Wessex is one of the kingdoms founded by the Anglo-Saxons in England during the High Middle Ages. It extends over part of south-west Great Britain, between Domnonée in the west, Mercia in the north and the kingdoms of Kent, Sussex and Essex in the east.
In the 9th century, Wessex was the last Anglo-Saxon kingdom to resist Viking invasions. King Alfred the Great (871-899) successfully fought against them, and his heirs managed to complete the conquest of all the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, giving rise to the Kingdom of England, over which the House of Wessex reigned until on the death of King Edward the Confessor in 1066, followed closely by the Norman Conquest.
Origins
Wessex was founded, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, by Chief Cerdic when he approached the coasts of Hampshire in 495. He is therefore considered to be the founder of the House of Wessex. In 508, he is said to have defeated the Breton king Natanleod at the Battle of Netley, before establishing himself as leader of the West Saxons after a battle at Cerdicesford (Charford) north of Southampton. He also conquered the Isle of Wight in 530, and died in 534, leaving his son (or grandson) Cynric to succeed him.
Cynric's reign lasted, according to the sources, 17 or 26 years. Some see him as the leader of the Saxons at the Battle of Mount Badon around the year 500, the last defeat against the Bretons. A few years before his death, he captured the city of Old Sarum near Salisbury in 552.
His son Ceawlin, ascended to the throne in 560, is described by the Venerable Bede as bretwalda, head of part (or all) of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England. He himself will be deposed in 591 by Ceol, who will suffer the same fate from his brother Ceolwulf in 597. Ceolwulf could not guarantee a lasting peace over the kingdom and reigned until his death in 611. His nephew Cynegils succeeded him .
It was Cynegils who authorized, in 634, the envoy of Pope Honorius I, Birinus, to come and evangelize the kingdom. Last Birinus even receives the city of Dorchester as a gift from Cynegils, in order to install an episcopal see there. In return, Birin baptized him the following year, making him the first Christian king of Wessex.
During the 7th and 8th centuries, the Mercia of King Penda and his successors dominated England and Wessex suffered its assaults as did the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Thus, the territories north of the Thames and Avon were lost to the Mercians, prompting Wessex to increase its pressure on the south, especially towards Devon and Domnonée.
Ascent
The arrival on the throne of Egbert marked the beginning of the rise in power of Wessex vis-à-vis the other kingdoms of the Heptarchy. Between 813 and 825, Egbert pushes the Celtic peoples from the southwest to the River Tamar in a territory that will be Cornwall, officially a vassal land of Wessex. The Battle of Ellendune in 825 sounded the death knell for the supremacy of Mercia, at the end of which Egbert invaded the kingdoms of Kent and Essex, which he later added to his domains, Surrey and Sussex ranging from later submit themselves. In 829, Egbert finally invaded Mercia and forced its king Wiglaf into exile, while Northumbria submitted the same year to Dore. Egbert thus becomes the first of the sovereigns of a unified Saxon England and even reigns for a time over Mercia.
The Vikings
On his death in 839, his estates were divided between his two sons:Æthelwulf, who reigned over Wessex, and Æthelstan, who became viceroy of Kent. The reign of Æthelwulf is marked by the arrival of the Danish Vikings on the eastern shores of England in 865. Their Great Army quickly carves out a Scandinavian kingdom around York. The Vikings did not hesitate to make several attempted raids on Wessex, repelled by the troops of King Æthelred (from 865 to 871), son of Æthelwulf, and especially Alfred the Great.
Alfred's reign therefore began with the death of his brother in 871. The essence of his policy was to wage a war of attrition against the Danes, whom he eventually routed in 897. His domain extended on almost all of the territories of the heptarchy, confining the Danes to the east coast of England. His victory over the Vikings will allow a reorganization of his kingdom in administrative, fiscal and military matters, notably by the creation of a permanent naval force. His work in other areas of Anglo-Saxon society, such as education and justice, is also undeniable, to the point that he will be the only British sovereign to obtain the qualification of great.
When Alfred the Great died in 899, his son Edward the Elder succeeded him. With his brother-in-law Æthelred of Mercia and his sister Æthelflæd, he also fought the Vikings and undertook a program of expansion, seizing Danish territories which he fortified. In 918, Edward controlled all of England south of the Humber. That same year, the death of Æthelflæd led to the full integration of Mercia into Wessex. But Edward died in 924, unable to complete the unification of England.
It was his son, Æthelstan, who would realize his father's ambition by becoming the first to rule directly over the whole of England after the conquest of Northumbria in 927. Æthelstan's expansionist policy was not limited only to England:after having extended his conquests to Wales, he was also interested in Scotland by invading the kingdom of Strathclyde, of which he conquered the southern part during the battle of Brunanburh in 937. It was under the reign of Æthelstan the Glorious that the destiny of Wessex merges with that of England.