A note on terminology: When dealing with the people of a Romano-Celtic mix, who lived in Britain before the arrival of the Saxons, the term “British” will be used when referring to the people and “Brythonic” when referring to the language. When dealing with the Anglo-Saxons, I have opted to use “English” when referring to the people and “Germanic” when dealing with the language.
There is a curiosity at the root of England’s founding Saxon dynasty, the House of Wessex. Almost half of its earliest kings have Brythonic names or names that point to British ancestry. Of those names recorded in the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List (WSGRL), six of the twelve kings before the turn of the eighth century seem to have these names. This Regnal List is a ninth-century document compiled during the reign of Alfred the Great. However, the list certainly draws on earlier documents and traditions.
David Dumville (1986), the premier scholar of these regnal lists, has noted a vital difference between the regnal lengths seen in the WSGRL and the genealogies shown in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ASC). Through textual criticism of both lists, Dumville was able to recreate the likely original archetype. In it, the dates of these twelve kings differ significantly until the reign of King Ine (c. 688-726); from here, the dates converge. This article will use the dates formulated by Dumville in his “The West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List and the Chronology of Early Wessex,” so the reader will find discrepancies between the commonly accepted dates of reigns.
Cerdic, Founder of the Cerdicing Dynasty (r. 538-54)
It has long been acknowledged that the founding ‘Saxon’ of the House of Wessex likely had a British name, at least as early as 1898 (Howorth). Modern historians tend to agree (Yorke, 1995; P.K. Johnstone, 2015) that the name Cerdic is of Brythonic origin. Howorth reports that Cerdic seems to be an Anglicised Ceredig or Caradoc/Caradog. This name certainly fits with figures who were certainly Welsh at the time. Ceredig ap Cunedda (son of Cunedda), mentioned by Nennius, ruled Ceredigion in Wales in the early 5th century. The semi-legendary Caradoc Strongarm of Arthurian legend and the Vita St. Tatheus may have lived in the 5th or 6th centuries. Another Ceretic Guletic ruled Alt Clut in modern Scotland in the 5th century, as reported in the letters of St. Patrick, again in the early 5th century. Bede records another Caradoc in his history:
“In the year of our Lord 603, Aethelfrith, king of the Northumbrians, having vanquished the Britons, expelled them from that part of the country which they had inhabited, and made it a desert. Among the number of those who were driven out was Caradoc, who had been king of the Britons, and who, after his expulsion, wandered about in great distress.”
To add to the evidence, it is also important to note that there is no other Anglo-Saxon, that I am aware of, with the name Cerdic.
Cynric, Son and Brother of Cerdic (r. 554-81)
Cynric, reported as the son of Cerdic in the ASC and as his brother in the WSGRL, could also have an Anglicised Welsh name. Howorth suggests that Cynric seems to be an Anglicised Brythonic name, Cunorix (meaning “Hound-king”), which developed into Cinir in Old Welsh, Kynyr in Middle Welsh. Cynric could, however, be a Germanic name meaning “Kin Ruler.” The origin of the name Cynric is less clear but offers food for thought. Interestingly, the ASC does not mention that Cerdic and Cynric were Saxons at all. The first entry concerning them states that they were princes or ealdormen. We next hear of them fighting against the British King Nazaleod. I don’t believe this is evidence of their Germanic heritage. Gildas reports that the British kings of his day (c. 540) were in a state of constant civil war. Well after Cerdic and Cynric arrival, the ASC reports that the West Saxons arrived with the very Germanic-sounding Stuf and Wihtgar. Only three years later, in 519, does the ASC state that Cerdic ‘obtained the kingdom of the West Saxons’, twenty-four years after their arrival! Countless historians have shown that the dating in the ASC is not reliable. The events recorded being from a pre-literate age and only put into annalistic structure in the ninth century. The report does, however, show that it was not believed that Cerdic and Cynric brought the West Saxons over from mainland Europe.
Ceawlin (r. 581-88), Cynegils (r. 611-42), and the Gewisse
The next king recorded in the WSGRL is Ceawlin. Ceawlin continued the conquests of the Cerdicing dynasty. Seemingly, he was so successful that he was included in the list of Bretwalda, a title that seems to mean “wide-ruler” or “ruler of Britain.” The list of Bretwaldas is short; Bede only includes seven, and the Chronicle eight. These kings where all said to have ‘imperium’ over the English, probably meaning they were able to take tribute from other kings.
There is no obvious Old English or wider Germanic origin for Ceawlin. Commentators have argued that it must originate from Brythonic. However, no secure Celtic etymology has been forthcoming. In 1941, O. S. Anderson suggested that the names were both contractions of the British name Cadwallon, with the addition of the suffix -īn in the case of Ceawlin. Richard Coates (1990) suggested that “It could be derived from a Welsh Cawolīnos or, better, a hypothetical Proto-Welsh Cawlīn,” positing a relationship with the Welsh word caw (“skilled”), but lacking close parallels for the -līn element.
Ceawlin is also the first king of the West Saxons to be mentioned by Bede. Bede does not, however, state that he was king of Wessex, but of the Gewisse. By Bede’s time, this would likely be an archaic phrase, but was certainly one of the earliest terms used to describe the people who became the West Saxons. It has been argued that Gewisse is also not a Germanic word (Howorth, 1898); however, it seems likely that it derives from the Old English Gewisse (translating to “certain, sure, reliable”).
That being said, the Welsh of the 9th century knew the West Saxons to be the same as the Gewisse. The Welsh biographer of Alfred the Great, Asser records “A quo Britones totam illam gentem Gegwis nominant” – “From whom the Britons name the whole region Gewis.” Gewisse is then used again in the Annales Cambriae, a 10th-century annal which, reporting on the death of Alfred the Great, records “Albrit rex Giuoys moritur” – that is, “Alfred, King of the Gewisse, dies.” By the reign of Alfred, Wessex and West Saxon were the norm for English speakers, suggesting the Welsh had a tradition of close interaction with their predecessors.
Succeeding Ceawlin are the kings Ceol and Ceolwulf. Ceol took power from Ceawlin at the Battle of Wodens Barrow and is often said to be Ceawlin’s nephew. The etymology of these two kings is not clear. However, Dumville has shown that the traditional Old English etymology of Ceol (meaning “ship”) is untenable. Ceolwulf has the very common Old English deuterotheme wulf (meaning “wolf”). It is impossible to claim these names are English or Brythonic, however the ambiguity is interesting.
The etymology of the name Cynegils has both an English and Brythonic explanation. The English is as follows: Cyne means “royal” or “kingly” and gils: This suffix means “hostage” or “pledge.” There is also the suggestion that Cynegils’s name may also be Brythonic, possibly translating to “grey dog.” The name mirrored in the name of one of the five tyrants featured in Gildas’ De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, his name, Cuneglasus (c. 540). Gildas points out that Cuneglasus’ name translates to “grey dog” or “grey hound,” Cuno meaning “hound” and glasus meaning “grey.”
Cenwealh (r. 642-73) & Ceadwalla (r. 685-88)
With the next two kings dealt with, we are in clearer water. There is little conflict amongst historians regarding the etymology of Cenwealh’s name. Cen, Cene, or Cyne are Old English meaning “bold” or “royal,” and wealh is Old English meaning “foreigner,” almost exclusively used as a designation for the British. Wealh is where the word for Welsh comes from in modern English. Cenwealh may well have been born to a Welsh mother or from a line that knew and accepted its British ancestry. Two other near contemporaries have similar names: Athelwealh, king of Sussex (r. 660-685), whose name means “princely foreigner,” and Merewalh of the Magonsaete (r. 655-unknown), whose name likely translates in Old English to “illustrious foreigner.”
Ceadwalla is perhaps the clearest example of a British influence on the names of the West Saxon Kings. Ceadwalla is derived from the Welsh name Cadwallon. Cad means “war” or “battle” and wallon means “leader” or “ruler.” His name is identical to the famous Welsh king of Gwynedd who defeated King Edwin of Northumbria at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633. Ceadwalla was also the first of these kings that we know styled himself as king of the West Saxons in a charter of 686 (Yorke, 1989). Could it be that only with the conquest of the Isle of Wight did a true Kingdom of Wessex exist?
Ceadwalla abdicated the throne in 688 after being severely wounded during his conquest of the Isle of Wight. He then travelled to Rome where he was baptised and shortly thereafter died. The famous King Ine succeeded him. The etymology of Ina is unknown, but generally accepted to be of English origin. From here on out, the kings of Wessex all have clear English names.
Conclusion
The early House of Wessex, England’s founding Saxon dynasty, reveals a significant blend of Saxon and Brythonic influences. Nearly half of its early kings had names of Brythonic origin, indicating a strong British ancestry. This mix of cultural and linguistic elements highlights the interconnected nature of early medieval England. Over time, the dynasty’s identity shifted, with later kings adopting distinctly English names, marking a transition in the dynasty’s heritage and influence.
While half the kings of Wessex had Welsh names or names indicating Welsh ancestry, the other half were convincingly English. This suggests that the area conquered by these kings would, at least initially, be culturally and linguistically Welsh rather than Germanic. It is unlikely that the small band of Anglo-Saxons could have conquered Wessex without significant assistance from the native Welsh inhabitants. Rather than forceful conscription, a more plausible scenario is the emergence of an Anglo-Welsh aristocracy in the early sixth century. Steven Basset (1989) has demonstrated how this might have occurred: a small group of Saxon mercenaries, billeted on the outskirts of walled towns like Winchester, Salisbury, and Dorchester-upon-Thames, would have married into the elite of these British towns, thus forming a new British aristocracy. From these bases, further conquests would have been possible against the Britons of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltshire, and the English of Sussex and Essex. Gildas, in his own time, even suggests a level of cooperation between Saxons and Britons. Therefore, it seems reasonable to consider Wessex as a mixed major ‘Anglo-Saxon’ kingdom, which until the late 7th century should be referred to as an Anglo-British kingdom.