Wessex is the name of the former kingdom which originated in south-central
England and expanded to cover the whole of the south west. The Encyclopaedia
Britannica lists Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somerset and Dorset as the "permanent
nucleus" of Wessex.
Wessex began with the landing of Cerdic Von Wessex in Southampton Water in
495AD.
*Some experts believe that Cerdic was another name for King Arthur and that
Camelot was in the area.
Don't let it be forgot,That once there was a spot,
For one brief, shining moment that was known as Camelot
THE KINGS of WESSEX
Wessex Rule
| Cerdic |
519-534 |
| Cynric (son of Cerdic) |
534-560 |
| Ceawlin (son of Cynric) |
560-591 |
| Ceol (son of Cutha) |
591-97 |
| Ceolwulf (son of Cutha) |
597-611 |
| Cynegils (son of Ceol) |
611-643 |
| Cenwalh (son of Cynegils) |
643-645 |
|
Under Mercian Rule 645-648
|
|
| Cenwalh (again) |
648-672 |
| Seaxburh (Queen of Cenwalh) |
672-674 |
| Cenfus(line of Ceolwulf) |
674 |
| Aescwine (son of Cenfus) |
674-676 |
| Centwine (son of Cynegils) |
676-685 |
| Caedwalla (line of Ceawlin) |
685-688 |
| Ine (line of Ceawlin) |
688-726 |
| Aethelheard (brother-in-law of Ine) |
726-740 |
| Cuthred (kinsman of Aethelheard) |
740-756 |
| Sigeberht |
756-757 |
| Cynewulf |
757-786 |
| Beorhtric |
786-802 |
Wessex Rule claimants to the title,
'King of the English'
| Egbert |
802-839 |
| Aethelwulf |
839-858 |
| Aethelbald |
858-860 |
| Aethelbert |
860-865 |
| Aethelred I |
865-871 |
| Alfred the Great |
871-884 |
|
CERDIC VON WESSEX (d. 534),
At the end of Roman Times , there
were lots of Saxon Mercenaries ( hired soldiers) living in Britain. The Roman
government had paid them to protect many of the towns.
Archaeologists have dug up many graves from this time. Some of
the skeletons were wearing special belts and carrying spears. They are thought
to be Saxon Mercenaries because similar objects have been found in Saxon graves
in Europe.
We know of some Saxons who had British names, The most famous was
Cerdic, the first King of Wessex. In Brythonic ( the British Language) his
name is Ceredig.
Old documents say that, like other Saxons, he came to Britain from
Germany or Denmark. However, Cerdic
was probably born in Britain. His father was probably a Saxon Mercenary in
Winchester ( in Hampshire) and his mother was a local Briton.
When the Roman Army left Britain, Cerdic would have been a respected
officer in the mercenary army. He would have easily been able to make himself
into a local ruler or King. He probably called for his Saxon friends and relatives
from Germany and Denmark to join him
.
They set up the Saxon Kingdom of Wessex and
made Chard their capital. Cerdic is described as an ealdorman who in 495
landed with his son Cynric in Hampshire, where he was attacked at once by
the Britons. Nothing more is heard of him until 508, when he defeated the
Britons with great slaughter.
Strengthened by fresh arrivals of Saxons,
he gained another victory in 519 at Certicesford, a spot which has been identified
with the modern Charford, and in this year took the title of king. Turning westward,
Cerdic appears to have been defeated by the Britons in 520 at Badbury or Mount
Badon, in Dorset, and in 527 yet another fight with the Britons is recorded.
His last work was the conquest of the Isle of Wight, probably in the interest
of some Jutish allies.
|
"ALFRED THE GREAT (848?-899).
The course of English history would have
been very different had it not been for King Alfred. He won renown both as
a statesman and as a warrior and is justly called "the Great."
The England of Alfred's time was a country of four
small Saxon kingdoms. The strongest was Wessex, in the south. Born in about
848, Alfred was the youngest son of Ethelwulf, king of WessexEach of Alfred's
three older brothers, in turn, ruled the kingdom. Alfred was by temperament
a scholar, and his health was never robust.
Nevertheless in his early youth he fought with his brother Ethelred
against Danish invaders. Alfred was 23 when Ethelred died, but he had already
won the confidence of the army and was at once acclaimed king in 871. By this
time the Danes, or Vikings, had penetrated to all parts of the island. Three
of the Saxon Kingdoms: (Northumbria, Mercia, and East Anglia) had one after
another fallen to the Danish invaders.
Under Alfred's leadership, the Saxons again found
courage. The worst crisis came in the winter of 877, when the Danish king,
Guthrum, invaded Wessex with his army. In 878 Alfred was defeated at Chippenham,
where he was celebrating Christmas, and was forced to go into hiding.
A few months later he forced Guthrum to surrender
at Chippenham. The Danes agreed to make the Thames River and the old Roman
road called Watling Street the boundary between Alfred's kingdom and the Danish
lands to the north. The treaty, however, did not assure permanent peace.
The Danes assaulted London and the coast towns repeatedly. In about 896 they
finally admitted defeat and ceased their struggle for a foothold in southern
England.
Alfred was much more than the defender of his country.
He took a keen interest in law and order and was concerned with the improvement
of the cultural standards of his people. He encouraged industries of all kinds
and rebuilt London, which had been partly destroyed by the Danes. He collected
and revised the old laws of the kingdom. He invited learned men from other
countries to instruct the people because even the clergy of Wessex no longer
knew Latin, the international language of the church. He established a school
similar to the Palace School of Charlemagne.
The "books most necessary for all men to know" were translated
from Latin into English so that the people might read them. Alfred himself
took a part in preparing the translations. The 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' was
probably begun under his direction.
Alfred died at the age of about 51 in 899. He was
in no sense a true king of England, for he ruled less than half of the island.
After his death, however, his capable son, Edward the Elder, and his grandsons
extended their rule over all of England."
*From Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia Deluxe © 1998
The Learning Company, Inc.
All the sovereigns of England, except Canute,
Hardicanute, the two Harolds and William the Conqueror, are said to be descended
from Cerdic.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that the
kingdom expanded from south to north .
In the 9th Century, Wessex rose to become the dominant power in
a newly united England, which led to its distinctive identity being subsumed
into the larger kingdom.
However, when Canute became king in 1016,
he revived the names of the former English kingdoms and applied them to the
newly created office of Earl. Canute originally kept the Earldom of Wessex
for himself, but later awarded it to Godwin, who became the most powerful
private citizen in England as a result. He was succeeded by his son, Harold
Godwinson, later to become king Harold II of England.
When the Normans invaded in 1066, one of
their first acts was to abolish the Earldoms in favour of the more manageable
shires as the largest units of sub-national government, fearful of the threat
that powerful regional government posed to their centralising authority.
The office of Earl of Wessex remained dormant
until our own time, when Prince Edward, the third son of Queen Elisabeth II,
became the 3rd Earl upon the occasion of his marriage to Sophie Rhys -Jones.
Therefore once more bonding the Royal connection to Wessex. We
congratulate them on the recent birth of their daughter Louise.
By 1066, Harold Godwinson's earldom of Wessex had expanded to include
all the above counties, plus Cornwall, Sussex and his original territory of
Herefordshire. The Wyvern, the mythical symbol of the ancient kingdom
of Wessex still appears on many county crests in the region today. The Wyvern
emblem was carried at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 .
|
Chard (Cerdre, Cherdre, Cherde)
was commercial in origin, being a trade centre near the Roman road to the
west. There are two Roman villas in the parish. There was a British camp
at Neroche in the neighbourhood. Chard is situated on the highest ground
between the Bristol and English Channels, on the border of Devonshire, and
was anciently spelt Cerde, or Cherde. - the royal house of Cerdic.
Because of it's position being the highest ground it was strategically
in the best position to defend and is more obviously "Camelot" than other
such claimants.
In the Doomsday Survey it is called Cerdre, at which time the manor
belonged to the Bishop of Wells.
The bishop of Bath held Chard in 1086. Bishop Jocelyn, of
Bath and Wells, incorporated this borough 1234, and gave the land from his
manor of Chard for the building of the town, previous to which it is supposed
to have constituted what is now known as the old town. He made
Chard a free borough, each burgage paying a rent of f 2d. Trade in hides was
forbidden to non-burgesses.
This charter was confirmed in 1253, 1280 and 1285. Chard is said
to have been incorporated by Elizabeth, as the corporation seal dates from
1570, but no Elizabethan charter can be found. It was incorporated by grant
of Charles I. in 1642, and Charles II. gave a charter in 1683.
Chard was a mesne borough, the first overlord being Bishop Joceline,
whose successors held it (with a brief interval from 1545 to 1552) until 1601,
when it was sold to Earl Poulett.
Parliamentary representation began in 1312, and was lost in 1328
by the neglect of the freemen.
A market on Monday and fair on the 25th of July were granted in
1253, and confirmed in 1642 and 1683, when two more fair days were added (November
2 and May 3), the market being changed to Tuesday. The market day is now
Saturday, fairs being held on the first Wednesday in May, August and November,
for corn and cattle only, their medieval importance as centres of the cloth
trade having departed.
Chard was therefore a town of great significance in the past.
In Stuart times it was from Chard that Charles I of England tried
to sue for peace with Oliver Cromwell. It was refused and Charles was soon
defeated and ultimately beheaded.
Duke of Monmouth Crowned King in Chard
1685
Then in the reign of James II it was at the
epicentre of the uprising against the King. The final major turmoil
for 17th-century Chard came in 1685 when the Duke of Monmouth landed at Lyme
Regis on June 11 and recruited 3,000 volunteers as part of his famous rebellion.
He marched into Somerset, was crowned
king in Chard and was the subject of more coronations in Taunton and
Bridgwater, where more local rebels swelled his army to 7,000 men.After a
series of skirmishes near Bristol and Bath, the rebels returned to Bridgwater
from where Monmouth led them into the famous Battle of Sedgemoor against James
II's Royalist army, which was encamped at Westonzoyland.It was the last land
battle on English soil and it ended in defeat for Monmouth who was later
beheaded at the Tower of London. The locals who had joined the uprising
were severely dealt with by the infamous "hanging" Judge Jeffries at both
Dorchester and Taunton Assizes.* See list of those executed
below
The town was also very much at the centre of the industrial revolution.
One of Judge Jeffries' victims kept in the stocks for 320 years!
In 1843, some 50+ years before the Wright
brothers, the first powered flight aeroplane was made and took to the air
in Chard. The inventor was John Stringfellow. It was also the place where
the first artificial limbs were made. Full descriptions and models can be
viewed at the Chard Museum.
|
Chard Tourist Information Centre,
WESSEX ME
