Cerdic of Wessex

Cerdic (475-4 May 534) was the first Anglo Saxon King of the Gewisse, also called the king of Wessex. He was the ancestor of the kings of Wessex and the Anglo-Saxon kings of England beginning with Athelstan.

 War leader and king 
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Cerdic, along with his son Cynric, came to Britain in 495. Benjamin Thorpe, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle according to the Several Original Authorities: Translation (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1861), p. 14 Their three ships landed at Cerdic's ora fought the Britons there on the same day. Most of what is known about Cerdic comes from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 20 In 519, Cerdic and his son defeated Britons at Cerdic's ford and took Wessex.Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 21 In 527 at a place called Cerdic's leaga, Cerdic and Cynric battled the Britons again. In 530, they conquered the Isle of Wight. In 534, Cerdic diedBenjamin Thorpe, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle according to the Several Original Authorities: Translation (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1861), p. 14 and was succeeded by his son Cynric.Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens (New york: Carroll & Graf, 1999), p. 301

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gave Cerdic a pedigree going back to the Saxon god Woden. However, the historian Kenneth Sisam showed that the legendary pedigree was borrowed from the kings of Bernicia and was not historic.Kenneth Sisam, 'Anglo-Saxon Royal Genealogies', Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. 39 (1953), pp. 287-348 

On the other hand, archaeological evidence shows that outside Kent and Sussex, the main area of settlement was in the upper Thames Valley.Peter Hunter Blair, Roman Britain and Early England; 55 B.C.–A.D. 871 (New York; London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1966), p. 203 That agrees with much of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle although the dates are harder to verify.

It should be noted that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is not a reliable document for the period contemporary to Cerdic's supposed reign. It should also be noted that Cerdic is a British name, not an Anglo-Saxon one. It is also unlikely that Wessex was the name of his proposed kingdom. Ultimately, Cerdic should be considered as mythology.

 Family 
Cerdic had one son:

 Cynric (died 560) G. H. Wheeler, 'The Genealogy of the Early West Saxon Kings', The English Historical Review, Vol. 36, No. 142 (Apr., 1921), p. 167

Notes

 References 

 Other websites 
 Britannia: Kings of Wessex 

Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:530s deaths
Category:Kings of Wessex