| Cerdic | |
|---|---|
 Imaginary depiction from John Speed's 1611 "Saxon Heptarchy" | |
| King of Wessex (King of the Gewissae) | |
| Reign | c. 519–534 |
| Predecessor | None (title established) |
| Successor | Cynric or possibly Creoda[1][2][3] |
| Died | 534 |
| Issue | Cynric or possibly Creoda |
| House | Wessex |
| Father | Elesa? |
Cerdic (/ˈtʃɜːrdɪtʃ/ CHER-ditch;[4] Latin: 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 Wessex, reigning from around 519 to 534 AD. Subsequent kings of Wessex were each claimed by the Chronicle to descend in some manner from Cerdic.[5] His origin, ethnicity, and even his very existence have been extensively disputed. However, though claimed as the founder of Wessex by later West Saxon kings, he would have been known to contemporaries as king of the Gewissae, a folk or tribal group. The first king of the Gewissae to call himself 'King of the West Saxons', was Cædwalla, in a charter of 686.[6]
- ^ Kirby, D. P. (1965) Problems of Early West Saxon History, The English Historical Review, January 1965, Vol. 80, No. 314, Oxford University Press, pp. 10–29.
- ^ Stevenson, W. H. (1899), "The Beginnings of Wessex", The English Historical Review, January 1899, Vol. 14, No. 53, Oxford University Press, pp. 32–46.
- ^ Walker, H. E. (1956), "Bede, and the Gewissae: The Political Evolution of the Heptarchy and Its Nomenclature", The Cambridge Historical Journal, 1956, Vol. 12, No. 2, Cambridge University Press, pp. 174–186
- ^ Durkin, Philip, 'Old English in contact with Celtic', Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English (Oxford, 2014; online edn, Oxford Academic, 16 April 2014), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199574995.003.0005, accessed 28 September 2023.
- ^ Giles, John Allen (1914). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Transcribed by Wikisource Contributors. G. Bell and Sons. pp. 9–10.
- ^ Yorke, B. (1989). "The Jutes of Hampshire and Wight and the origins of Wessex". In Basset, Steven (ed.). The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. London and New York: Leicester University Press. pp. 85–92, 96. ISBN 978-0-7185-1367-2.