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: ''See also Ceretic (disambiguation) for two kings with a similar name.'' Cerdic was allegedly the first King of Anglo-Saxon Wessex from 519 to 534, cited by the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' as the founder of the Kingdom of Wessex and ancestor of all its subsequent kings. (See House of Wessex family tree). == Life == According to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', Cerdic landed in Hampshire in 495 with his son Cynric in five ships. He is said to have fought a Brittonic king named Natanleod at ''Natanleaga'' and killed him thirteen years later (in 508), and to have fought at ''Cerdicesleag'' in 519. ''Natanleaga'' is commonly identified as Netley Marsh in Hampshire and ''Cerdicesleag'' as Charford (Cerdic's Ford〔(British History Online, Victoria County History, North Charford with South Charford )〕). The conquest of the Isle of Wight is also mentioned among his campaigns, and it was later given to his kinsmen, Stuf and Wihtgar (who had supposedly arrived with the West Saxons in 514). Cerdic is said to have died in 534 and was succeeded by his son Cynric. Any purported connection between Cerdic and southern Hampshire or the Isle of Wight is certainly suspect and probably spurious. While Cerdic's area of operation was, according to the ''Chronicle'', in the area west of Southampton, there is also stronger archaeological evidence of early Anglo-Saxon activity in the area around Dorchester-on-Thames. This is the later location of the first West Saxon bishopric, in the first half of the seventh century. The first English settlers in the Isle of Wight were Jutes and a later ''Chronicle'' entry states that the island was conquered by Wessex (only) in the seventh century. There was also an early Anglo-Saxon settlement at Abingdon. All this indicates that the original Kingdom of Wessex (then known as the Gewissae) was probably in the Thames Valley below Oxford. The name of Chearsley in Buckinghamshire was ''Cerdeslai'' in the Domesday Book, which makes it a good candidate for ''Cerdicesleag''; and Notley, a mile from Chearsley on the River Thame, is a credible possibility for ''Natanleaga''. These possibilities, though unproven, would locate the battles in the ''Chronicle'' within or close to the most credible original borders of Wessex. The early history of Wessex in the ''Chronicle'' is clearly muddled 〔Sir Charles Oman (Oman, ''England Before the Conquest'', 1910:244) found the Wessex annals in the ''Chronicle'' "meagre and inexplicable", "confused and suspicious"; Oman's speculation that events in the annals had been duplicated was taken up in detail by Kenneth Harrison (Harrison, "Early Wessex Annals in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" ''The English Historical Review'' 86 No. 340 (July 1971:527–533).〕 and enters duplicate reports of events. David Dumville has suggested that Cerdic's true regnal dates are 538–554. Some scholars suggest that Cerdic was the Saxon leader defeated by the Britons at the Battle of Mount Badon, which was probably fought in 490 (and possibly later, but not later than 518). This cannot be the case if Dumville is correct, and others assign this battle to Ælle or another Saxon leader, so it appears likely that the origins of the kingdom of Wessex are more complex than the version provided by the surviving traditions. Some scholars have gone so far as to suggest that Cerdic is purely a legendary figure, and had no actual existence, but this is a minority view. However, the earliest source for Cerdic, the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', was put together in the late ninth century; though it probably does record the extant tradition of the founding of Wessex, the intervening four hundred years mean that the account cannot be assumed to be accurate. Descent from Cerdic became a necessary criterion for later kings of Wessex, and Egbert of Wessex, progenitor of the English royal house and subsequent rulers of England and Britain, claimed him as an ancestor. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cerdic of Wessex」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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