domesday Book |url=https://opendomesday.org/place/SU1719/north-charford/ |access-date=26 March 2024 |website=opendomesday.org}}</ref> The conquest of the [[Isle of Wight]] is mentioned among his campaigns, and it later was given to his kinsmen Stuf and Wihtgar (who supposedly arrived with the West Saxons in 514). Cerdic is said by the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' to have died in 534, succeeded by his son Cynric. 

The early history of Wessex in the ''Chronicle'' has been considered unreliable, with duplicate reports of events and seemingly contradictory information.<ref>Sir [[Charles Oman]] (Oman, ''England Before the Conquest'', 1910:244) found the Wessex annals in the ''Chronicle'' "meagre and inexplicable", "confused and suspicious"; Oman's speculation that events in the annals had been duplicated was taken up in detail by Kenneth Harrison (Harrison, "Early Wessex Annals in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", ''The English Historical Review'', ''86'', No. 340 (July 1971:527–533).</ref> By careful analysis of the ''Chronicle'' and the [[West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List]], which drew on a list of kings now lost, [[David Dumville]] showed that the earliest texts mentioning Cerdic must have put his reign as 538–554. (Through adaptation of this chronology, the beginning of Cerdic's reign was moved first from 538 to 519 and then again to 500. The resulting chronological gap between the beginning of Cerdic's dynasty and the reliably datable, seventh-century kings was bridged by expanding the reign of Cerdic's distant successor Ceawlin from seven years (581–588) to thirty-two (560–591)).<ref>David N. Dumville, 'The West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List and the Chronology of Early Wessex', ''Peritia'', 4 (1985), 21–66 (pp. 58–59); {{doi|10.1484/J.Peri.3.96}}.</ref>

Because [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] mentions a Cheldric as a Saxon war leader who fought at Bath in the same period, some scholars once suggested that (due to similarities of names) Cerdic was the Saxon leader defeated by the Britons at the [[Battle of Badon|Battle of Mount Badon]], probably fought in 490 (and possibly later, but not later than 518). This cannot be the case if Dumville is correct, and others assign this battle to [[Ælle of Sussex|Ælle]] or another Saxon leader, so it appears likely that the origins of the kingdom of Wessex are more complex than the version provided by the surviving traditions.<ref name=Fletcher_22>{{cite book |last=Fletcher |first=Richard |title=Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England |pages=22–23 |year=1989 |publisher=Shepheard-Walwyn |isbn=0-85683-089-5}}</ref>

Some scholars have gone so far as to suggest that Cerdic is purely a legendary figure, but this is a minority view. The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', the earliest source for Cerdic, was put together in the late ninth century; though it probably does record the extant tradition of the founding of Wessex, the intervening 400 years mean that the account cannot be assumed to be accurate.<ref name=BlairAITASE_34>{{cite book |last=Hunter Blair |first=Peter |title=An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England |pages=34–35 |year=1960 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref><ref name=Campbell_26>{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=John |last2=John |first2=Eric |last3=Wormald |first3=Patrick |title=The Anglo-Saxons |page=26 |year=1991 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0-14-014395-5}}</ref> The annals of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', along with the genealogical descents embedded in that source's accounts of later kings, describe Cerdic's succession by his son Cynric. However, the Genealogical Regnal List that served as preface to the ''Chronicle'' manuscripts instead interposes a generation between them, indicating that Cerdic was father of [[Creoda of Wessex|Creoda]] and grandfather of Cynric.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Arthurian Figures of History and Legend: A Biographical Dictionary |last=Reno |first=Frank |publisher=McFarland |year=2011 |isbn=9780786444205 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |page=83}}</ref>

Descent from Cerdic became a necessary qualification for later kings of Wessex, and he was claimed ancestor of [[Ecgberht, King of Wessex]], progenitor of the English royal house and subsequent [[List of English monarchs|rulers of England]] and [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|Britain]].

== See also ==
* [[House of Wessex family tree]]

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{cite encyclopedia |first=Barbara |last=Yorke |publisher=Oxford University Press |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |title=Cerdic (fl. 6th cent.) |year=2004 |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-5003 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/5003 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8}} {{ODNBsub}}
* {{PASE|4949|Cerdic 1}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190422111237/http://www.islandguide.co.uk/history/anglo_saxon/chronicle4.htm The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which says he and his son arrived in Hampshire, at ''Cerdices Ore'' (Cerdic's Point)]

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{{s-ttl|title=[[List of monarchs of Wessex|King of Wessex]]| years=519–534}}
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{{Kings of Wessex}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cerdic of Wessex}}
[[Category:5th-century births]]
[[Category:534 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:6th-century English people]]
[[Category:6th-century English monarchs]]
[[Category:Arthurian legend]]
[[Category:English heroic legends]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon warriors]]
[[Category:Founding monarchs]]
[[Category:Sub-Roman monarchs]]
[[Category:West Saxon monarchs]]
[[Category:House of Wessex]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon people whose existence is disputed]]