around 408 AD these small kingdoms were left to preserve their own order
and to deal with invaders and waves of migrant peoples such as the Picts
from beyond Hadrian's Wall, the Scots from Ireland and Germanic tribes from
the continent. (King Arthur, a larger-than-life figure, has often been
cited as a leader of one or more of these kingdoms during this period,
although his name now tends to be used as a symbol of British resistance
against invasion.)
The invading communities overwhelmed or adapted existing kingdoms and
created new ones - for example, the Angles in Mercia and Northumbria. Some
British kingdoms initially survived the onslaught, such as Strathclyde,
which was wedged in the north between Pictland and the new Anglo-Saxon
kingdom of Northumbria.
By 650 AD, the British Isles were a patchwork of many kingdoms founded
from native or immigrant communities and led by powerful chieftains or
kings. In their personal feuds and struggles between communities for
control and supremacy, a small number of kingdoms became dominant: Bernicia
and Deira (which merged to form Northumbria in 651 AD), Lindsey, East
Anglia, Mercia, Wessex and Kent. Until the late seventh century, a series
of warrior-kings in turn established their own personal authority over
other kings, usually won by force or through alliances and often cemented
by dynastic marriages.
According to the later chronicler Bede, the most famous of these kings
was Ethelberht, king of Kent (reigned c.560-616), who married Bertha, the
Christian daughter of the king of Paris, and who became the first English
king to be converted to Christianity (St Augustine's mission from the Pope
to Britain in 597 during Ethelberht's reign prompted thousands of such
conversions). Ethelberht's law code was the first to be written in any
Germanic language and included 90 laws. His influence extended both north
and south of the river Humber: his nephew became king of the East Saxons
and his daughter married king Edwin of Northumbria (died 633).
In the eighth century, smaller kingdoms in the British Isles continued to
fall to more powerful kingdoms, which claimed rights over whole areas and
established temporary primacies: Dalriada in Scotland, Munster and Ulster
in Ireland. In England, Mercia and later Wessex came to dominate, giving
rise to the start of the monarchy.
Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period the succession was frequently
contested, by both the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy and leaders of the settling
Scandinavian communities. The Scandinavian influence was to prove strong in
the early years. It was the threat of invading Vikings which galvanised
English leaders into unifying their forces, and, centuries later, the
Normans who successfully invaded in 1066 were themselves the descendants of
Scandinavian 'Northmen'.
HOUSE OF WESSEX AND ENGLAND
802 – 1066
EGBERT = Redburga
(802–839)
ETHELWULF = Osburga dau. of Oslac of Isle of
Wight
(839–855)
ETHELBERHT ALFRED
the Great = Ealhswith
ETHELBALD (860–866)
ETHELRED (871–899)
(855–860)
(866–871)
Ecgwyn =
EDWARD THE ELDER= Edgiva
(899–924)
ATHELSTAN
(924–939)
Elgiva = EDMUND I
EDRED
(939–946)
(946–955)
EDWY Ethelfleda = EDGAR = Elfrida,
dau. of Ordgar, Ealdorman of East Anglia
(955–959) dau. of (959–975)
Ealdorman
Ordmaer
EDWARD THE MARTYR
(975–979)
Elfgifu = ETHELRED II THE
UNREADY = Emma
(979–1016)
(later
(deposed 1013/14)
married
CANUTE)
EDMUND II IRONSIDE
(Apr.–Nov.1016)
Godwin = Gytha
EDWARD THE = Eadgyth
HAROLD II
CONFESSOR (Edith)
(Jan.–Oct.1066)
(1042–1066)
EGBERT (802-39 AD)
[pic]
Known as the first King of All England, he was forced into exile at the
court of Charlemagne, by the powerful Offa, King of Mercia. Egbert returned
to England in 802 and was recognized as king of Wessex. He defeated the
rival Mercians at the battle of Ellendun in 825. In 829, the Northumbrians
accepted his overlordship and he was proclaimed "Bretwalda" or sole ruler
of Britain.
ЖTHELWULF (839-55 AD)
[pic]Жthelwulf was the son of Egbert and a sub-king of Kent. He assumed
the throne of Wessex upon his father's death in 839. His reign is
characterized by the usual Viking invasions and repulsions common to all
English rulers of the time, but the making of war was not his chief claim
to fame. Жthelwulf is remembered, however dimly, as a highly religious man
who cared about the establishment and preservation of the church. He was
also a wealthy man and controlled vast resources. Out of these resources,
he gave generously, to Rome and to religious houses that were in need.
He was an only child, but had fathered five sons, by his first wife,
Osburga. He recognized that there could be difficulties with contention
over the succession. He devised a scheme which would guarantee (insofar as
it was possible to do so) that each child would have his turn on the throne
without having to worry about rival claims from his siblings. Жthelwulf
provided that the oldest living child would succeed to the throne and would
control all the resources of the crown, without having them divided among
the others, so that he would have adequate resources to rule. That he was
able to provide for the continuation of his dynasty is a matter of record,
but he was not able to guarantee familial harmony with his plan. This is
proved by what we know of the foul plottings of his son, Жthelbald, while
Жthelwulf was on pilgrimage to Rome in 855.
Жthelwulf was a wise and capable ruler, whose vision made possible the
beneficial reign of his youngest son, Alfred the Great.
ЖTHELBALD (855-8 (subking), 858-60)
While his father, Жthelwulf, was on pilgrimage to Rome in 855, Жthelbald
plotted with the Bishop of Sherbourne and the ealdorman of Somerset against
him. The specific details of the plot are unknown, but upon his return from
Rome, Жthelwulf found his direct authority limited to the sub-kingdom of
Kent, while Жthelbald controlled Wessex.
Жthelwulf died in 858, and full control passed to Жthelbald. Perhaps
Жthelbald's premature power grab was occasioned by impatience, or greed, or
lack of confidence in his father's succession plans. Whatever the case, he
did not live long to enjoy it. He died in 860, passing the throne to his
brother, Жthelbert, just as Жthelwulf had planned.
ЖTHELBERT (860-66 AD)
[pic]Very little is known about Жthelbert, who took his rightful place in
the line of succession to the throne of Wessex at around 30 years of age.
Like all other rulers of his day, he had to contend with Viking raids on
his territories and even had to battle them in his capital city of
Winchester. Apparently, his military leadership was adequate, since, on
this occasion, the Vikings were cut off on their retreat to the coast and
were slaughtered, according to a contemporary source, in a "bloody battle."
ЖTHELRED I (866-71 AD)
Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex, and son of King Жthelwulf, who ruled England
during a time of great pressure from the invading Danes. He was an affable
man, a devoutly religious man and the older brother of Alfred the Great,
his second-in-command in the resistance against the invaders. Together,
they defeated the Danish kings Bagseg and Halfdan at the battle of Ashdown
in 870.
ALFRED «THE GREAT» (871-899)
Born at Wantage, Berkshire, in 849, Alfred was the fifth son of
Aethelwulf, king of the West Saxons. At their father's behest and by mutual
agreement, Alfred's elder brothers succeeded to the kingship in turn,
rather than endanger the kingdom by passing it to under-age children at a
time when the country was threatened by worsening Viking raids from
Denmark.
Since the 790s, the Vikings had been using fast mobile armies, numbering
thousands of men embarked in shallow-draught longships, to raid the coasts
and inland waters of England for plunder. Such raids were evolving into
permanent Danish settlements; in 867, the Vikings seized York and
established their own kingdom in the southern part of Northumbria. The
Vikings overcame two other major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, East Anglia and
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