| House of Wessex House of the Gewisse Cerdicings West Saxon dynasty House of the West Saxons | |
|---|---|
| Country | |
| Founded | c. 519 |
| Founder | Cerdic of the Gewisse |
| Final ruler | Edward the Confessor |
| Titles |
|
| Deposition | 1066 |
TheHouse of Wessex, also known as theHouse of Cerdic, theHouse of the West Saxons, theHouse of the Gewisse, theCerdicings and theWest Saxon dynasty, refers to the family, traditionally founded byCerdic of theGewisse, that ruledWessex inSouthern England from the early 6th century. The house became dominant in southern England after the accession of KingEcgberht in 802.Alfred the Great saved England fromViking conquest in the late ninth century and his grandsonÆthelstan became firstking of England in 927. The disastrous reign ofÆthelred the Unready ended in Danish conquest in 1014. Æthelred and his sonEdmund Ironside attempted to resist the Vikings in 1016, but after their deaths the DanishCnut the Great and his sons ruled until 1042. The House of Wessex then briefly regained power under Æthelred's sonEdward the Confessor, but lost it after the Confessor's reign, with theNorman Conquest in 1066. Allmonarchs of England (and subsequentlyGreat Britain) sinceWilliam II have been descended from the House of Wessex throughWilliam the Conqueror's wifeMatilda of Flanders, who was a descendant of Alfred the Great through his daughterÆlfthryth. All English and laterBritish monarchs sinceHenry II are descended from the English kings of the House of Wessex throughHenry I's wife,Matilda of Scotland, daughter ofMargaret of Wessex, a great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironside.
The House of Wessex began to dominate English politics after many years of Mercian hegemony with the reign ofEgbert. Egbert's grandsonAlfred the Great ruled asKing of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 onward. Alfred's sonEdward the Elder united southern England under his rule by conquering the Viking occupied areas ofMercia andEast Anglia. His son,Æthelstan, extended the kingdom into the northern lands ofNorthumbria, which lies above theMersey andHumber, but this was not fully consolidated until after his nephewEdgar succeeded to the throne.
Their rule was often contested, notably by the Danish kingSweyn Forkbeard who invaded in 995 and occupied the united English throne from 1013 to 1014, during the reign ofÆthelred the Unready and his sonEdmund Ironside. Sweyn, his sonCanute and his successorsruled until 1042. AfterHarthacanute, there was a brief Anglo-Saxon restoration between 1042 and 1066 underEdward the Confessor, who was a son of Æthelred, who was later succeeded byHarold Godwinson, a member of theHouse of Godwin, possibly a side branch of the Cerdicings (seeAncestry of the Godwins). After theBattle of Hastings, the victorious Duke of Normandy becameWilliam I of England. Anglo-Saxon attempts to restore native rule in the person ofEdgar 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 theFirst 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.[1] Beyond this, there is no existing evidence that the male line of the Cerdicings continued beyond Edgar Ætheling. Edgar's nieceMatilda of Scotland later married William's sonHenry 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.[2]
For a family tree of the House of Wessex fromCerdic down to the children of KingAlfred the Great, see:
A continuation into the 10th and 11th centuries can be found at
House of Wessex | ||
| New title England united under Wessex | Ruling house of England 829–1013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ruling house of England 1014–16 | |
| Ruling house of England 1042–66 | Succeeded by | |