Cwichelm (Wessex)

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Cwichelm (also Cuicelm, Cuichelm, Cwicelm ; † 636 ) was from 611? until his death a king of the Gewissæ , an ethnic group that formed the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex as "West Saxons" in the late 7th century .

England around 600 AD

Life

family

Cwichelm comes from the House of Wessex . He was a son of King Cynegils . Other historians see in Cwichelm more of a brother of Cynegils. Cwichelm had a son named Cuthred .

Domination

Cynegils came to power in 611 as the successor to Ceolwulf (594 / 597-611) and included his son Cwichelm (611? -636) possibly in a subordinate role in 611. In 614 Cynegils and Cwichelm achieved an important victory against the British at Beandun (location unknown, perhaps Bampton in Oxfordshire or Bindon in Dorset ), with the British falling in 2046. Around 617 a war broke out against the Kingdom of Essex in which three kings of Essex, the brothers Sexred , Sæward and one more, fell.

In 626 Cwichelm had an unsuccessful assassination attempt on the Northumbrian King Edwin , who had driven Oswald into exile. Edwin undertook a punitive expedition against the Gewissæ, in which five West Saxon "kings" and numerous warriors fell. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives no reasons for the attack, which are presumably to be found in the suzerainty of Bretwalda Edwin. The battle of Cirencester in 628 against the emerging Penda of Mercia was also unsuccessful and ended with a peace treaty. This contract apparently provided for the marriage of Cwichelm's brother Cenwalh to the sister of Pendas. The supremacy over the region around Cirencester in the Kingdom of Hwicce , where both Angles and Saxons settled, passed to Mercia. This seems to be one of the reasons for the southward expansion of the Gewissæ since then. This battle marked the beginning of the rivalry between Wessex and Mercia that lasted into the 9th century. Presumably the battle of Cirencester was related to Edwin's retaliatory campaign. A certain support by Edwin can be assumed.

Scutchamer Knob is the alleged barrow of Cwichelm.

In 636 Cwichelm finally converted to Christianity and was baptized in Dorchester-on-Thames by Saint Birinus , who had already baptized his father the previous year . He died that same year. According to a legendary tale, Cwichelm was killed by Edwin of Northumbria at Cwichelmeshlæw ("Cwichelms grave", Scutchamer Knob at East Hendred in Oxfordshire). The alleged barrow is said to be covered with a curse that prevents enemy armies from entering Wessex unscathed.

Cwichelm's son Cuthred was baptized in 639 and in 648 received huge estates of 3,000 hidas near Ashdown, Berkshire from his uncle King Cenwalh . That was almost half of a kingdom like Lindsey , Sussex or Essex .

swell

literature

  • Barbara Yorke : Wessex in the early Middle Ages (Studies in the Early History of Britain) , Continuum, 1995, ISBN 978-0718518561 .
  • 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)
  • Patrick Sims-Williams: Religion and Literature in Western England, 600-800 , Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 9780521673426 .
  • DP Kirby: The Earliest English Kings , Routledge, London-New York 2000, ISBN 978-0415242110 .
  • 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 .
  • DN Dumville: The West Saxon genealogical regnal list and the chronology of early Wessex , Peritia, 4/1985, pp. 21-66.
  • Sonia Chadwick Hawkes: The early Saxon period . In: G. Briggs, J. Cook, T. Rowley (Eds.): The archeology of the Oxford region , 1986, pp. 64-108.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Barbara Yorke: Cwichelm  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: 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
  2. ↑ John Cannon, Anne Hargreaves: The Kings and Queens of Britain, Oxford University Press, 2009 (2nd revised edition), ISBN 978-0-19-955922-0 , p. 44.
  3. ↑ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 648
  4. ↑ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 614
  5. ↑ a b Barbara Yorke: Cynegils  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: 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
  6. ↑ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 626
  7. ↑ probably a little later, see: DP Kirby: The Earliest English Kings , Routledge, London-New York 2000, ISBN 978-0415242110 , p. 68.
  8. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 628
  9. ↑ Barbara Yorke: Wessex in the early Middle Ages (Studies in the Early History of Britain) , Continuum, 1995, ISBN 978-0718518561 , p. 57.
  10. ↑ Patrick Sims-Williams: Religion and Literature in Western England, 600-800 , Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 9780521673426 , p. 28.
  11. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 636
  12. Jump up ↑ Len Scales, Oliver Zimmer: Power and the Nation in European History , Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-052184580-9 , p. 116.
  13. ^ Howard Williams: Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain , Cambridge University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-052184019-4 , p. 210.
  14. ↑ The Tribal Hidage on the Georgetown University website
predecessor Office successor
Ceolwulf King of Wessex
611? –636
together with Cynegils (611–642) 		Cynegils
personal data
SURNAME Cwichelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cuicelm; Cuichelm; Cwicelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Regent of Wessex
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century
DATE OF DEATH 636