![]() ![]() By the Iron Age, Celtic British tribes such as the Durotriges, Atrebates, Belgae and Dobunni occupied the future Wessex.įollowing the Roman conquest, from the 1st century AD, numerous country villas with attached farms were established across Wessex, along with the important towns of Dorchester and Winchester (the ending -chester comes from Latin castra, "a military camp"). Although agriculture and hunting were pursued during this long period, there is little archaeological evidence of human settlements. The area has many other earthworks and erected stone monuments from the Neolithic and Early Bronze periods, including the Dorset Cursus, an earthwork 10 km (6 mi) long and 100 m (110 yd) wide, which was oriented to the midwinter sunset. In the Late Neolithic, the ceremonial sites of Avebury and Stonehenge were completed on Salisbury Plain, but the final phase of Stonehenge was erected by the so-called " Wessex culture" of the Middle Bronze Age ( c. Main articles: Prehistoric Britain and Roman Britainįrom the Neolithic onwards the chalk downland of the area that would become Wessex was traversed by the Harrow Way, which can still be traced from Marazion in Cornwall to the coast of the English Channel near Dover, and was probably connected with the ancient tin trade. ![]() Cnut the Great, who conquered England in 1016, created the wealthy and powerful earldom of Wessex, but in 1066 Harold Godwinson reunited the earldom with the crown and Wessex ceased to exist. Edward's son, Æthelstan, conquered Northumbria in 927, and England became a unified kingdom for the first time. Alfred's son, Edward, captured the eastern Midlands and East Anglia from the Danes and became ruler of Mercia in 918 upon the death of his sister, Æthelflæd. During his reign Alfred issued a new law code, gathered scholars to his court and was able to devote funds to building ships, organising an army and establishing a system of burhs. In 878 they forced Alfred to flee to the Somerset Levels, but were eventually defeated at the Battle of Edington. They returned in 876, but were forced to withdraw. Wessex was invaded by the Danes in 871, and Alfred was compelled to pay them to leave. Æthelwulf was succeeded in turn by his four sons, the youngest being Alfred the Great. When Æthelwulf's son, Æthelbald, usurped the throne, the kingdom was divided to avoid war. During the reign of his successor, Æthelwulf, a Danish army arrived in the Thames estuary, but was decisively defeated. However, Mercian independence was restored in 830. He also obtained the overlordship of the Northumbrian king. Under Egbert, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Essex, and Mercia, along with parts of Dumnonia, were conquered. It was during this period that the system of shires was established. The throne subsequently passed to a series of kings with unknown genealogies.ĭuring the 8th century, as the hegemony of Mercia grew, Wessex largely retained its independence. 689–726), issued one of the oldest surviving English law codes and established a second West Saxon bishopric. Cædwalla later conquered Sussex, Kent and the Isle of Wight. 642–645 648–672) was baptised and was expanded under his rule. Wessex became a Christian kingdom after Cenwalh (r. ![]() The two main sources for the history of Wessex are the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (the latter of which drew on and adapted an early version of the List), which sometimes conflict. The Anglo-Saxons believed that Wessex was founded by Cerdic and Cynric of the Gewisse, but this may be a legend. The Kingdom of the West Saxons ( / ˈ w ɛ s ɪ k s/ Old English: Ƿestseaxna rīċe ), also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until England was unified by Æthelstan in 927. ![]()
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