A number of royal genealogies of the
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
The Heptarchy were the seven petty kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England that flourished from the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th century until they were consolidated in the 8th century into the four kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria, Wess ...
, collectively referred to as the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies, have been preserved in a manuscript tradition based in the 8th to 10th centuries.
The genealogies trace the succession of the early Anglo-Saxon kings, back to the semi-legendary kings of the
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain
The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain is the process which changed the language and culture of most of what became England from Romano-British to Germanic peoples, Germanic. The Germanic-speakers in Britain, themselves of diverse origins, ev ...
, notably named as
Hengest and Horsa
Hengist and Horsa are Germanic brothers said to have led the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in their invasion of Britain in the 5th century. Tradition lists Hengist as the first of the Jutish kings of Kent.
Most modern scholarly consensus now rega ...
in
Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
's ''
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ( la, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict be ...
'', and further to legendary kings and heroes of the pre-migration period, usually including an
eponymous ancestor
An origin myth is a myth that describes the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the creation or cosmogonic myth, a story that describes the creation of the world. However, many cultures have stor ...
of the respective
lineage
Lineage may refer to:
Science
* Lineage (anthropology), a group that can demonstrate its common descent from an apical ancestor or a direct line of descent from an ancestor
* Lineage (evolution), a temporal sequence of individuals, populati ...
and converging on
Woden
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...
.
In their fully elaborated forms as preserved in the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened w ...
'' and the ''
Textus Roffensis
__NOTOC__
The ''Textus Roffensis'' (Latin for "The Tome of Rochester"), fully titled the ''Textus de Ecclesia Roffensi per Ernulphum episcopum'' ("The Tome of the Church of Rochester up to Bishop Ernulf") and sometimes also known as the Annal ...
'', they continue the pedigrees back to the biblical patriarchs
Noah
Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
and
Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
. They also served as the basis for pedigrees that would be developed in 13th century Iceland for the Scandinavian royalty.
Documentary tradition
The Anglo-Saxons, uniquely among the early
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
, preserved royal genealogies. The earliest source for these genealogies is
Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
, who in his ''
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ( la, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict be ...
'' (completed in or before 731) said of the founders of the
Kingdom of Kent
la, Regnum Cantuariorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the Kentish
, common_name = Kent
, era = Heptarchy
, status = vassal
, status_text =
, government_type = Monarchy ...
:
The two first commanders are said to have been Hengest and Horsa
Hengist and Horsa are Germanic brothers said to have led the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in their invasion of Britain in the 5th century. Tradition lists Hengist as the first of the Jutish kings of Kent.
Most modern scholarly consensus now rega ...
... They were the sons of Victgilsus, whose father was Vecta, son of Woden
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...
; from whose stock the royal race of many provinces deduce their original.
Bede similarly provides ancestry for the kings of the
East Angles
la, Regnum Orientalium Anglorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the East Angles
, common_name = East Anglia
, era =
, status = Great Kingdom
, status_text = Independent (6th centu ...
.
An
Anglian collection
''The Anglian collection'' is a collection of Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies and regnal lists. These survive in four manuscripts; two of which now reside in the British Library. The remaining two belong to the libraries of Corpus Christi College, ...
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 the kings of
Deira
Deira ( ; Old Welsh/Cumbric: ''Deywr'' or ''Deifr''; ang, Derenrice or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom.
Etymology
The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic *''daru' ...
,
Bernicia
Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England.
The Anglian territory of Bernicia was ap ...
,
Mercia
la, Merciorum regnum
, conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia
, common_name=Mercia
, status=Kingdom
, status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex ()
, life_span=527–918
, era=Heptarchy
, event_start=
, date_start=
, ye ...
,
Lindsey Lindsey may refer to :
Places Canada
* Lindsey Lake, Nova Scotia
England
* Parts of Lindsey, one of the historic Parts of Lincolnshire and an administrative county from 1889 to 1974
** East Lindsey, an administrative district in Lincolnshire, a ...
, Kent and East Anglia, tracing each of these dynasties from
Woden
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...
, who is made the son of an otherwise unknown Frealaf. The same pedigrees, in both text and tabular form, are included in some copies of the ''
Historia Brittonum
''The History of the Britons'' ( la, Historia Brittonum) is a purported history of the indigenous British (Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century. The ''Historia Bri ...
'', an older body of tradition compiled or significantly retouched by
Nennius
Nennius – or Nemnius or Nemnivus – was a Welsh monk of the 9th century. He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the ''Historia Brittonum'', based on the prologue affixed to that work. This attribution is widely considered ...
in the early 9th century. These apparently share a common late-8th century source with the Anglian collection. 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
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center
* Instituto Nacional de Estadística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional de Estatística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional Elec ...
of Wessex that traces his ancestry from
Cerdic
Cerdic (; la, Cerdicus) is described in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' as a leader of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, being the founder and first king of Saxon Wessex, reigning from 519 to 534 AD. Subsequent kings of Wessex were each cla ...
, the semi-legendary founder of the Wessex state, and hence from Woden.
[Sisam, pp. 290-292] This addition probably reflects the growing influence of Wessex under
Ecgbert, whose family claimed descent from a brother of Ine.
[Sisam, p. 291]
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.
[Sisam, pp. 294-297] Finally, later interpolations (which were added by 892) to both
Asser
Asser (; ; died 909) was a Welsh monk from St David's, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. About 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St David's and join the circle of learned men whom Alfred was recruiting for his c ...
's ''Vita Ælfredi regis Angul Saxonum'' and the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...
'' preserve Wessex pedigrees extended beyond Cerdic and Woden to
Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
.
[Sisam, pp. 297-298]
John of Worcester
John of Worcester (died c. 1140) was an English monk and chronicler who worked at Worcester Priory. He is usually held to be the author of the ''Chronicon ex chronicis''.
''Chronicon ex chronicis''
The ''Chronicon ex chronicis'' is a world wide ...
would copy these pedigrees into his ''
Chronicon ex chronicis
John of Worcester (died c. 1140) was an English monk and chronicler who worked at Worcester Priory. He is usually held to be the author of the ''Chronicon ex chronicis''.
''Chronicon ex chronicis''
The ''Chronicon ex chronicis'' is a world wide ...
'', and the 9th-century Anglo-Saxon genealogical tradition also served as a source for the Icelandic ''
Langfeðgatal The LangfeðgatalSometimes written Langfedgetal or Langfedgatal (Old Norse pronunciation: , ) is a 12th-century Icelandic genealogy of Scandinavian kings.
The anonymous Icelandic Langfeðgatal is preserved in a manuscript that is part of the Arnam ...
'' and was used by
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...
for his 13th century
Prologue to the Prose Edda
The Prologue is the first section of four books of the ''Prose Edda'', and consists of a euhemerized account of the origins of Norse mythology: the Norse gods are described descended from the Thracians.
Regarding the euhemerization in the ''Pr ...
.
Euhemerism
The majority of the surviving pedigrees trace the families of Anglo-Saxon royalty to
Woden
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...
. The
euhemerizing
Euhemerism () is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that historical accounts become myths as they are exagge ...
treatment of Woden as the common ancestor of the royal houses is presumably a "late innovation" within the genealogical tradition which developed in the wake of the
Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons
The Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England was a process spanning the 7th century. It was essentially the result of the Gregorian mission of 597, which was joined by the efforts of the Hiberno-Scottish mission from the 630s. From the 8th centur ...
.
Kenneth Sisam
Kenneth Sisam (2 September 1887 – 26 August 1971) was a New Zealand academic and publisher, whose major career was as an employee of the Oxford University Press.
Life
Born at Ōpōtiki in 1887, Sisam was the eighth and youngest child of Alfred ...
has argued that the Wessex pedigree was co-opted from that of Bernicia, and David Dumville has reached a similar conclusion with regard to that of Kent, deriving it from the pedigree of the kings of
Deira
Deira ( ; Old Welsh/Cumbric: ''Deywr'' or ''Deifr''; ang, Derenrice or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom.
Etymology
The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic *''daru' ...
.
When looking at pedigree sources outside of the Anglian collection, one surviving pedigree for the
kings of Essex
la, Regnum Orientalium Saxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the East Saxons
, common_name = Essex
, era = Heptarchy
, status =
, status_text =
, government_type = Monarch ...
in a similar fashion traces the family from
Seaxneat. In later pedigrees, this too has been linked to Wōden by making Seaxnēat his son. Dumville has suggested that these modified pedigrees linking to Wōden were creations intended to express their contemporary politics, a representation in genealogical form of the Anglian hegemony over all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
The derivation of a claim of
kingship
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
from descent from a god may be rooted in ancient
Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples. With a chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germ ...
.
In
Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom o ...
after
Christianization
Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...
, this tradition appears to have been
euhemerized
Euhemerism () is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that historical accounts become myths as they are exagge ...
to kingship of any of the realms of the
Heptarchy
The Heptarchy were the seven petty kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England that flourished from the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th century until they were consolidated in the 8th century into the four kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria, Wess ...
being conditional on descent from Woden.
Woden is made father of
Wecta
Wecta (Old English: ''Wægdæg'', Old Norse: ''Vegdagr'') is mentioned in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' and the ''Historia Brittonum''.
Wecta is considered mythological, though he shows up in the genealogies as a Saxon ancestor of Hengest and Hors ...
, Beldeg,
Wihtgils
A number of royal genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, collectively referred to as the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies, have been preserved in a manuscript tradition based in the 8th to 10th centuries.
The genealogies trace the succession of th ...
and
Wihtlaeg who are given as ancestors of the
Kings of Kent
This is a list of the kings of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent.
The regnal dates for the earlier kings are known only from Bede. Some kings are known mainly from charters, of which several are forgeries, while others have been subjected to tam ...
,
Deira
Deira ( ; Old Welsh/Cumbric: ''Deywr'' or ''Deifr''; ang, Derenrice or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom.
Etymology
The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic *''daru' ...
,
Wessex
la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons
, common_name = Wessex
, image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg
, map_caption = S ...
,
Bernicia
Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England.
The Anglian territory of Bernicia was ap ...
,
Mercia
la, Merciorum regnum
, conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia
, common_name=Mercia
, status=Kingdom
, status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex ()
, life_span=527–918
, era=Heptarchy
, event_start=
, date_start=
, ye ...
and
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
, as well as the independent founder turned son,
Seaxnēat, the Essex ancestor. These lineages having thus been made to converge, the portion of the pedigree before Woden was then subjected to several successive rounds of extension, and also the interpolation of mythical heroes and other modifications, producing a final genealogy that traced to the
Biblical patriarchs
The patriarchs ( he, אבות ''Avot'', singular he, אב '' Av'') of the Bible, when narrowly defined, are Abraham, his son Isaac, and Isaac's son Jacob, also named Israel, the ancestor of the Israelites. These three figures are referred ...
and
Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
.
Kent and Deira
![Kentish tally (Textus Roffensis)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Kentish_tally_%28Textus_Roffensis%29.png)
Bede relates that
Hengest and Horsa
Hengist and Horsa are Germanic brothers said to have led the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in their invasion of Britain in the 5th century. Tradition lists Hengist as the first of the Jutish kings of Kent.
Most modern scholarly consensus now rega ...
, semi-legendary founders of the
Kentish royal family, were sons of Wihtgils (''Victgilsi''),
on of Witta (''Vitti'') son of
Wecta
Wecta (Old English: ''Wægdæg'', Old Norse: ''Vegdagr'') is mentioned in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' and the ''Historia Brittonum''.
Wecta is considered mythological, though he shows up in the genealogies as a Saxon ancestor of Hengest and Hors ...
(''Vecta''), son of Woden. Witta is omitted from some manuscripts, but his name appears as part of the same pedigree repeated in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' and ''Historia Brittonum''. The Anglian Collection gives a similar pedigree for Hengest, with Wecta appearing as Wægdæg, and the names Witta and Wihtgils exchanging places, with a similar pedigree being given by
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...
in his much later ''
Prologue to the Prose Edda
The Prologue is the first section of four books of the ''Prose Edda'', and consists of a euhemerized account of the origins of Norse mythology: the Norse gods are described descended from the Thracians.
Regarding the euhemerization in the ''Pr ...
'', where Wægdæg, called ''Vegdagr'' son of Óðinn, is made a ruler in East Saxony. Grimm suggested that a shared first element of these names ''Wicg-'', representing
Old Saxon
Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). It i ...
''wigg'' and
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
''vigg'', and reflects, like the names Hengest and Horsa, the horse
totem
A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system.
While ''the wo ...
of the Kentish dynasty. From Hengest's son Eoric, called ''
Oisc
Oisc (also Æsc or Esc, pronounced “oish” or “ash”) was an early king of Kent who — according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle — ruled from 488-512CE. He seems to be the same person as Ansehis (or Anschis) who is described as a leader o ...
'', comes the name of the dynasty, the Oiscingas, and he is followed as king by
Octa
The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is the transportation planning commission for Orange County, California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. OCTA is responsible for funding and implementing transit and capital projects for th ...
,
Eormenric, and the well-documented
Æthelberht of Kent
Æthelberht (; also Æthelbert, Aethelberht, Aethelbert or Ethelbert; ang, Æðelberht ; 550 – 24 February 616) was King of Kent from about 589 until his death. The eighth-century monk Bede, in his ''Ecclesiastical History of the Engli ...
. The Anglian Collection places Octa (as Ocga) before Oisc (Oese).
The genealogy given for the
kings of Deira in both the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' and the Anglian Collection also traces through ''Wægdæg'', followed by ''Siggar'' and ''Swæbdæg''. The ''Prose Edda'' also gives these names, as ''Sigarr'' and ''Svebdeg'' alias ''Svipdagr'', but places them a generation farther down the Kent pedigree, as son and grandson of Wihtgils Though Sisam rejected the linguistic identity of Bede's ''Wecta'' with ''Wægdæg'', the Anglian Collection and ''Prose Edda'' place Wægdæg in the ancestry of both lines and Dumville suggests this common pedigree origin reflected the political alliance of Kent with Deira coincident with the marriage of
Edwin of Deira
Edwin ( ang, Ēadwine; c. 586 – 12 October 632/633), also known as Eadwine or Æduinus, was the King of Deira and Bernicia – which later became known as Northumbria – from about 616 until his death. He converted to Christia ...
with
Æthelburh of Kent
Æthelburh of Kent (born c. 601, sometimes spelled ''Æthelburg'', ''Ethelburga, Æthelburga''; , also known as ''Tate or Tata),'' Stowe 944: ' was an early Anglo-Saxon queen consort of Northumbria, the second wife of King Edwin. As she was a ...
, which appears to have led to the grafting of the unrelated
Jutish Kent dynasty onto a Deira pedigree belonging to an
Anglian body of genealogical tradition. ''Historia Brittonum'' connects the Deira line to a different branch of Woden's descendants, showing ''Siggar'' to be son of Brond, son of Beldeg, a different son of Woden. This matches the lineage atop the Bernicia pedigree in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' and that of Wessex in the Anglian Collection. The transfer of the Deira line from kinship with Kent royal line to that of Bernicia was perhaps meant to mirror the political union that joined Deira and Bernicia into the kingdom of Northumbria.
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', Anglian Collection and ''Historia Brittonum'' all give descent from Siggar/Sigegar to
Ælla, the first historically-documented king of
Deira
Deira ( ; Old Welsh/Cumbric: ''Deywr'' or ''Deifr''; ang, Derenrice or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom.
Etymology
The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic *''daru' ...
, and the latter's son
Edwin
The name Edwin means "rich friend". It comes from the Old English elements "ead" (rich, blessed) and "ƿine" (friend). The original Anglo-Saxon form is Eadƿine, which is also found for Anglo-Saxon figures.
People
* Edwin of Northumbria (died ...
, who first joined Deira with neighboring
Bernicia
Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England.
The Anglian territory of Bernicia was ap ...
into what would become the
Kingdom of Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
, an accomplishment ''Historia Brittonum'' attributes to his ancestor Soemil. While clearly sharing a common root, the three pedigrees differ somewhat in the precise details. The ''Chronicle'' pedigree apparently dropped a generation. That of ''Historia Brittonum'' has two differences. It lacks two early generations, a likely scribal error that resulted from a jump between the similar names Siggar and Siggeot, a similar gap appearing in the later pedigree given by chronicler
Henry of Huntingdon
Henry of Huntingdon ( la, Henricus Huntindoniensis; 1088 – AD 1157), the son of a canon in the diocese of Lincoln, was a 12th-century English historian and the author of ''Historia Anglorum'' (Medieval Latin for "History of the English"), ...
, whose ''Historia Anglorum'' otherwise faithfully follows the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' pedigree, but here jumps directly from 'Sigegeat' to Siggar's father, ''Wepdeg'' (Wægdæg). There is also a substitution later in the pedigree, where ''Historia Brittonum'' replaces the name Westorfalcna with Sguerthing, apparently the
Swerting Swerting (Proto-Norse *''Swartingaz' is briefly mentioned in ''Beowulf'', where he had a son or son-in-law, Hrethel, who was the maternal grandfather of the hero Beowulf.
The Heaðobard tradition
A Swerting of the same timeframe also appears in Sca ...
of ''Beowulf'', although its -''ing'' ending led
John of Worcester
John of Worcester (died c. 1140) was an English monk and chronicler who worked at Worcester Priory. He is usually held to be the author of the ''Chronicon ex chronicis''.
''Chronicon ex chronicis''
The ''Chronicon ex chronicis'' is a world wide ...
, writing in the 12th century ''Chronicon ex chronicis'', to interpret the name as an Anglo-Saxon
patronymic
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor.
Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
and interpose the name Swerta as Seomil's father into a pedigree otherwise matching that of the Anglian Collection. The replaced name, ''Wester-falcna'' (west falcon) along with the earlier ''Sæ-fugel'' (sea-fowl), were seen by Grimm as totemic bird names analogous to the horse names in the Kent pedigree.
Mercia
The pedigree given the
kings of Mercia
The Kingdom of Mercia was a state in the English Midlands from the 6th century to the 10th century. For some two hundred years from the mid-7th century onwards it was the dominant member of the Heptarchy and consequently the most powerful of the ...
traces their family from
Wihtlæg
Wihtlæg, ''Whitlæg'', ''Wighlek'', ''Wiglecus'', ''Wiglek'', ''Witlac'' or ''Viglek'' is a legendary king of either Denmark or Angeln in Germanic legends. He is known in Saxo's kings of Denmark by the name of ''Vigletus''.
In the Anglo-Saxon ro ...
, who is made son (''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''), grandson (Anglian collection) or great-grandson (''Historia Brittonum'') of Woden. His descendants are frequently viewed as legendary
Kings of the Angles
The Angles were a dominant Germanic tribe in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, and gave their name to the English, England and to the region of East Anglia. Originally from Angeln, present-day Schleswig-Holstein, a legendary list of their ki ...
, but as Wiglek, he is transformed into a king of Denmark, the rival of Amleth (
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
), in the 12th century ''
Gesta Danorum
''Gesta Danorum'' ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark an ...
'' of
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. ...
, perhaps as a fusion bringing together the Mercian Wihtlæg with the
Wiglaf
Wiglaf (Proto-Norse: *'' Wīga laibaz'', meaning "battle remainder"; ang, Wīġlāf ) is a character in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem ''Beowulf''. He is the son of Weohstan, a Swede of the Wægmunding clan who had entered the service of Beowulf, ki ...
of ''Beowulf''.
The next two generations of the Mercian pedigree, Wermund and Uffa, are likewise made Danish rulers by Saxo, as does his contemporary
Sven Aggesen Svend Aggesen (or "Sven"; also known as ''Aggessøn'', ''Aggesøn'' or ''Aagesen'', in Latin ''Sveno Aggonis''; born around 1140 to 1150, death unknown) is the author of '' Brevis historia regum Dacie'', one of the first attempts to write a coherent ...
's ''Brevis Historia Regum Dacie'', Wermund here being son of king Froði ''hin Frökni''. The second of these, Uffa, as
Offa of Angel
Offa (nickname for Wulf) is a semi-legendary king of the Angles in the genealogy of the kings of Mercia presented in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''. He is the son of Wermund and the father of Angeltheow.
His name is also mentioned in the Old E ...
, is known independently from ''
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
'', ''
Widsith
"Widsith" ( ang, Wīdsīþ, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the ''Exeter Book'', a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late-10th c ...
'' and ''
Vitae duorum Offarum
The '' Vitae duorum Offarum'' "The lives of the two Offas" is a literary history written in the mid-thirteenth century, apparently by the St Albans monk Matthew Paris; however, the most recent editor and translator of the work rejects this attrib ...
''. At this point the Danish pedigrees diverge from the Anglo-Saxon tradition, making him father of Danish
king Dan. ''Beowulf'' makes Offa father of Eomer, while in the Anglo-Saxon genealogies he is Eomer's grandfather, via an intermediate named Angeltheow, Angelgeot, or perhaps Ongengeat (the Origon of ''Historia Brittonum'' being an apparent misreading of ''Ongon-''). Eliason has suggested that this insertion derives from a byname of Eomer, according to ''Beowulf'' the son of a marriage between an Angel and a Geat, but the name may represent an attempt to interpolate the heroic Swedish king
Ongenþeow
Ongentheow (Old English: ''Ongenþeow'', ''Ongenþio'', ''Ongendþeow''; Old Norse: ''Angantýr'') (died ca. 515) was the name of a semi-legendary Swedish king of the house of Scylfings, who appears in Old English sources.
He is generally iden ...
who appears independently in ''Beowulf'' and ''Widsith'' and in turn is sometimes linked with the earliest historical Danish king,
Ongendus
Ongendus (perhaps Angantyr in Danish) was a king of the Danes, reigning c. 710, the first Danish king known from contemporary literature.
Historical background
He was presumably king of a stronger and more unified Denmark that rose at the en ...
, named in
Alcuin
Alcuin of York (; la, Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus; 735 – 19 May 804) – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student o ...
's 8th-century ''Vita Willibrordi archiepiscopi Traiectensis''. Eomer, Offa's son or grandson, is then made father of Icel, the legendary
eponymous
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
ancestor of the
Icling
The Iclingas (also Iclings or House of Icel) were a dynasty of Kings of Mercia during the 7th and 8th centuries, named for Icel or Icil, great-grandson of Offa of Angel, a legendary or semi-legendary figure of the Migration Period who is descri ...
dynasty that founded the Mercian state, except in the surviving version of ''Historia Brittonum'', which skips over not only Icel but Cnebba, Cynwald, and
Creoda, jumping straight to
Pybba
Pybba (570?–606/615) (also Pibba, Wibba, or Wybba) was an early King of Mercia. He was the son of Creoda and father of Penda and Eowa. Unusually, the names Pybba and Penda are likely of British Celtic, rather than Germanic, origin.
His dat ...
, whose son
Penda
Penda (died 15 November 655)Manuscript A of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' gives the year as 655. Bede also gives the year as 655 and specifies a date, 15 November. R. L. Poole (''Studies in Chronology and History'', 1934) put forward the theor ...
is the first documented as king, and who along with his 12 brothers gave rise to multiple lines that would succeed to the
throne of Mercia through the end of the 8th century.
East Anglia
![East Anglian tally (Textus Roffensis)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/East_Anglian_tally_%28Textus_Roffensis%29.png)
The ruling dynasty of East Anglia, the
Wuffingas
The Wuffingas, Uffingas or Wiffings were the ruling dynasty of East Anglia, the long-lived Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Wuffingas took their name from Wuffa, an early East Anglian king ...
, were named for
Wuffa
Wuffa (or Uffa, ang, Ƿuffa) is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon genealogies as an early king of East Anglia. If historical, he would have flourished in the 6th century.
By tradition Wuffa was named as the son of Wehha and the father of Tytila, b ...
, son of
Wehha, who is made the ancestor of the historical
Wuffingas
The Wuffingas, Uffingas or Wiffings were the ruling dynasty of East Anglia, the long-lived Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Wuffingas took their name from Wuffa, an early East Anglian king ...
dynasty, and given a pedigree from
Woden
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...
. Wehha appears as ''Ƿehh Ƿilhelming'' (Wehha Wilhelming - son of Wilhelm) in the Anglian Collection. According to the 9th-century
''History of the Britons'', his father Guillem Guercha (the Wilhelm of the Anglian Collection pedigree) was the first king of the East Angles, but D. P. Kirby is among those historians who have concluded that Wehha was the founder of the Wuffingas line. From Wilhelm the pedigree is continued back through Hryþ, Hroðmund (a name otherwise only known from
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
), Trygil, Tyttman, Caser (Latin ''Caesar'', i.e.
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
) to Woden. The placement of ''Caesar'' within this pedigree perhaps defers to early traditions deriving Woden from 'Greekland'. The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' gives no pedigree for this dynasty.
Wessex and Bernicia
While excluded from the original pedigree sources, two later copies of the Anglian collection from the 10th century (called CCCC and Tiberius, or simply C and T) include an addition: a pedigree for King
Ine
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center
* Instituto Nacional de Estadística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional de Estatística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional Elec ...
of Wessex that traces his ancestry from
Cerdic
Cerdic (; la, Cerdicus) is described in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' as a leader of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, being the founder and first king of Saxon Wessex, reigning from 519 to 534 AD. Subsequent kings of Wessex were each cla ...
, the semi-legendary founder of the Wessex state, and hence from Woden.
This addition probably reflects the growing influence of Wessex under
Ecgbert, whose family claimed descent from a brother of Ine.
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.
Finally, later interpolations (which were added by 892) to both
Asser
Asser (; ; died 909) was a Welsh monk from St David's, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. About 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St David's and join the circle of learned men whom Alfred was recruiting for his c ...
's ''Vita Ælfredi regis Angul Saxonum'' and the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' preserve Wessex pedigrees extended beyond Cerdic and Woden to
Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
.
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 doublets which when expressed with patronymics would have resulted in the uniform triple alliteration that is common in Anglo-Saxon poetry, but that would have been difficult for a family to maintain over a number of generations and is unlike known Anglo-Saxon naming practices.
Further, when comparing the ''Chronicle's'' pedigrees of Cerdic and of
Ida of Bernicia
Ida () (died c. 559) is the first known king of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia, which he ruled from around 547 until his death in 559. Little is known of his life or reign, but he was regarded as the founder of a line from which later Anglo-Saxo ...
several anomalies are evident. While the two peoples had no tradition of common origin, their pedigrees share the generations immediately after Woden, Bældæg whom Snorri equated with the God
Baldr
Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Baldr (Old Norse: ) is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was kno ...
, and Brand. 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
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
patron,
Seaxnēat, who once headed the pedigree of the
Essex kings before his relegation as another son of Woden. Likewise, while the ''Chronicle'' places Ida's reign after Cerdic's death, the pedigrees do not reflect this difference in age.
The name Cerdic, moreover, may actually be an Anglicized form of the
Brythonic
Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to:
*Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain
*Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic
*Britons (Celtic people)
The Br ...
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. All of these suggest 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's 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. Sisam speculated that the additional names arose through the insertion of a pair of Saxon heroes,
Freawine Freawine, ''Frowin'' or ''Frowinus'' figures as a governor of Schleswig in ''Gesta Danorum'' and in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' as an ancestor of the kings of Wessex, but the latter source only tells that he was the son of Friðgar and the father ...
and
Wig
A wig is a head or hair accessory made from human hair, animal hair, or synthetic fiber. The word wig is short for periwig, which makes its earliest known appearance in the English language in William Shakespeare's ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona' ...
, into the existing pedigree, creating a second alliterative pair (after ''Brand''/''Bældæg'', ''Giwis''/''Wig'', where the stress of "Giwis" is on the second syllable) and inviting further alliteration, the addition of ''Esla'' to complete an ''Elesa''/''Esla'' pair, and of ''Friðgar'' to make a ''Freawine''/''Friðgar'' alliteration. 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
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...
, an equivalency still followed by some Arthurian writers, although Osla is elsewhere identified with
Octa of Kent
Octa (or Octha) (c. 500 – 543) was an Anglo-Saxon King of Kent during the 6th century. Sources disagree on his relationship to the other kings in his line; he may have been the son of Hengist or Oisc, and may have been the father of Oisc or Eo ...
. Elesa has also been linked to the Romano-Briton Elasius, the "chief of the region" met by
Germanus of Auxerre
Germanus of Auxerre ( la, Germanus Antissiodorensis; cy, Garmon Sant; french: Saint Germain l'Auxerrois; 378 – c. 442–448 AD) was a western Roman clergyman who was bishop of Autissiodorum in Late Antique Gaul. He abandoned a career as a h ...
.
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
The Gewisse ( ; la, Geuissæ) were a tribe or clan of Anglo-Saxon England, historically assumed to have been based in the upper Thames region around Dorchester on Thames (but may have actually originated near Old Sarum in Wiltshire). The Gewiss ...
(a name given to the early West Saxons) appears instead of a similarly
eponym
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
ous ancestor of the Bernicians (Old English, ''Beornice''), Benoc in the Chronicle and (slightly rearranged in order) Beornic or Beornuc in other versions. This suggests that the Bernician pedigree was co-opted in a truncated form by Wessex historians, replacing one "founding father" with another.
[Sisam, pp. 305-307][North, p. 43]
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.
Dumville concurred with this conclusion, and suggested that the Wessex pedigree was linked to that of Bernicia to reflect a 7th-century political alliance.
Bernicia pedigree
''Ida'' is given as the first king of
Bernicia
Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England.
The Anglian territory of Bernicia was ap ...
. The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' indicates that Ida's reign began in 547, and records him as the son of Eoppa, grandson of Esa, and great-grandson of Ingui. Likewise, the ''
Historia Brittonum
''The History of the Britons'' ( la, Historia Brittonum) is a purported history of the indigenous British (Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century. The ''Historia Bri ...
'' records him as the son of Eoppa, and calls him the first king of ''Berneich'' or
Bernicia
Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England.
The Anglian territory of Bernicia was ap ...
, but inserts an additional generation between Ida and its Ingui equivalent, Inguec, while the Anglian collection moves its version of this man several generations before, in the combined name form Ingibrand. Richard North suggests that the presence of this Ing- individual among the ancestors of Ida in the Bernician pedigree relates to the ''Ingvaeones'' in ''
Germania
Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north- ...
'', referring to the seaboard tribes among which were the
Angles
The Angles ( ang, Ængle, ; la, Angli) were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon England. Their name is the root of the name ' ...
who would later found Bernicia. He hypothesizes that Ingui, representing the same Germanic god as the Norse
Yngvi
Old Norse Yngvi , Old High German Ing/Ingwi and Old English Ingƿine are names that relate to a theonym which appears to have been the older name for the god Freyr. Proto-Germanic *Ingwaz was the legendary ancestor of the Ingaevones, or more acc ...
, originally was held to be founder of the Anglian royal families at a time predating the addition of the eponymous Beornuc and extension of the pedigree to Woden. The name Brand/Brond also appears at different positions in the pedigree, either as the entire name or part of a combined name, with Gech-/Weg- and Ingi- elements.
One name, Angengeot/Angenwit, appearing in two of the Bernicia pedigrees also is present in that of Mercia,. The name may have been added to reflect a political alliance between the two kingdoms.
Northumbria arose from the union of Bernicia with the kingdom of
Deira
Deira ( ; Old Welsh/Cumbric: ''Deywr'' or ''Deifr''; ang, Derenrice or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom.
Etymology
The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic *''daru' ...
under Ida's grandson
Æthelfrith
Æthelfrith (died c. 616) was King of Bernicia from c. 593 until his death. Around 604 he became the first Bernician king to also rule the neighboring land of Deira, giving him an important place in the development of the later kingdom of North ...
. The genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon kings attached to some manuscripts of the ''Historia Brittonum'' give more information on Ida and his family; the text names Ida's "one queen" as Bearnoch and indicates that he had twelve sons. Several of these are named, and some of them are listed as kings. One of them,
Theodric, is noted for fighting against a British coalition led by
Urien Rheged
Urien (; ), often referred to as Urien Rheged or Uriens, was a late 6th-century king of Rheged, an early British kingdom of the Hen Ogledd (today's northern England and southern Scotland) of the House of Rheged. His power and his victories, i ...
and his sons.
Some 18th- and 19th-century commentators, beginning with
Lewis Morris
Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an American Founding Father, landowner, and developer from Morrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continen ...
, associated Ida with the figure of Welsh tradition known as Flamdwyn ("Flame-bearer").
This Flamdwyn was evidently an Anglo-Saxon leader opposed by
Urien Rheged
Urien (; ), often referred to as Urien Rheged or Uriens, was a late 6th-century king of Rheged, an early British kingdom of the Hen Ogledd (today's northern England and southern Scotland) of the House of Rheged. His power and his victories, i ...
and his children, particularly his son
Owain Owain () is a name of Welsh origin, variously written in Old Welsh as Ougein, Eugein, Euguen, Iguein, Ou(u)ein, Eug(u)ein, Yuein, and in Middle Welsh as Ewein, Owein, and Ywein. Other variants of the name Owain include Ewein, Iguein, Owein, Ouein, Y ...
, who slew him.
[, p. 353.] However,
Rachel Bromwich
Rachel Bromwich (30 July 1915 – 15 December 2010) born Rachel Sheldon Amos, was a British scholar. Her focus was on medieval Welsh literature, and she taught Celtic Languages and Literature in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at ...
notes that such an identification has little to back it;
other writers, such as
Thomas Stephens and
William Forbes Skene
William Forbes Skene Writer to the Signet, WS FRSE Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, FSA(Scot) Doctor of Civil Law, DCL Legum Doctor, LLD (7 June 1809 – 29 August 1892), was a Scotland, Scottish lawyer, historian and antiquary.
He co-founde ...
, identify Flamdwyn instead with Ida's son
Theodric, noting the passages in the genealogies discussing Theodric's battles with Urien and his sons.
Ida's successor is given as
Glappa
Glappa of Bernicia ruled from 559 to 560. He was the second known king of Bernicia.
Little is known of Glappa's life and reign. The earliest authorities differ widely on the order and the regnal years of the kings between the death of Ida
Ida ...
, one of his sons, followed by
Adda,
Æthelric,
Theodric,
Frithuwald,
Hussa, and finally
Æthelfrith
Æthelfrith (died c. 616) was King of Bernicia from c. 593 until his death. Around 604 he became the first Bernician king to also rule the neighboring land of Deira, giving him an important place in the development of the later kingdom of North ...
(d. c. 616), the first Northumbrian monarch known to Bede.
Lindsey
A genealogy for Lindsey is also part of the collection. However, unlike the other kingdoms, the lack of surviving chronicle materials covering Lindsey deprive its pedigree of context. In his analysis of the pedigree,
Frank Stenton
Sir Frank Merry Stenton, FBA (17 May 1880 – 15 September 1967) was an English historian of Anglo-Saxon England, and president of the Royal Historical Society (1937–1945).
The son of Henry Stenton of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, he was edu ...
pointed to three names as being informative. Cædbæd includes the British element ''cad-'', indicative of interaction between the two cultures in the early days of settlement. A second name, Biscop, is the Anglo-Saxon word for
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
, and suggests a time after conversion. Finally, Alfreið, the king to whom the document traces, is not definitively known elsewhere, but Stenton suggested identification with an Ealdfrid ''rex'' who witnessed a confirmation by
Offa of Mercia
Offa (died 29 July 796 AD) was List of monarchs of Mercia, King of Mercia, a kingdom of History of Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa of Mercia, Eowa, Offa came to ...
. However, Ealdfrid ''rex'' is now interpreted to be an error for Offa's son Ecgfrið ''rex'', anointed as King of Mercia during his father's lifetime, rather than the Lindsey ruler. Grimm sees in the ''Biscop Bedecing'' of the pedigree the same name form as that of the "''
Biscop Baducing''" appearing in ''
Vita Sancti Wilfrithi
The ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'' or ''Life of St Wilfrid'' (spelled "Wilfrid" in the modern era) is an early 8th-century hagiographic text recounting the life of the Northumbrian bishop, Wilfrid. Although a hagiography, it has few miracles, while i ...
''.
Essex
For the southern realm of the East Saxons, a unique pedigree is preserved that does not derive the royal family from Wōden. This pedigree is thought to be independent of the Anglian collection, and ends with
Seaxnēat ("companion of the Saxons", or simply knife-companion), matching the Saxnôt whom, along with
Wodan
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victor ...
and
Thunaer, ninth-century Saxon converts to Christianity were made explicitly to renounce. Subsequently, Seaxnēat was turned into an additional son of Wōden, connecting the Essex royal pedigree to the others of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The first king,
Æscwine of Essex
Æscwine (alternative spellings include Erkenwine, Erchenwin, Erchenwine) 94 AD-587 ADin the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies is listed as the first king of Essex. If historical, he would have flourished during the 6th century.
Background
Little e ...
, is placed seven generations below Seaxnēat in the pedigree.
Ancestry of Woden
The earliest surviving manuscript that extends prior to
Woden
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...
, the Vespasian version of the Anglian collection, only gives one additional name, that of Woden's father, an otherwise unknown Frealeaf. However, in the case of the genealogy of the kings of Lindsey, it 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.
In the prose pedigree of Hengist in ''Historia Brittonum'', ''Godulf'', father of ''Finn'', was replaced by a variant of ''Folcwald'' the father of legendary
Frisia
Frisia is a cross-border cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Frisians, a West Ger ...
n hero
Finn known from ''
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
'' and the ''
Finnesburg Fragment
The "Finnesburg Fragment" (also "Finnsburh Fragment") is a portion of an Old English heroic poem about a fight in which Hnæf and his 60 retainers are besieged at "Finn's fort" and attempt to hold off their attackers. The surviving text is tantali ...
''. Later versions do not follow this change: some add an additional name, making Friothwald the father of Woden, while others omit Friothulf. Grimm compares the various versions of the pedigree immediately prior to Woden and concludes that the original version was likely most similar to that of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', with Woden son of ''Fridho-wald'', son of ''Fridho-lâf'', son of ''Fridho-wulf''.
The name at the head of this pedigree is that of another legendary Scandinavian, ''
Geat
The Geats ( ; ang, gēatas ; non, gautar ; sv, götar ), sometimes called ''Goths'', were a large North Germanic tribe who inhabited ("land of the Geats") in modern southern Sweden from antiquity until the late Middle Ages. They are one of th ...
'', apparently the eponymous ancestor of the
Geats
The Geats ( ; ang, gēatas ; non, gautar ; sv, götar ), sometimes called ''Goths'', were a large North Germanic tribe who inhabited ("land of the Geats") in modern southern Sweden from antiquity until the late Middle Ages. They are one of th ...
and perhaps once a god. This individual has also been taken as corresponding to
Gapt
is an early Germanic name, from a Proto-Germanic ''gautaz'', which represents a mythical ancestor or national god in the origin myth of the Geats.
Etymology
''Gautaz'' may be connected to the name of the Swedish river Göta älv at the city ...
, the head of the genealogy of the
Goths
The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...
as given by
Jordanes
Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Goths, Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history (''Romana ...
.
None of the individuals between Woden and Geat, except possibly Finn, is known elsewhere. Sisam concludes, "Few will dissent from the general opinion that the ancestors of Woden were a fanciful development of Christian times."
Several medieval sources extend the pedigree prior to Geat to the legendary Scandinavian heroes
Skjöldr
Skjöldr (Latinized as Skioldus, sometimes Anglicized as Skjold or Skiold) was among the first legendary Danish kings. He is mentioned in the ''Prose Edda'', in ''Ynglinga saga'', in ''Chronicon Lethrense'', in Sven Aggesen's history, in Arngr ...
and
Sceafa
Sceafa ( ang, Scēafa , also ''Scēaf'', ''Scēf'') was an ancient Lombardic king in English legend. According to his story, Sceafa appeared mysteriously as a child, coming out of the sea in an empty skiff. The name also appears in the corrupt ...
. These fall into three classes, the shortest being found in the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
translation of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' prepared by
Æthelweard Æthelweard, also spelled Ethelweard, Aethelweard, Athelweard, etc., is an Anglo-Saxon male name. It may refer to:
* King Æthelweard of the Hwicce (''fl''. 7/8th century)
* King Æthelweard of East Anglia (''fl.'' mid-9th century)
* Æthelweard (s ...
, himself a descendant of the royal family. His version makes Geat the son of Tetuua, son of
Beow, son of Scyld, son of Scef. The last three generations also appear in
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
in the pedigree of
Hroðgar
Hrothgar ( ang, Hrōðgār ; on, Hróarr) was a semi-legendary Danish king living around the early sixth century AD.
Hrothgar appears in the Anglo-Saxon epics ''Beowulf'' and ''Widsith'', in Norse sagas and poems, and in medieval Danish chroni ...
, but with the name of Beow expanded to that of the poem's hero.
The surviving manuscripts of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' instead place several generations between Scyld and Sceaf. 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.
One of the later surviving manuscripts of the Anglian collection has dropped two of the names from this descent and this identifies it or a related manuscript as the source for the version of the pedigree that appears in the Icelandic ''
Langfeðgatal The LangfeðgatalSometimes written Langfedgetal or Langfedgatal (Old Norse pronunciation: , ) is a 12th-century Icelandic genealogy of Scandinavian kings.
The anonymous Icelandic Langfeðgatal is preserved in a manuscript that is part of the Arnam ...
'' and in Snorri's ''Prose Edda'' pedigree.
[Chambers, p. 313]
The ''Chronicle'' and Anglian collection versions appear to have had additional names interpolated into the older tradition reported by Æthelweard, one of them,
Heremod
Heremod (Proto-Norse: *''Harimōdaz' Latin form: Heremodius) is a legendary Danish king and a legendary king of the Angles who would have lived in the 2nd century and known through a short account of his exile in the Old English poem ''Beowulf'' a ...
, reflecting the legendary ruler of the Danish
Scylding
Old English Scylding (plural Scyldingas) and Old Norse Skjǫldung (plural Skjǫldungar), meaning in both languages "children of Scyld/Skjǫldr" are the members of a legendary royal family of Danes, especially kings. The name is explained in many ...
s.
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a ...
's
Gesta Regum Anglorum
The ''Gesta Regum Anglorum'' (Latin for "Deeds of the Kings of the English"), originally titled ("On the Deeds of the Kings of the English") and also anglicized as or , is an early-12th-century history of the kings of England by William of Malme ...
presents a third variant that tries to harmonize the two alternatives. Sceaf appears twice, once as father of Scyld as in the Æthelweard and ''Beowulf'' pedigrees, then again as Streph, father of Bedwig atop the longer lineage of the ''Chronicle'' and Anglian collection.
The earliest names in the constructed pedigree, the connection to the Biblical genealogy, were the last to be added.
Noah
Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
has been made father, or via
Shem
Shem (; he, שֵׁם ''Šēm''; ar, سَام, Sām) ''Sḗm''; Ge'ez: ሴም, ''Sēm'' was one of the sons of Noah in the book of Genesis and in the book of Chronicles, and the Quran.
The children of Shem were Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, L ...
, grandfather of Sceaf and traced 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''.
The ''Langfeðgatal'', which co-opts the Anglo-Saxon pedigree to provide ancestry for the Scandinavian royal dynasties, continues the process of pedigree elongation. From the
Anglian collection (T) manuscript or a source closely related to it ''Langfeðgatal'' has taken the names from Woden to Scef, called Sescef or Seskef (from ''Se Scef wæs Noes sunu'' - "this Scef was Noah's son" in the T pedigree).
Then rather than placing Noah immediately before Sceaf, a long line of names known from Norse and Greek mythology, although not bearing their traditional familial relationships, is added. Sceaf's ancestry is traced through Magi (
Magni), Móda (
Móði, both Magni and Móði being sons of
Thor
Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...
), Vingener, Vingeþor, Einriði and Hloriþa (all four being
names of Thor) to "Tror, whom we call Thor", with Thor being made son of king
Memnon
In Greek mythology, Memnon (; Ancient Greek: Μέμνων means 'resolute') was a king of Aethiopia and son of Tithonus and Eos. As a warrior he was considered to be almost Achilles' equal in skill. During the Trojan War, he brought an army t ...
by Tróan, daughter of
Priam
In Greek mythology, Priam (; grc-gre, Πρίαμος, ) was the legendary and last king of Troy during the Trojan War. He was the son of Laomedon. His many children included notable characters such as Hector, Paris, and Cassandra.
Etymology
Mo ...
of Troy.
Priam is then given a pedigree of classical Greek ancestors, including
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
and
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
, that connects to the
Biblical Book of Nations via the branch shared by the Greeks. This derives the line from
Japheth
Japheth ( he, יֶפֶת ''Yép̄eṯ'', in pausa ''Yā́p̄eṯ''; el, Ἰάφεθ '; la, Iafeth, Iapheth, Iaphethus, Iapetus) is one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis, in which he plays a role in the story of Noah's drunk ...
, Noah's son who by medieval tradition was ancestor of all
European peoples
Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...
.
[Bruce, pp. 56–60]
See also
*
Germanic kingship
Germanic kingship is a thesis regarding the role of kings among the pre-Christianized Germanic tribes of the Migration period (c. 300–700 AD) and Early Middle Ages (c. 700–1,000 AD). The thesis holds that the institution of feudal mon ...
*
Iclingas
The Iclingas (also Iclings or House of Icel) were a dynasty of Kings of Mercia during the 7th and 8th centuries, named for Icel or Icil, great-grandson of Offa of Angel, a legendary or semi-legendary figure of the Migration Period who is descri ...
*
Scefings
*
Scyldings
Old English Scylding (plural Scyldingas) and Old Norse Skjǫldung (plural Skjǫldungar), meaning in both languages "children of Scyld/Skjǫldr" are the members of a legendary royal family of Danes, especially kings. The name is explained in many ...
*
Sons of Odin
Various gods and men appear as sons of Odin or sons of Wodan/Wotan/Woden in old Old Norse language, Old Norse and Old High German and Old English language, Old English texts.
Thor, Baldr, Víðarr and Váli
Four gods, Thor, Baldr, Víðarr and ...
*
Yngling
The Ynglings were a dynasty of kings, first in Sweden and later in Norway, primarily attested through the poem ''Ynglingatal''. The dynasty also appears as Scylfings (Old Norse ''Skilfingar'') in ''Beowulf''. When ''Beowulf'' and ''Ynglingatal'' ...
*
Widsith
"Widsith" ( ang, Wīdsīþ, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the ''Exeter Book'', a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late-10th c ...
*
Wuffingas
The Wuffingas, Uffingas or Wiffings were the ruling dynasty of East Anglia, the long-lived Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Wuffingas took their name from Wuffa, an early East Anglian king ...
References
Sources
*Bruce, Alexander M., ''Scyld and Scef: Expanding the Analogues'', London, Routledge, 2002 (https://books.google.com/books?id=hDFIeCj0xasC at Google Books)
*Chambers, R. W., ''Beowulf, an Introduction to the Study of the Poem with a Discussion of the Stories of Offa and Finn'', Cambridge: University Press, 1921
*Dumville, David, "Kingship, Genealogies and Regnal Lists", in ''Early Medieval Kingship'', P.W. Sawyer and Ian N. Wood, eds., Leeds University, 1977, pp. 72–104
*Dumville, David "The Anglian collection of royal genealogies and regnal lists", in ''Anglo-Saxon England'', Clemoes, ed., 5 (1976), pp. 23–50.
*Grimm, Jacob (James Steven Stallybrass, trans.), ''Teutonic Mythologies'', London: George Bell, 1888, vol. iv (Appendix I:
Anglo-Saxon Genealogies), pp. 1709–1736.
*
*
*Moisl, Hermann, "Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies and Germanic oral tradition", ''Journal of Medieval History'', 7:3 (1981), pp. 215–48. {{doi, 10.1016/0304-4181(81)90002-6
*Murray, Alexander Callander, "Beowulf, the Danish invasion, and royal genealogy", ''The Dating of Beowulf'',
Colin Chase
Colin Chase (April 13, 1886 – April 25, 1937) was an American silent film actor.
Biography
Born in 1886 in Lewiston, Idaho, Chase signed for his first film role in 1915 and starred in about 45 films. In 1916, he signed a long-term contract ...
, ed. University of Toronto Center for Medieval Studies, 1997, pp. 101–111.
*Newton, Sam, ''The Origin of Beowulf and the Pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia'', Rochester, NY, Boydell & Brewer, 1993.
*North, Richard, ''Heathen Gods in Old English Literature'', Cambridge: University Press, 1997
*Sisam, Kenneth "Anglo-Saxon Royal Genealogies", ''Proceedings of the British Academy'', 39 (1953), pp. 287–348
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicleat
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Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...
- Public domain copy.
English heroic legends
Medieval genealogies and succession lists
Odin
Texts of Anglo-Saxon England