List of monarchs of Wessex

"Kings of Wessex" redirects here. For the school, see The Kings of Wessex School.
This article is part of a series on
the kings of Anglo-Saxon England

This is a list of monarchs of Wessex until 927. For later monarchs, see the List of English monarchs. 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 Anglo-Saxon English and Latin, the prevalent 'official' languages of the time.

This was a time when spellings varied widely, even within a document. A number of variations of the details below exist. Amongst these are the preference between the runic letter "Thorn" (Þ) and the letter "Eth" (Ð), both of which are pronounced "Th" and were interchangeable. They were used indiscriminately for voiced and unvoiced sounds, unlike modern Icelandic. Thorn tended to be more used in the south (Wessex) and eth in the North (Mercia and Northumbria). "Th" was preferred in the earliest period in Northern texts.

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 and the letters "W" and "U". W was occasionally rendered "VV", but the runic letter "wynn" (Ƿ) was the normal way of writing the "W" sound. Again, in the earliest period, the Angles/Engle preferred 'VV', whilst the West Saxons preferred the letter derived from a rune. (Compare "Thorn" and "Eth")

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).

Monarchs of the West Saxons (Wessex)

Reign Incumbent Notes
The Kingdom of the Gewissae
Cerdicing Dynasty
519 to 534 Cerdic CERDIC ELESING GEVVISSÆ CYNING
CERDIC REX GEVVISSÆ
Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name
534 to 560 Cynric CYNRIC CERDICING GEVVISSÆ CYNING
CYNRIC REX GEVVISSÆ
560 to 591 Ceawlin CEAVVLIN CYNRICING GEVVISSÆ CYNING
CEAVVLIN REX GEVVISSÆ
Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name
591 to 597 Ceol CEOL CVÞING GEVVISSÆ CYNING
CEOL REX GEVVISSÆ
597 to 611 Ceolwulf CEOLVVLF CVÞING GEVVISSÆ CYNING
CEOLVVLF REX GEVVISSÆ
611 to 643 Cynegils CYNEGILS CEOLING GEVVISSÆ CYNING
CYNEGILS REX GEVVISSÆ
Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name
c. 626 to 636 Cwichelm CVVICHELM CYNEGILSING GEVVISSÆ CYNING
CVVICHELM REX GEVVISSÆ
643 to 645 Cenwalh CENVVALH CYNEGILSING GEVVISSÆ CYNING
CENVVALH REX GEVVISSÆ
Possibly Celtic, Brythonic, name; Deposed
Mercian Dynasty
645 to 648 Penda PENDA PYBBING MIERCNA 7 GEVVISSÆ CYNING
PENDA REX MIERCNA ET GEVVISSÆ
Cerdicing Dynasty
648 to 674 Cenwalh CENVVALH CYNEGILSING VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
CENVVALH REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
Restored; reigned jointly with his wife Queen Seaxburh 672 to 674
672 to 674 Seaxburh SEAXBVRG VVESTSEAXNA CVEN
SEAXBVRH REGINA SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
Reigned jointly with her husband Cenwalh until his death 674
674 Cenfus CENFVS CENFERÞING VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
CENFVS REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
674 to 676 Æscwine ÆSCVVINE CENFVSING VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
ÆSCVVINE REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
676 to 685 Centwine CENTVVINE CYNEGILSING VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
CENTVVINE REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
Deposed by Cædwalla
685 to 688 Caedwalla CÆDVVALLA CENBRYHTING VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
CÆDVVALLA REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
Usurper; abdicated, possibly of British origin
688 to 726 Ine INE CENREDING VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
INE REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
Abdicated
726 to 740 Æthelheard ÆÞELHEARD VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
ÆÞELHEARD REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
740 to 756 Cuthred CVÞRED VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
CVÞRED REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
756 to 757 Sigeberht SIGEBRYHT VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
SIGEBRYHT REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
Deposed (and killed?) by Cynewulf
757 to 786 Cynewulf CYNEVVLF VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
CYNEVVLF REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
Assassinated by Cyneheard, brother of Sigeberht
786 to 802 Beorhtric BEORHTRIC VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
BEORHTRIC REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
802 to 839 Egbert ECGBRYHT EALHMVNDING VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
ECGBRYHT REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
839 to 858 Æthelwulf ÆÞELVVLF ECGBRYHTING VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
ÆÞELVVLF REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
858 to 860 Æthelbald ÆÞELBALD ÆÞELVVLFING VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
ÆÞELBALD REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
860 to 865 Æthelberht ÆÞELBRYHT ÆÞELVVLFING VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
ÆÞELBRYHT REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
865 to 871 Æthelred ÆÞELRED ÆÞELVVLFING VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
ÆÞELRED REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
871 to 899 Alfred the Great ÆLFRED ÆÞELVVLFING ÐE GREAT VVESTSEAXNA CYNING
ÆLFRED MAGNVS REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
The only Anglo-Saxon monarch to be given the epithet "the Great".
899 to 924 Edward the Elder EADVVEARD ÆLFREDING ÐE ELDRA WESTSEAXNA CYNING
EADVVEARD REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
Died 17 July 924
924 Ælfweard? ÆLFVVEARD WESTSEAXNA CYNNING
ÆLFVVEARD REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
Second son of Edward the Elder. Died 2 August 924, only 16 days after his father
924 to 927 Æthelstan ÆÞELSTAN EADVVEARDING WESTSEAXNA CYNNING
ÆÞELSTAN REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM
Became King of the English in 927 when the Northumbrians accepted his lordship.[1]

See also

Notes

  1. Keynes, Simon (2001). "Edward, King of the Anglo-Saxons". In N. J. Higham & D. H. Hill. Edward the Elder 899-924. Routledge. p. 61. ISBN 0-415-21497-1.

References

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