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Ancestry of the kings of Wessex

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The ancestry of the Kings of Wessex has long attracted historians' interest because the monarchs of England trace their lineage from them. Yet scholarly analysis suggests the early part of it is largely an invention of the 8th and 9th centuries.

Anglo-Saxon genealogies

The Anglo-Saxons, uniquely among the early Germanic peoples, preserved royal genealogies.[1] Bede, in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, completed in 731, includes pedigrees for the kings of Kent and of the East Angles, tracing the former back to the 5th century warlord Hengist and both back to the Germanic god Woden.[2] An Anglian collection of royal genealogies also survives, the earliest version (sometimes called Vespasian or simply V) containing a list of bishops that ends in the year 812. This collection provides pedigrees for Deira, Bernicia, Mercia, Lindsey and, again, Kent and East Anglia, once more tracing all from Woden, now made the son of an otherwise unknown Frealaf.[3]

The same pedigrees, in both text and tablular form, are included in some copies of the Historia Brittonum, an older body of tradition compiled and/or significantly retouched by Nennius in the early 9th century. These apparently share a common late-8th century source with the Anglian collection.[4] Two other manuscripts from the 10th century(called CCCC and Tiberius, or simply C and T) also preserve the Anglian collection but include an addition: a pedigree for King Ine of Wessex that traces his ancestry from Cerdic, the semi-legendary founder of the Wessex state, and so from Woden.[5] This addition probably reflects the growing influence of Wessex under Ecgbert, whose family claimed descent from a brother of Ine.[6] Pedigrees are also preserved in several regnal lists dating from the reign of Æthelwulf and later but seemingly based on a late-8th or early 9th century source or sources.[7] Finally both Asser's Vita Ælfredi regis Angul Saxonum and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (in entries not contemporary with their dates but incorporated by 892) preserve Wessex pedigrees extended beyond Cerdic and Woden to Adam.[8]

Critical analysis

Scholars have long noted discrepancies in the Wessex pedigree tradition. The pedigree as it appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is at odds with the earlier Anglian collection in that it contains four additional generations and consists of alliterative doublets, unlike known Anglo-Saxon naming practices, that would be difficult to maintain over the given number of generations.[9]

Anglo Saxon Chronicle Anglian Collection C&T
Woden Woden
Bældæg Bældæg
Brond Brand
Friðgar
Freawine
Wig
Giwis Giwis
Esla
Elesa Aluca
Cerdic Cerdic

Further, when comparing the Chronicles' pedigrees of Cerdic and of Ida of Bernicia several anomalies are evident. The two share their earliest generations but the two peoples had no tradition of common origin. One might expect Cerdic to be given descent from a different son of Woden, if not from a different god entirely such as the Saxon patron, Seaxnēat, who heads the pedigree of the Essex kings. Furthermore, while the chronicle places Ida's reign after Cerdic's death, their pedigrees would place Cerdic seven generations after a supposed common ancestor who appears only four generations before Ida.[10]

Cerdic Ida
Woden
Bældæg
Brond/Brand
Friðgar Benoc
Freawine Aloc
Wig Angenwit
Giwis Ida
Esla
Elesa
Cerdic

The name Cerdic, moreover, may actually be an Anglicized form of the Brythonic name Ceredic and several of his successors also have names of possible Brythonic origin, indicating that the Wessex founders may not have been Germanic at all,[11] again suggesting that the pedigree may not be authentic.

Sisam hypothesis

The Wessex royal pedigree continued to puzzle historians until, in 1953, Anglo-Saxon scholar Kenneth Sisam presented an analysis that has since been almost universally accepted by historians. He noted similarities between the earlier versions of the Wessex pedigree and that of Ida. Those appearing in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and in the published transcript of Asser (the original having been lost in an 18th century fire) are in agreement but several earlier manuscript transcripts of Asser' work give, instead, the shorter pedigree of the later Anglian collection manuscripts, probably representing the original text of Asser and the earliest form of the Cerdic pedigree.[12] Sisam speculated that the additional names arose through the insertion of a pair of Saxon heroes, Freawine and Wig, into the existing pedigree, creating a second alliterative pair (after Brand/Bældæg, Giwis/Wig, where the stress of "Giwis" is on the second sylable) and inviting further alliteration, the addition of Esla to complete an Elesa/Esla pair, and of Friðgar to make a Freawine/Friðgar alliteration.[13] Of these alliterative names (in a culture whose poetry depended upon alliteration rather than rhyme) only Esla is perhaps known elsewhere. British historians working before Sisam suggested that his name is that of Ansila, a legendary Goth ancestor or that he is Osla 'Bigknife' of Arthurian legend,[14] an equivalency still followed by some Arthurian writers, although Osla is elsewhere identified with Octa of Kent[15] Elesa has also been linked to the Romano-Briton Elasius, the "chief of the region" met by Germanus of Auxerre.[16]

Asser
(original) 		Sisam
hypothetical
intermediate 		Anglo Saxon Chronicle
UUoden Woden Woden
Belde(g) Bældæg Bældæg
Brond Brond Brond
Friðgar
Freawine Freawine
Wig Wig
Geuuis Giwis Giwis
Esla
Elesa Elesa Elesa
Cerdic Cerdic Cerdic

Having concluded that the shorter form of the royal genealogy was the original, Sisam compared the names found in different versions of the Wessex and Northumbrian royal pedigrees, revealing a similarity between the Bernician pedigree found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and those given for Cerdic: rather than diverging several generations earlier they are seen to correspond until the generation immediately before Cerdic, with the exception of one substitution. "Giwis", seemingly a supposed eponymous ancestor of the Gewisse (a name given to the early West Saxons) appears instead of a similarly eponymous ancestor of the Bernicians, Benoc in the Chronicle and (slightly rearranged in order) Bernic or Beornec in other versions. This suggests that the Bernician pedigree was co-opted by Wessex historians who truncated it to place Cerdic in the appropriate chronological position, replacing one "founding father" with another.[17]

Ida of Bernicia Cerdic of Wessex
Anglian Collection V Historia Brittonum Anglo Saxon Chronicle Anglian Collection C&T Asser (original text) Anglo Saxon Chronicle
(without additions)
Woden Woden Woden Woden UUoden Woden
Bældeg Beldeg Bældæg Bældæg Belde(g) Bældæg
Be(o)rnic Beornec Brand Brand Brond Brond
Wegbrand Gechbrand
Ingibrand Benoc Giwis Geuuis Giwis
Alusa Aluson Aloc Aluca Elesa Elesa
Angengeot Inguec Angenwit Cerdic Cerdic Cerdic
Ida Ida Ida

Sisam concluded that at one time the Wessex royal pedigree went no earlier than Cerdic and that it was subsequently elaborated by borrowing the Bernician royal pedigree that went back to Woden, introducing the heroes Freawine and Wig and inserting additional names to provide alliterative couplets.[18]

Royal pedigree prior to Woden

The next step in the creation of the full pedigree would seem to have been its extension to another legendary Scandinavian, Geat, apparently the eponymous ancestor of the Geats and Goths and perhaps once a god.[19] The earliest manuscript that extends prior to Woden, the Vespasian version of the Anglian collection, adds one earlier name for most of the pedigrees, an otherwise unknown Frealeaf, but in the case of the genealogy of the kings of Lindsey makes Frealeaf son of Friothulf, son of Finn, son of Godulf, son of Geat. This appears to be a more recent addition, added after the Historia Brittonum tabular genealogies were derived from the Anglian collection's precursor, and subsequently added to other lineages.[20] In the prose pedigree of Hengist in the Historia Brittonum Godulf, father of Finn was replaced by a variant of Folcwald the father of legendary Frisian hero Finn.[21] Later versions do not follow this change: some add an additional name, making Friothwald the father of Woden, while others omit Friothulf.[22] None of the individuals between Woden and Geat is known elsewhere with the possible exception of Finn. Sisam concludes; "Few will dissent from the general opinion that the ancestors of Woden were a fanciful development of Christian times."[23]

Bede Anglian Collection V
all but Lindsey 		Anglian Collection V
Lindsey 		Historia Brittonum
Hengist Pedigree 		Anglo Saxon Chronicle
Abington 547 annal 		Anglo Saxon Chronicle
Otho B 547 annal 		Anglo Saxon Chronicle
Parker 855 annal,
Asser, Æthelweard 		Anglo Saxon Chronicle
Abington & others
855 annal
Anglian Collection T
Geat Guta Geat Geat Geat Geat
Godwulf Folcpald Godwulf Godwulf Godwulf Godwulf
Finn Fran Finn Finn Finn Finn
Frioþulf Freudulf Friþulf Friþuwulf Friþuwulf
Frealeaf Frealeaf Frelaf Freoþelaf Frealeaf Frealeaf
Friþuwald
Woden Woden Woden Uuoden Woden Woden Woden Woden

Several sources extend the pedigree prior to Geat. These fall into three classes, the shortest being found in the Latin translation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle prepared by Æthelweard, himself a descendant of the royal family. His version makes Geat the son of Tetuua, son of Beo, son of Scyld, son of Scef.[24] The last three generations also appear in Beowulf in the pedigree of Hroðgar.[25] The surviving manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle make Scyld a distant descendant of Sceaf instead. Asser gives a similar pedigree with some different name forms and one version of the Chronicle has an obvious error removing the early part of the pedigree but all these clearly represent a second pedigree tradition.[26] William of Malmesbury presented a third variant, having Scef as both father of Scyld and, in modified form, as founder of the longer line given in the Chronicle.[27] The Chronicle version appears to have additional names interpolated into the older tradition reported by Æthelweard, one of them, Heremod, reflecting the legendary ruler of the Danish Scyldings.[28] The Malmesbury version was, then, an attempt to harmonize Æthelweard's pedigree with the longer one of the Chronicle.[29]

Æthelweard Chronicle William of Malmesbury
Scef Sceaf Strephius
Bedwig Bedwegius
Hwala Gwala
Haðra Hadra
Itermon Stermonius
Heremod Heremodius
Sceaf
Scyld Scyldwa Sceldius
Beo Beaw Beowius
Tetuua Tætwa Tetius
Geat Geat(a) Getius

The earliest names in the supposed pedigree were probably the last to be added, the Biblical genealogy placing Noah as father of Scef and tracing back to Adam, an extension not followed by Æthelweard who apparently used a copy of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle containing that extension but also had family material independent of the Chronicle.[30] In this way, by repeated steps of extension, interpolation and modification, the accepted pedigree of the kings of Wessex was extended from the earliest known ancestor, Cerdic, by as many as 34 fantastical generations.[31]


Individual Kings Reference

Esla

Esla appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the son of Gewis and a descendant of Woden. He is also described as the father of Elesa, the father of Cerdic of Wessex who invaded Britain and founded the kingdom of Wessex. That an earlier pedigree of the kings of Bernicia is very similar, except that it has Bernic, eponymous ancestors of the Bernicians, in the same place as the later Wessex pedigree substitutes Gewis, eponymous ancestor of the Gewisse or West Saxons, has led to the suggestion that the later Wessex pedigree may have been modified from that of the Bernicians. Elsa is just a mythical, probably invented, name in a mythical pedigree, that doesn't even belong to the family that is supposedly supplying the notoriety (the original pedigree was hijacked from the Bernician kings).


Some Speculation there has been

There has been some speculation which connects Esla to the Gothic name Ansila and in late Welsh sources, a figure with the (possibly Gothic) name Osla, nicknamed Cyllellfawr "Big-Knife" in Welsh. Other scholars may have argued that the name is Brythonic.

Possible Non-Existence

It is possible that Esla never existed. Kenneth Sisam makes a strong argument that Esla was simply invented to provide an alliterative couplet with Elesa, demanded when the intrusion of the heroic pair of Wig and Freawine into the borrowed Bernician pedigree set up a pattern of alliteratively-coupled names.

Preceded by Supposed Ancestor of the kings of Wessex Succeeded by

Gewis

Gewis appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the son of Wig and a descendant of Woden. He is described as the father of Esla and suuplies an explanation for the early name of the inhabitants of Wessex, the Gewissas.

Preceded by Ancestor of the kings of Wessex Succeeded by
Esla

References

  1. ^ Sisam, p. 287
  2. ^ Sisam, pp. 288
  3. ^ Sisam, pp. 287-290
  4. ^ Sisam, pp. 292-294
  5. ^ Sisam, pp. 290-292
  6. ^ Sisam, p. 291
  7. ^ Sisam, pp. 294-297
  8. ^ Sisam, pp. 297-298
  9. ^ Sisam, pp. 298,300-307
  10. ^ Sisam, pp. 300-304
  11. ^ David Parsons, "British *Caratīcos, Old English Cerdic", Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies, vol. 33, pp. 1-8 (1997); Henry Howorth, "The Beginnings of Wessex", The English Historical Review, vol. 13, pp. 667-71 (1898) - a contrary opinion is taken by Alfred Anscombe, "The Name of Cerdic", Y Cymmrodor: The Magazine of the Honorable Society of Cymmrodorion vol. 29, pp. 151-209 (1919)
  12. ^ Sisam, pp. 300-305
  13. ^ Sisam, pp. 304-307
  14. ^ Alfred Anscombe, "The Date of the First Settlement of the Saxons in Britain: II. Computation in the Eras of the Passion and the Incarnation 'secundum Evangelicam Veritatem'", Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie, vol. 6, pp. 339-394 at p. 369; Alfred Anscombe, "The Name of Cerdic", Y Cymmrodor: The Magazine of the Honorable Society of Cymmrodorion vol. 29, pp. 151-209 (1919) at p. 179.
  15. ^ Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of King Arthur, p. 211; John Evans, "The Arthurian Campaign", Archaeologia Cantiana, vol. 78, pp. 83-95, at. p. 85.
  16. ^ Grosjean, P., Analecta Bollandiana, 1957. Hagiographie Celtique pp. 158-226.
  17. ^ Sisam, pp. 305-307
  18. ^ Sisam, pp. 305-307
  19. ^ Sisam, pp. 307-8
  20. ^ Sisam, pp. 308-9
  21. ^ Sisam, pp. 309-10
  22. ^ Sisam, pp. 310-14
  23. ^ Sisam, pp. 308
  24. ^ Sisam, pp. 314, 317-318
  25. ^ Murray; Sam Newton, The Origins of Beowulf and the Pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia, pp. 54-76.
  26. ^ Sisam, pp. 313-6
  27. ^ Sisam, pp. 318-319
  28. ^ Sisam, pp. 318
  29. ^ Sisam, pp. 320
  30. ^ Sisam, 320-322; Daniel Anlezark, "Japheth and the origins of the Anglo-Saxons", Anglo Saxon England, vol. 31, pp. 13-46.
  31. ^ Sisam, pp. 322-331

Sources

  • Kenneth Sisam, "Anglo-Saxon Royal Genealogies", Proceedings of the British Academy, 39 (1953), pp. 287–348
  • Alexander Callander Murray, "Beowulf, the danish invasion, and royal genealogy", The Dating of Beowulf, Colin Chase, ed. University of Toronto Center for Medieval Studies, 1997, pp. 101–111.
  • David Dumville, "Kingship, Genealogies and Regnal Lists", Early Medieval Kingship, in P.W. Sawyer and Ian N. Wood, eds., Leeds University, 1997, pp. 72–104
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