Ceawlin

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Ceawlin (also Ceaulin, Caelin ; † approx. 593) was from 560 to 591/593 or from 581 to 588 king of the Gewissæ , an ethnic group that formed the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex in the 7th century as "West Saxons" .

In the entry of the year 827 (829) of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , which in turn is based on information in Beda's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum II, 5 , he is referred to as the second Bretwalda .

Manuscript C of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle names "Ceaulin" (line 5) as the second Bretwalda

Sources

family

He comes from the House of Wessex and is considered the son of Cynric . According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , his brothers were Cutha, Ceolwulf and Celm. Ceawlin's sons were Cuthwine and Cutha. His successor Ceol was his nephew.

Domination

Places mentioned in connection with Ceawlin

Cynric fought with Ceawlin in 556 at Beranburh ( Barbury Castle ) against the British. After Cynric's death, his son Ceawlin succeeded him to the throne in 560. Æthelberht of Kent marched into the region between Andredsweald and Thames (south of London), but was defeated by Ceawlin and his brother Cutha in 568 at Wibbandune ( Wimbledon  ?) And pursued as far as Kent. 571 mentions Cuthwulf's victory over the British at Bedcanford ( Bedford in the Chiltern Hills ?) And the conquest of the cities of Limbury ( Bedfordshire ), Aylesbury ( Buckinghamshire ), Bensington ( Oxfordshire ) and Eynsham (Oxfordshire). Cuthwulf died that same year.

The most important battle was probably the Battle of Deorham 577 (Dyrham near Bath ), in which the three British kings Coinmail, Condidan and Farinmail are said to have fallen, as a result of which Ceawlin was able to win the places Gloucester , Cirencester and Bathcester. This would have made it possible for Ceawlin to reach the Severn and separate the British kingdoms of Wales and Cornwall . In 584 a campaign led Ceawlin and Cutha to Fethanleag (uncertain: Stoke Lyne in northeastern Oxfordshire or Fretherne in Gloucestershire ). Cutha fell and Ceawlin returned home with rich booty. For the year 591/592 it is mentioned that Ceawlin was evicted after a massacre in Wôdnesbeorg (Alton Priors in Wiltshire ) without the exact context being clear. Ceol took over the royal dignity as his successor. Ceawlin died in 593.

State of research

Southern England around 575
England around the time of Ceawlin's death circa 593

The contradicting information about his grandfather ( Cerdic or Creoda) could not be finally resolved by research. A possible explanation could be that Cynric's or Ceawlin's line were not Cerdicingas , but were subsequently linked to the dynasty founder Cerdic. The source situation for Ceawlin is significantly better and more extensive than that of its predecessors and probably goes back to an oral tradition. However, since the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was written at the time of Alfred the Great (871–899), a direct descendant of Ceawlin, there is a risk that Ceawlin's actions were "put into perspective". A biography can therefore only have broad features.

The Gewissæ probably extended their sphere of influence to what is now Wiltshire in the second half of the 6th century . This region was inhabited by Anglo-Saxons since the 5th century. The fighting (ASC 556) at Beranburh ( Barbury Castle ), an Iron Age hill fort , was therefore not necessarily fought against the British. The assignment of archaeological findings is associated with uncertainties, since the Gewissæ can hardly be distinguished from other Saxon groups of that time.

After Cynric's death, his son Ceawlin succeeded the throne as the third known king of the Gewissæ. He is considered one of the most powerful kings of his time. The dating of his reign causes difficulties and seems to have been “stretched” by the writer of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to 31 or 32 years (560–591 / 592), while the West Saxon king lists assign him a significantly shorter term of seven or seventeen years. The years 574/575 or 584/585 would therefore be the beginning of his rule. It is possible that his father Cynric had already included him in his rule. Ceawlin apparently initially shared his kingship with Cuthwulf, who was perhaps identical to his brother Cutha. He later put his son Cuthwine in power. The reliability of the reports on his campaigns (ASC 568, 571, 577, 584) is difficult to judge, at least the dating must be questioned. The victory of Cuthwulf (ASC 571), the death of three British kings and the conquest of the three cities (ASC 577) may be historical facts, but the connection with Ceawlin is questionable. Traces of Saxon settlement have been found in what is now Gloucestershire from an earlier period. The region was probably already in Saxon hands, as the place names, which are all of Saxon origin, indicate. The entry for the year 571 is possibly a later construct to strengthen Wessex's claim to Mercia on the disputed area in the 8th century through "old rights".

The portrayal of Ceawlins as a successful and widely operating ruler is supported by Beda Venerabilis , who names him as the second Bretwalda . The regional description of his activities in the wider area of ​​the Upper Thames is plausible, since the later King Cynegils (611–642) apparently saw this area as the “heartland” of the Gewissæ and established the first bishopric in Dorchester-on-Thames . Presumably the Anglo-Saxon empires in south east England, Sussex , Isle of Wight and Kent , recognized his supremacy. British areas in the Chiltern Hills , Buckinghamshire , Cotswolds ( Gloucestershire , Oxfordshire and Warwickshire ), on the rivers Avon and Severn were probably at least temporarily under his sphere of influence.

Ceawlin's reign apparently ended with unrest in the royal family. His nephew Ceol came to power around 588/591 and Ceawlin was expelled after a "great massacre" near Wôdnesbeorg (near Wansdyke or Alton Priors in Wiltshire ). Around 592/593, Ceawlin and his otherwise unknown presumed relatives Cwichelm and Crida died. After Ceawlin's death, the Gewissæ's supremacy waned. Æthelberht von Kent, who had entered into an alliance with the Frankish Empire , Europe's most powerful state at the time, gained influence and was recognized as the third Bretwalda around 600 south of the Humber .

swell

literature

  • Barbara Yorke : Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 . PDF (6.2 MB)
  • Barbara Yorke: Wessex in the early Middle Ages (Studies in the Early History of Britain) , Continuum, 1995, ISBN 978-0718518561 .
  • John Cannon, Anne Hargreaves: The Kings and Queens of Britain , Oxford University Press, 2009 (2nd revised edition), ISBN 978-0-19-955922-0 , p. 24.
  • Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 .
  • DP Kirby, Alfred Smyth, Ann Williams (Eds.): A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain , Routledge, London-New York 1991, ISBN 978-1-85264-047-7 .
  • DP Kirby: The Earliest English Kings , Routledge, London-New York 2000, ISBN 978-0415242110 .
  • DN Dumville: The West Saxon genealogical regnal list and the chronology of early Wessex , Peritia, 4/1985, pp. 21-66.
  • Patrick Sims-Williams: The settlement of England in Bede and the Chronicle . In: Peter Clemoes, Simon Keynes, Michael Lapidge (Eds.): Anglo-Saxon England, 12 Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 9780521038348 , pp. 1-41.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ A b Barbara Yorke: Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 , p. 133.
  2. Simon Keynes: Kings of the West Saxons . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , pp. 511-514.
  3. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 827
  4. a b Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 688
  5. a b Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 597
  6. a b Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 495
  7. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 685
  8. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 611
  9. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 556
  10. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 560
  11. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 568
  12. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 571
  13. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 577
  14. ^ DP Kirby, Alfred Smyth, Ann Williams (eds.): A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain , Routledge, London-New York 1991, ISBN 978-1-85264-047-7 , p. 74.
  15. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 584
  16. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 591
  17. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 593
  18. a b Barbara Yorke: Cynric  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.oxforddnb.com   (paid registration required). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved November 13, 2011
  19. ^ Barbara Yorke: Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 , p. 143.
  20. ^ A b Barbara Yorke: Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 , pp. 131-132.
  21. ^ A b Barbara Yorke: Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 , pp. 135-138.
  22. a b c d e Barbara Yorke: Ceawlin  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.oxforddnb.com   (paid registration required). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved November 13, 2011
  23. Beda: HE 2.5
  24. ^ Robin George Collingwood , John Nowell Linton Myres: Roman Britain and English Settlements , Biblo & Tannen, 1998, ISBN 978-0819611604 , pp. 424 and 453.
  25. Barbara Yorke: Wessex in the early Middle Ages (Studies in the Early History of Britain) , Continuum, 1995, ISBN 978-0718518561 , p. 35.
  26. ^ SE Kelly: Æthelberht ; In: Michael Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , p. 13
predecessor Office successor
Cynric King of Wessex
560 / around 580 – around 590
Ceol