kingdom of Wessex

The origins of the kingdom of Wessex are obscure. Archaeological evidence shows that the communities of Germanic settlers established in the middle Thames region in the late 5th and early 6th cents. constituted one of the principal elements, but literary evidence emphasizes a more southerly origin in the movement of Cerdic and his successors in the early 6th cent. from a base in the Portsmouth area into Hampshire and Wiltshire. Historic shape was given to Wessex in the reign of Ceawlin (560-91), who claimed descent from Cerdic and was described by Bede as a bretwalda (overlord of the Germanic settlers in Britain). At the battle of Dyrham near Bath in 577, he won a victory over the Britons which left him in control of Bath, Cirencester, and Gloucester. Under two powerful kings, Cædwalla (685-8) and Ine (688-726), the West Saxons extended their political control over Devon and Somerset. Ine died on pilgrimage to Rome and for the rest of the 8th cent. Wessex played a subordinate part to Mercia in English affairs. Revival came in the 9th cent. during the reign of Egbert (802-39). After his defeat of the Mercians at Ellendun in 825 the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle referred to him as bretwalda. This did not prove permanent, but the south-east and East Anglia continued to acknowledge his lordship. His son Æthelwulf (839-58) and his grandsons, especially his youngest grandson, Alfred the Great (871-99), consolidated the West Saxon hold over Sussex, Surrey, and Kent. But the whole political structure of England was changed in the second half of the 9th cent. by the Danish invasions. Alfred's heroic defence resulted in the peace of Wedmore (878) which left all England north and east of Watling Street and the river Lea in Danish hands. Alfred regained London after 886 and skilfully exploited his position as sole surviving effective representative of the ancient ruling English dynasties. From that point onwards the story of the kingdom of Wessex folds absolutely into the story of the kingdom of England.