Cenberht ( ang, Cēnberht, Cœ̅nberht, italic=no) (died 661) was a king in the lands of the
West Saxons
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 ...
.
Cenberht was said to be the son of
Cedda
Cedda (alternatively Cadda or Chad) was the second son of Cuthwine and consequently a member of the Wessex family. He was born c. 590 and his death date is unknown. He had one recorded son, Coenberht, the father of King Caedwalla of Wessex.
H ...
(or Cadda), about whom nothing is recorded, and the grandson of Cutha. It is thought that Cutha is the same person as
Cuthwine
Cuthwine, born c. 565, was a member of the House of Wessex, the son of King Ceawlin of Wessex. Cuthwine's father Ceawlin was deposed from the throne of Wessex in 592 by his nephew Ceol. Therefore, Cuthwine never inherited the throne. Cuthwine ...
, also found in West Saxon genealogies. He was thus, according to later genealogies, a third cousin of King
Cenwalh of Wessex. The later King
Caedwalla and his brother
Mul were said to be sons of Cenberht.
The ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' for the year 661 reports that both Cuthred, son of King
Cwichelm, and Cenberht died in that year. This is the sole report of Cenberht in an early source, but based on the pattern of shared rulership among the West Saxons in this period, it is presumed that Cenberht shared power with Cenwalh in a junior role, either as a junior king or as sub-king of some part of Wessex.
[Kirby, p.49; Yorke, p. 145. Yorke notes that, in the case of Cenberht's contemporary Cuthred, it is very likely that he ruled some part of Berkshire, but no such information is available for Cenberht.]
See also
*
House of Wessex family tree
This is a list of monarchs of Wessex until AD 886. For later monarchs, see the List of English monarchs. While the details of the later monarchs are confirmed by a number of sources, the earlier ones are in many cases obscure.
The names are give ...
Notes
References
* Kirby, D.P., ''The Earliest English Kings.'' London: Unwin Hyman, 1991.
*
Yorke, Barbara, ''Kings and Kingdoms in Early Anglo-Saxon England.'' London: Seaby, 1990.
External links
* {{PASE, 2376, Cenberht 1
661 deaths
West Saxon monarchs
Year of birth unknown
House of Wessex