House of Wessex
Appearance
House of Wessex House of the Gewisse Cerdicings West Saxon dynasty House of the West Saxons | |
---|---|
Country | |
Dissolution | c. 1125; 900 years ago |
Deposition | 1066; 959 years ago |
Cadet branches | The Ecgbertings and the Æthelwoldings. |
The House of Wessex, also known as the House of Cerdic, the House of the West Saxons, the House of the Gewisse, the Cerdicings and the West Saxon dynasty, refers to the family, traditionally founded by
Cnut the Great and his sons ruled until 1042. The House of Wessex then briefly regained power under Æthelred's son Edward the Confessor, but lost it after the Confessor's reign, with the Norman Conquest in 1066. All kings of England since William II have been descended from the House of Wessex through William the Conqueror's wife Matilda of Flanders, who was a descendant of Alfred the Great through his daughter Ælfthryth. Additionally, kings since Henry II have been descended from English kings from the House of Wessex through Henry I's wife Matilda of Scotland
, who was a great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironside.
History
The House of Wessex began to dominate English politics after many years of Mercian hegemony with the reign of
succeeded to the throne.Their rule was often contested, notably by the Danish king
Edgar the Ætheling, a grandson of Edmund Ironside who had originally been passed over in favour of Harold, were unsuccessful and William's descendants secured their rule. Chroniclers describe conflicting stories about Edgar's later years, including a supposed involvement in the First Crusade; he is presumed to have died around 1126. A Northumberland pipe roll mentions an "Edgar Adeling" in 1158, and 1167, by which time Edgar would have been over 100 years old.[1] Beyond this, there is no existing evidence that the male line of the Cerdicings continued beyond Edgar Ætheling. Edgar's niece Matilda of Scotland later married William's son Henry I to consilidate his claim to the throne, since his father, William the Conqueror already had a tenuous claim to the English throne, and he had an even more tenuous one, forming a link between the two dynasties. Henry II was a descendant of the House of Wessex in the female line, something that contemporary English commentators noted with approval.[2]
Timeline

Genealogy
For a family tree of the House of Wessex from Cerdic down to the children of King Alfred the Great, see:
- House of Wessex family tree
A continuation into the 10th and 11th centuries can be found at
- English monarchs family tree
See also
References
Sources
- Stephen Friar and John Ferguson (1993), Basic Heraldry, W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0-393-03463-9
- Naismith, Rory (2011). "The Origins of the Line of Egbert, King of the West Saxons, 802–839". .