Alfred the Great believed that the House of Wessex stretched back to the earliest days of Anglo Saxon England, to the early 6th century, and that the founder was a warrior – Cerdic. But Alfred was a master of propaganda, and was concerned to position Wessex as the most prestigous of all the kingdoms. So did Cerdic actually exist, or just another foundation story? Paul Harper set out to discover the truth.
Find out more from Paul’s book; eithger from the publisher, Pen and Sword, or Blackwell’ – “Cerdic Mysterious Dark Age King Who Founded England”
Transcript
Today I have a guest episode for you from Paul Harper, though I am going to speak it. Paul is a history author, who has researched and written a book about the mysterious founder of what would become known as Wessex; it’s called Cerdic: Mysterious Dark Age king who founded England and is available for purchase right now. Now Cerdic is a very shadowy figure way back in the 6th century, the king from whom our current monarch, King Prince Charles, traces his descent – through the odd wiggle or two it must be said. I went myself to look for his burial site in Hampshire once; didn’t find him. But Paul has not only researched Cerdic’s life, and investigated how he built this early kingdom – but is also convinced he has found the site of his burial.
So this episode is from and written by Paul Harper, although the voice you hear will be me. In it, Paul talks about how the West Saxon dynasty manipulated the story of Cerdic, to accentuate their status and reputation. He looks at where Cerdic may have come from, and what we can glean from the records about how he carved out this kingdom. And then to his death – and where Cerdic may have been buried.
So here goes, and I hope you enjoy it.
Cerdic is one of the most enigmatic figures in British history, A warrior king who founded the powerful new realm of Wessex in the 6th century, a kingdom which evolved over many centuries into England – officially under King Athelstan in the tenth century. A long and noble ancestry was very important to later Wessex kings, who were desperate to show their ancestry could be traced all the way back to Cerdic as their illustrious founder. To do so would give them power and most importantly – the right to rule over others.And yet we know so little about Cerdic himself. Everything we know comes from a few brief entries in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle composed hundreds of years after his death.
During my research, the focus shifted to a remarkable reference to Cerdic’s final resting place in an ancient royal charter. What followed was something like a treasure hunt as I searched the countryside for the burial site, clues and other lost landmarks. Eventually, the search narrowed down to one long lost barrow. I remember pacing around the site in a daze at the prospect of the discovery. But let’s start at the beginning of Cerdic’s story. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle tells of how Cerdic and his son Cynric landed on the coast and fought against the Britons, carving out a new kingdom around a hundred years after the Romans left. What is confusing straight away is that Cerdic lands and conquers the kingdom at a time in the early sixth century when according to Gildas, our main contemporary source, ‘foreign wars’ had ended after the victory at Badon over ‘Saxon’ confederates.
The other immediate issue is that Cerdic has a Brittonic name, despite being the founder of Wessex, or the land of the West Saxons as it was. The name ‘Cerdic’ is an Old English version of a Welsh or Brittonic name such as Caradoc, Coroticos or Ceretic. Fascinatingly, it may be linked to a famous Briton called Caratacus who led resistance to the Roman invasion. And many of Wessex’s rulers until the eighth century appear to have Brittonic names or Brittonic elements to their name – such as Ceawlin, Cynegils, Cenwalh and Caedwalla.Amid large scale migration and trade from the North Sea and the region around it, lots of people adopted the culture of their new Germanic neighbours in eastern England, copying their fashions, burial customs and language. Of course, it wasn’t all happy families, far from it, but many of the ‘Anglo Saxons’ who did arrive were actually small groups of farming families, looking for a better life because their homelands were being flooded.
The lack of dramatic changes in the agricultural landscape and at major settlements such as West Heslerton and Mucking suggests the Anglo Saxon takeover was more complicated than the chroniclers like Gildas would have it, and not just a tale of fire and sword. Wars were often territorial and not based on ethnicity.
The Anglo Saxon Chronicle describes Cerdic and his son Cynric as ‘ealdormen’ which is again odd for invaders, it suggests an established official. Because An ealdorman in the ninth century would lead militia into battles, levy taxation on behalf of a king and preside over courts. Meanwhile, Bede, writing around 729 AD, describes how Wessex was interchangeable with the term ‘Gewisse’. The Old English meaning of this word would be ‘reliable, sure’, and may equate to something along the lines of the ‘trusted ones’.
Warlords rose to power in the aftermath of Roman Britain by offering protection in dangerous times. I believe his name, the title given him, and the name Gewisse together suggest Cerdic was already in a position of power and headed an authority roughly equivalent to Hampshire in the former Belgae civitas, an old regional district of the Roman empire. This hade essentially become a kind of protection racket and that he was fighting over the New Forest and Solent with rival warlords from modern day Dorset and Wiltshire. His stronghold was likely to have been at Winchester as it had been in this region during Roman period, and would be in the later Anglo Saxon era. Archaeology has found a number of settlements all within three miles of the town around the time of Cerdic.
In the late ninth century, Alfred the Great’s monks composed the Anglo Saxon Chronicle something like 350 years after Cerdic died. Through this, Alfred sought to unite the various Anglo Saxon kingdoms with an inspiring story of how the founders of these realms, father and sons, or brothers, arrived in ships and began conquering the natives and were descended from Germanic gods beginning with Woden. But the chronicle is a real puzzle to decipher. The West Saxon Regnal Genealogical List, the list of kings, for want of a better phrase, is attached to the chronicle; but it often contradicts it. Chroniclers also use folk storytelling methods, so the lesser known places where Cerdic won great victories are difficult to identify being named after the king to lift the story. Hence the story includes place names like ‘Cerdicesford’, ‘Cerdicesora’, ‘Cerdiceleah’ and so on.
Other aspects of the Chronicle add to the difficulty of finding the real story; and a major one is about how we date Cerdic’s life and career The story of Cerdic’s reign and conquest appears to have been told twice with a noticeable pattern of 19 years between various entries. So, we get two landings at Cerdicesora and battles involving Cerdicesford which have been repeated with different wording. How to explain this? Well, at the time Easter was calculated by predicting the first full moon after the Spring equinox using a 19 year cycle. Seems sensible, and this may have been a factor in the confusion of these dates; so the chronicle puts the year of St Benedict’s death as 509 exactly 38 years (2 x 19) before the actual date – 547.
It looks as though the Chroniclers tried to reconstruct Cerdic’s date by counting back from more reliable information. The king’s list and the later tenth century chronicler Aethelweard reveal that Cerdic landed and then conquered the kingdom six years later. In more recent times academic David Dumville then found that the start of Cerdic’s reign had been backdated by 38 years, using that 19 year cycle based on the calculation of Easter – so 38 is two cycles, or 19 x 2. He then worked out Cerdic’s date by tallying up the reign lengths in the kings list and taking it away from 641 or 642 when Cynegils died. Dumville did this, because Cynegils was the first Wessex king to be baptised which gives a verifiable point in time since from this point the records become more reliable and we can use it as a base to count back from.
Based on these findings, then, it looks as though Cerdic landed in 532 and started to reign in 538, and this means that Cerdic ruled during one of the most turbulent decades in British history, a time of plague and harvest failure. Volcanic eruptions around 536 and 540 caused dust veils which blocked out normal sunlight for large parts of the day, sparking famine. The Justinian Plague – the world’s first bubonic plague – followed in 541. Both of these traumatic events are remarkably well documented by chroniclers at the time in history where written records are often so few and far between. So, rather than being an all-conquering invader, as the rulers of Wessex would like to believe, the biggest challenge for Cerdic and his people may have been one of surviving these bleak times, a struggle for resources with a massive increase in raiding which even the Chronicler Gildas laments.
Dumville, who sadly passed away recently, believes the Wessex chronicles may have wanted an early start date for the kingdom because Kent and Sussex were founded much earlier than they had been, they wanted a way of constructing a history for Wessex that would put it at the forefront of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms, not one of laggards. Another example of this building of a glorious foundation story may relate to Cerdic’s shadowy son Creoda. Strangely, Creoda is named in some records as his son but not in others – why is the record of his existence so poorly emphasised?
Now, There was a Mercian king called Creoda from the exact same period, who does seem to have been a genuine historical figure. This seems likely because some very interesting research found a number of place names in the region that became Mercia, which were attached to Creoda and his descendants Pybba and Penda. There are other interesting connections between Creoda of Mercia and Cerdic’s house of Wessex. Cerdic’s grandson Ceawlin was kicked out of the kingdom of Wessex after an apparent civil war and died alongside a Creoda in 593. There just so happened to be a former place name next to where Ceawlin fought his last conflict at Adam’s Grave near Alton Priors, Wiltshire – it’s called Creoda’s Hill.Fuerthermore, later the great Mercian king Penda, the grandson of Creoda in some records, took over a territory in Wessex including Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester in 627 which had been won by Ceawlin some 50 years earlier. He also drove out the next Wessex king Cenwalh for three years after he refused to marry his sister.
So why was Creoda then not given the status in the West Saxon records that his lineage would demand? My findings suggest that Credoa was airbrushed from history on purpose, because of his role in founding Mercia. Because Mercia became Wessex’s great rival. To discover more about who Cerdic was and his story in creating and maintaining his lordship, it might be best to concentrate on the really key battles and events, involving those Cerdic related places – Cerdicesora and Cerdicesford.
The Battle of Cerdicesora in the early 530s, and it’s story points to a close connection between Cerdic and the Isle of Wight, just two miles off Hampshire, and a place which was key to Cerdic’s kingdom. I believe Cerdic employed confederates on the Isle of Wight, who guarded the island in return for grants of land. Archaeology has found that the people of the Isle of Wight were Germanic, who had settled there as early as the mid-fifth century. We later learn from Bede they were Jutes, hailing from a region of Denmark and northern Germany, who also settled in Kent. The founders of Anglo Saxon Kent were the same as the ones who wreaked havoc in Gildas’ account of the rebelling confederates who were eventually defeated at Badon.
Cerdic was said to be related to Stuf and Wihtgar, who the AS chronicle describes as rulers of the Isle of Wight, and may have been their uncle. Cerdic is said to have handed the Isle of Wight over to them after he died after taking over the island following a battle at Carisbrooke Castle, which is referred to as Wihtgarbyrg; and Wihtgar’s name is derived from the Latin name for the Isle of Wight which was ‘Vechtis’, and would be ‘Wiht’ in Old English. So Whitgar is part of the foundation of the Island, and it may be that we know where Wightgar lies. He is supposed to be buried on the island, and there was a remarkable discovery of a prince or king buried in the modern Carisbrooke Castle there, with rich grave goods – dated to the mid sixth century. And some of the grave goods are comparable in grandeur to those found at Sutton Hoo. So Given the Jutes were based on the island as early as the mid fifth century it is likely his presence there was due to a rebellion which was put down by Cerdic’s forces. In addition, a final piece of evidence linking Cerdic to the Isle of Wight, is a very intriguing reference from Asser, Alfred the Great’s biographer, which implies Cerdic’s wife had Jutish heritage. Intermarriages between Anglo Saxon and Romano British dynasties were common in the 7th century as they formed alliances.
So, to get back to that battle in the early 530s, in the events leading up to the fight at Cerdicesora, Cerdic must have gathered all his forces on the Isle Wight – eight ships, up to 400 men – according to the chronicle and rowed to the mainland in Hampshire. The prime location for the battle, based on earlier studies by Osbert Crawford, was identified as Lepe and nearby Stansore Point. Now Stansore is an interesting placename, because it contains the ‘ora’ element, featured in Cerdicesora, relating to an area of land near water. And there was also a Roman road leading into the mainland from Lepe and a former ferry port during Roman times at the same spot. It was also one of the closest places from the Isle of Wight to the mainland.
And a last piece of evidence for the location of the battle is an earthwork at the end of Beaulieu River which leads from near Lepe; and has long been called ‘Cerdic’s Bridgehead’. Crawford found earthworks, including ditches and banks, forming a complete ring around the south-eastern corner of Southampton Water up to the Solent. So, after capturing the land, Cerdic’s forces may have been stationed there.
The next event is the battle of Cerdicesford around 538, and its location tells us more about Cerdic fought for his kingdom and its extent. Cerdicesford has been convincingly associated with the village of Charford; and Charford is referred to in the Domesday Book as Cerdeford. There’s more; the location has also emerged in another ancient charter from Cerdic’s seventh century descendant Cenwalh. This refers to Fegerhilde Forde, meaning ‘the fair battle ford’. The ‘hilde’ element is a Germanic word meaning ‘battle’. I narrowed this down to a place in North Charford near the River Avon just five hundred metres or so from the modern-day border between Wiltshire and Hampshire which could date to Cerdic’s time.
The site is next to an ancient trackway known as the Cloven Way. Medieval battles were often fought at locations near these big trackways, or at border land near the edge of kingdoms and close to river crossings, fords. So this location ticks all those three boxes. Cerdic was fighting now 30 miles away from where he originally landed and fought at Cerdicesora. Cerdic’s opponent at the battle was apparently called Natanleod, and he is another mystery. He boasted a massive army of 5,000 men. This may be an exaggeration but clearly shows this was an incredibly significant battle.
The Anglicisation of the south west is very much tied to Wessex’s expansion over the next few hundred years. And this was the dawn of Wessex. Some scholars believe the Natanleod and the Natan Leaga are another product of folk etymology but the ‘leod’ is an Old English term for ‘chief or ruler’ while the ‘Natan’ shares obvious parallels with ancient Brittonic and Pictish names such as Nechtan, shared by a famous saint of the same age. Intriguingly, Natanleod is associated with Downton Moot which is just over a mile away from this main battle site. And outside Downton Moot a street is known as Natanbury after the king who according to legend was buried in the vicinity. Downton Moot, by the way, would later become an important meeting place for local rulers to thrash out issues based on the old Germanic tradition of tribal folk moots.
Cerdic’s grip on his new kingdom was also said in the ASC to have challenged, in another battle at a place called Cerdicesleah (around 546). I also believe this was genuine and also occurred close to the battle of Cerdicesora, at a location called Odstock Copse, an old Iron Age fort in woodland between Charford and Old Sarum, again near the Wiltshire-Hampshire border. The location is also close to the start of the land boundary in Cenwalh’s charter and referred to as ‘Fyrdinges Lea’. This means something along the lines of ‘army on a war footing’, which supports the idea that a battle was fought here
What this shows us that Cerdic was carving out and holding his kingdom. And since Cerdic’s son Cynric would later capture nearby Old Sarum, 10 miles north of Cerdicesora, it may mean this was frontier land, with three battles occurring during this timeframe all within a few miles of the Wiltshire-Hampshire border.
In uncovering Cerdic’s story, we should now really get to the burial site. This for me was the really exciting part of the story. I believe it is a real place on the landscape which we can identify and explain why Cerdic was buried there and in turn really begin to understand who he was.
Cerdic would have died around 554 and was buried in a large and spectacular burial mound known as a barrow. They were common before Roman times and again in the early Anglo Saxon period. My interest was piqued by an old charter dated to 900 AD from Edward the Elder, the son of Alfred the Great, which referenced ‘Cerdicesbeorg’, which translates as ‘Cerdic’s Barrow’.
Anglo Saxon charters are a fantastic source for the history of this period and this one related to the grant of land from Edward to Winchester Cathedral. It was about 11,000 acres and now makes up the modern St Mary Bourne parish.
Some great research from the early 20th century academic George Grundy narrowed the area down to the outskirts of Andover. This may seem quite an inconspicuous rural area now but many moons ago it housed a treasure trove of historically important places including two ancient trackways, no less than six barrows including Cerdic’s, a massive ditch that looked like Offa’s Dyke and a large Roman villa. It must have been some place.
These charters largely cover land in the open countryside so the boundaries would be mapped out by various landmarks which could be say an old trackway, a large tree, a big stone or often a barrow. They often have fantastic, almost poetic names. The first landmark after Cerdic was Willow Grove and I found that as willows grow near water the prime candidate was next to the old Roman villa just behind a nearby woodland. I spoke to the estate owner Mike who looks after the site and he said that there must have been a temporary winterbourne river near the villa as how else would they have been supplied, with the nearest other source several miles away.
The landmark after the grove which is described in the charter as a trackway could be easily identified as the old Portway Roman road. The preceding pear tree before the barrow must have been on the nearby Apsley Farm where the boundary runs through. It seemed like there was a distance of roughly half a mile between each landmark.
Suddenly the pieces started to fall into place. I homed in one former barrow. This barrow has long been ploughed over but thanks to an extensive aerial mapping of the land after the Second World War can still be detected from the sky. as what’s called a ring ditch. The fantastic Historic Environment Records reveal the locations of former barrows and other historic landmarks on a huge easily accessible database. This barrow was also identified through aerial photography in the 50s, 60s and 70s as a ring ditch. It would have been about 72 ft in diameter and was probably at least 12 ft high on a hill so it would have been a remarkable feature of the landscape. What is really interesting about this particular barrow is that it is very close to the old Harrow Way one of the oldest trackways in Britain and also the dyke, known as the Devil’s Ditch, which could extend all the way to the modern Wiltshire border in Chute parish around eight miles away. The barrow would also have been visible from the Portway Roman Road.
These three features made the barrow so interesting. It seems the location was carefully and cleverly chosen. You can imagine the conversation:
‘Where’s Cerdic’s Barrow?
‘Next to the ditch, or on your left or right as you go down the Harrow Way and the Portway – you can’t miss it.’
People must have been awestruck with the barrow on the hill on the Harrow Way. It was also deliberately facing west towards Cerdic’s enemies in Wiltshire. It was a real statement of power and a message to his rivals.
‘I may be dead but my kingdom lives on…This land belongs to the Cerdicing dynasty, enter at your own peril.’
There’s an added possiblity that Cerdic may have hunted in the area given the presence of potential wooded deer enclosures called ‘haga’ in the charter. Wealthy Romans and Anglo Saxons, including notably Alfred the Great, loved to hunt. Since the book has been published, admittedly some have pointed to how the ‘Beorg’ element of Cerdicesborg could also mean a hill. I can confidently state it wasn’t referring to a hill for several reasons. Other barrows like this one in the charter are referred to with the same term such as ‘Beorge’, ‘Beorga’. The barrow has been identified in aerial photography at least five times. And I have also found a more recent aerial image which shows a barrow in this spot in the form of a ring ditch as clear as day. It is a really striking image.
With the permission of the land owners, hopefully there will be a further investigation someday. This could finally be the conclusive proof that Cerdic was a real king whose impact on Britain was profound, and I am convinced this is where Cerdic was laid to rest. The discovery could take Cerdic out of the land of folklore and finally bring the story to life.
Well I hope you enjoyed that, in exploring the original founder of Wessex. And if you want to find out more about Paul’s quest and about Ceric, do hop along to your local bookshop and look for Cerdic: Mysterious Dark Age king who founded England by Paul Harper.
Thank you for listening everyone, good luck, and have a great week.
