List of monarchs of Wessex

This is a list of monarchs of the Kingdom of the West Saxons (Wessex) until 886 AD. While the details of the later monarchs are confirmed by a number of sources, the earlier ones are in many cases obscure.
The names are given in modern English form followed by the names and titles (as far as is known) in contemporary Old English (Anglo-Saxon) and Latin, the prevalent languages of record at the time in England.
This was a period in which spellings varied widely, even within a document. A number of variations of the details below exist. Among these are the preference between the runic character thorn (Þ, lower-case þ, from the rune of the same name) and the letter eth (Ð or ð), both of which are equivalent to modern ⟨th⟩ and were interchangeable. They were used indiscriminately for voiced and unvoiced ⟨th⟩ sounds, unlike in modern Icelandic. Thorn tended to be more used in the south (Wessex) and eth in the North (Mercia and Northumbria). Separate letters th were preferred in the earliest period in Northern texts, and returned to dominate by the Middle English period onward.
The character ⁊ (Tironian et) was used as the ampersand (&) in contemporary Anglo-Saxon writings. The era pre-dates the emergence of some forms of writing accepted today; notably rare were lower case characters, and the letters W and U. W was occasionally rendered VV (later UU), but the runic character wynn (Ƿ or ƿ) was a common way of writing the /w/ sound. Again the West Saxons initially preferred the character derived from a rune, and the Angles/Engle preferred the Latin-derived lettering VV, consistent with the thorn versus eth usage pattern.
Except in manuscripts, runic letters were an Anglian phenomenon. The early Engle restricted the use of runes to monuments, whereas the Saxons adopted wynn and thorn for sounds which did not have a Latin equivalent. Otherwise they were not used in Wessex.
==List==
Reign 	Incumbent 	Notes
Kingdom of the Gewissae 	Kingdom of the Gewissae 	Kingdom of the Gewissae
Cerdicing dynasty 	Cerdicing dynasty 	Cerdicing dynasty
519 to 534 	Cerdic 	Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name. King of Wessex (King of the Gewissae)
534 to 560 	Cynric 	Son, or according to some sources grandson, of Cerdic.
560 to 591 	Ceawlin 	Son of Cynric. Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name.
591 to 597 	Ceol 	Nephew of Ceawlin, grandson of Cynric.
597 to 611 	Ceolwulf 	Brother of Ceol, grandson of Cynric.
611 to 643 	Cynegils 	Sources derive him from Cynric, but name different dynasty members as his father. Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name
to 636 	Cwichelm 	Co-ruler with Cynegils, perhaps his son of this name.
643 to 645 	Cenwalh 	Son of Cynegils. Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name; Deposed
Mercian dynasty 	Mercian dynasty 	Mercian dynasty
645 to 648 	Penda 	King of Mercia, expelled Cenwalh.
Cerdicing dynasty 	Cerdicing dynasty 	Cerdicing dynasty
648 to 672 	Cenwalh 	Restored; reigned until his death in 672
672 to 674 	Seaxburh 	Only queen regnant, ruled after her husband's death.
674 	Cenfus 	(Disputed) Perhaps reigned between Seaxburh and his son Æscwine. Given a remote descent from Cynric.
674 to 676 	Æscwine 	Son of Cenfus.
676 to 685 	Centwine 	Traditionally son of Cynegils, but this is disputed. Deposed by Cædwalla
Kingdom of the West Saxons	Kingdom of the West Saxons	Kingdom of the West Saxons
Cerdicing dynasty 	Cerdicing dynasty 	Cerdicing dynasty
685 to 688 	Cædwalla 	Perhaps descendant of Ceawlin. Usurper; abdicated, possibly of British origin.
688 to 726 	Ine 	Descendant of Ceawlin. Abdicated
726 to 740 	Æthelheard 	Perhaps brother-in-law of Ine.
740 to 756 	Cuthred 	Relative, possibly brother, of Æthelheard.
756 to 757 	Sigeberht 	Distant relative of Cuthred. Deposed (and killed?) by Cynewulf
757 to 786 	Cynewulf 	Assassinated by Cyneheard, who was the brother of Sigeberht. Direct descendant of Cerdic.
786 to 802 	Beorhtric 	Possible direct descendant of Cerdic. Son-in-law of Offa of Mercia.
802 to 839 	Ecgberht 	Descendant of Ine's brother.
839 to 858 	Æthelwulf 	Son of Ecgberht.
858 to 860 	Æthelbald 	Son of Æthelwulf.
860 to 865 	Æthelberht 	Son of Æthelwulf.
865 to 871 	Æthelred I 	Son of Æthelwulf.
871 to 886 	Alfred the Great 	Son of Æthelwulf. The only English monarch to be given the epithet "the Great". as Canute the great was danish
==Timeline==
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 from:519 till:534 color:w text:"[[Cerdic of Wessex|Cerdic]]"
 from:534 till:560 color:w text:"[[Cynric of Wessex|Cynric]]"
 from:560 till:591 color:w text:"[[Ceawlin of Wessex|Ceawlin]]"
 from:591 till:597 color:w text:"[[Ceol of Wessex|Ceol]]"
 from:597 till:611 color:w text:"[[Ceolwulf of Wessex|Ceolwulf]]"
 from:611 till:643 color:w text:"[[Cynegils of Wessex|Cynegils]]"
 from:626 till:636 color:w text:"[[Cwichelm of Wessex|Cwichelm]]"
 from:643 till:645 color:w text:"[[Cenwalh of Wessex|Cenwalh]] (first reign)"
 from:645 till:648 color:m text:"[[Penda of Mercia|Penda]]"
 from:648 till:674 color:w text:"[[Cenwalh of Wessex|Cenwalh]] (second reign)"
 from:672 till:674 color:w text:"[[Seaxburh of Wessex|Seaxburh]]"
 from:674 till:674 color:w text:"[[Cenfus of Wessex|Cenfus]] (disputed)"
 from:674 till:676 color:w text:"[[Æscwine of Wessex|Æscwine]]"
 from:676 till:685 color:w text:"[[Centwine of Wessex|Centwine]]"
 from:685 till:688 color:w text:"[[Cædwalla of Wessex|Cædwalla]]"
 from:688 till:726 color:w text:"[[Ine of Wessex|Ine]]"
 from:726 till:740 color:w text:"[[Æthelheard of Wessex|Æthelheard]]"
 from:740 till:756 color:w text:"[[Cuthred of Wessex|Cuthred]]"
 from:756 till:757 color:w text:"[[Sigeberht of Wessex|Sigeberht]]"
 from:757 till:786 color:w text:"[[Cynewulf of Wessex|Cynewulf]]"
 from:786 till:802 color:w text:"[[Beorhtric of Wessex|Beorhtric]]"
 from:809 till:839 color:w text:"[[Egbert of Wessex|Ecgberht]]"
 from:839 till:856 color:w text:"[[Æthelwulf, King of Wessex|Æthelwulf]]"
 from:856 till:860 color:w text:"[[Æthelbald of Wessex|Æthelbald]]"
 from:860 till:865 color:w text:"[[Æthelberht of Wessex|Æthelberht]]"
 from:865 till:871 color:w text:"[[Æthelred I, King of Wessex|Æthelred]]"
 from:871 till:886 color:w text:"[[Alfred the Great]]"
 barset:skip
== Family tree ==
== See also ==
*List of royal consorts of Wessex
*Governors of Roman Britain
*List of legendary kings of Britain
*Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies
*List of English Monarchs
==Notes==
==References==
* Barbara Yorke (1995), Wessex in the early Middle Ages, A & C Black, ; pp 79-83; table p. 81
 
Wessex
Wessex