Cerdic of Wessex

And yeah, so that was really what kind of got me into it.

I kind of moved into, I wrote my first book about the first king of Wessex, Cerdic.

And I kind of did a big investigation into his potential burial site.

And then for this book, it was just, I was a huge fan of the Vikings and it was just a kind of a natural challenge to take on to try and work out what I could and try and find out the real story behind it in some cases I you know I just had to accept that you know there's an element there's a lot in a lot of cases there's an element of just not knowing unfortunately which is a bit frustrating for me and that's the kind of conclusion you have to reach but yeah no it's fascinating and Yeah, that was, I think I remember the first thing that, I remember the point when this book started.

It was bonanza time for the Scandis.

So where do the kings from our Anglo-Saxon rhyme fit into all this? Um, if you remember, it starts, "Egbert's name our list will head, then Ethel's, Wulf, Bald, Bert, and Red." Well, the House of Wessex traditionally starts with a guy called Cerdic, who ruled sort of some time in the 6th century.

But it was some 300 years earlier than Egbert, and Cerdic is regarded as the founder, and therefore the first king of Wessex itself, which was one of the first proper established Saxon settlements in England.

But very little is known about him, where he came from, who he was exactly, or even if he really actually existed.

This is the whole problem with the years after the Romans left, uh, and before Alfred started keeping proper records.

There's so little contemporary evidence.

But Cerdic was the sort of mythical ruler that gave you legitimacy if you claimed to be descended from him, like Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.

And the original line of the House of Wessex descends from Cerdic through various kings for 300 years, until we get to the time of King Offa of Mercia.

The royal genealogies in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are an example of the conservative process that went on with regard to many of the old beliefs and fancies, a process that may be clearly traced in the poem of Beowulf, by means of which pre-Christian ideas were annexed to Christianity.

The royal house of Cerdic still traces its descent from Woden, and Woden is thirteenth in descent from Noah.

Woden is kept as a king and a hero when he has ceased to be a god.

This was kindlier and more charitable than the alternate view that the gods of the heathen were living devils.

All the chiefs who founded Teutonic dynasties in the continental provinces of the Roman Empire, Alaric, Theodoric, Clovis, Alboin, were zealous Christians.

The followers of Ida and Cerdic, on the other hand, brought to their settlements in Britain all the superstitions of the Elbe.

While the German princes who reigned at Paris, Toledo, Arles, and Ravenna listened with reverence to the instructions of bishops, adored the relics of martyrs, and took part eagerly in disputes touching the Nicene theology, the rulers of Wessex and Mercia were still performing savage rites in the temples of Thor and Woden.

The continental kingdoms which had risen on the ruins of the Western Empire kept up some intercourse with those eastern provinces where ancient civilization, though slowly fading away under the influence of misgovernment, might still astonish and instruct barbarians; where the court still exhibited the splendor of Diocletian and Constantine; where the public buildings were still adorned with the sculptures of Polycletus and the paintings of Apelles; and where laborious pedants, themselves destitute of taste, sense, and spirit, could still read and interpret the masterpieces of Sophocles, of Demosthenes, and of Plato.

All the chiefs who founded Teutonic dynasties in the continental provinces of the Roman Empire, Alaric, Theodoric, Clovis, Alboin, were zealous Christians.

The followers of Ida and Cerdic, on the other hand, brought to their settlements in Britain all the superstitions of the Elbe.

While the German princes who reigned at Paris, Toledo, Arles, and Ravenna listened with reverence to the instructions of bishops, adored the relics of martyrs, and took part eagerly in disputes touching the Nicene theology, the rulers of Wessex and Mercia were still performing savage rites in the temples of Thor and Woden.

The continental kingdoms which had risen on the ruins of the Western Empire kept up some intercourse with those eastern provinces where ancient civilization, though slowly fading away under the influence of misgovernment, might still astonish and instruct barbarians, where the court still exhibited the splendor of Diocletian and Constantine, where the public buildings were still adorned with the sculptures of Polycletus and the paintings of Apelles, and where laborious pedants, themselves destitute of taste, sense, and spirit, could still read and interpret the masterpieces of Sophocles, of Demosthenes, and of Plato.