At the Edge of the World - The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain

[Senior Chamoy]

At the Edge of the World
A Winter King AAR

​

The year is 410 AD. The provinces of Britannia are under siege as a deluge of barbarian raiders threaten the island. From across the sea, Irish and Scotti raiders mount daring raids on the western shores of the island, while the painted tribals of Pictavia ferociously trek through the porous borders of Antonine's and Hadrian's walls in the North. The southern and eastern shores, collectively known as "the Saxon Shore" are being pillaged by a myriad of Germanic peoples, including the eponymous Saxons, Jutes, Angles, Frisians, and Franks, among many others. Britannia had not seen chaos of this magnitude since the times of the "Great Barbarian Conspiracy" of 367 AD, when these same groups of barbarians had colluded with the Roman garrisons to sack and plunder the island, launching the provinces into a state of anarchy for an entire year before order could be restored and the raiders expelled. This time however, relief did not seem likely. Britannia was on its own.

Merely four years prior, in 406 AD, the provinces of Roman Britannia had revolted. The garrisons were devoid of payment and fears of a Germanic invasion from across the channel had forced them to choose their own leader. Searching for a sense of security in a rapidly collapsing world, the Roman military in Britain had sought greater security in strong and able military leadership and chose as their leader a man named after the famed emperor of the early fourth century, Constantine the Great, who had himself risen to power through a military coup in Britain. Constantine was a common soldier, but one of some ability. Early in 407 AD, they acclaimed him as emperor.

Emperor Constantine III moved quickly across the channel, taking with him all of the mobile troops left in Britannia, of which there were few for just two decades prior Magnus Maximus too had been proclaimed Emperor in Britannia and crossed the channel with the British forces in seek of glory, with few of them ever managing to return. Despite denuding the island of its first line of defense against invaders, things were looking up for the island for there now was an emperor whose base of power was centered in Britannia, meaning a greater amount of care and importance would be placed in it, at least that was what the Britons had hoped for.

Constantine enjoyed early success across the channel as the Roman forces in Gaul quickly declared for him, followed shortly by much of Hispania. He quickly managed to secure the line of the Rhine after several confrontations with the Vandals, preventing further incursions into Gaul from Germania. He also emerged victorious in battle against the forces of the renowned commander Stilicho, who had been sent by the reigning Western Emperor to cut down the usurper Constantine. Facing barbarian troubles of his own against Alaric and his large host of Goths down South, Emperor Honorius reluctantly recognized Emperor Constantine's legitimacy and they ruled as co-emperors during the year of 409 AD.

The newly recognized Emperor's success was cut short however as Vandal forces had managed to overrun Constantine's line of defense across the Rhine while his forces were occupied facing Honorius, whilst Germanic raids intensified across the channel, recognizing the lack of defenses in Britannia. Soon after, the other peoples around Britannia, the Picts, Scotti, and Irish would soon launch their own attacks on the vulnerable island. Distressed that Constantine had failed to defend them, the Roman inhabitants of Britannia rebelled and expelled his officials. Constantine's empire would continue through crumble through 409 AD, with Hispania being lost to one of Emperor Honorius' cousins, while his forces would be ambushed and defeated in multiple occasions by the marauding barbarians. With his forces scattered and his empire stretched too thin, he would gamble it all in a desperate march to Italy, hoping to depose Honorius and claim the Western Empire in its entirety. The gamble failed and he would be captured and executed the following year in 410 AD.

A request for support from Emperor Honorius was sent across the channel. Unfortunately for Britannia, the Emperor replied to their request for assistance by telling the Roman cities to see to their own defense, a tacit acceptance of temporary British self-rule. Honorius was fighting a large-scale war in Italy against the Visigoths, with Rome itself under siege and thus could spare no forces to protect the distant island. It is likely that Honorius expected to eventually regain control over the provinces, but as the empire's collapse continued Roman rule never returned to Britain.

As Roman ruled receded from the island, the previous organization faded and its inhabitants began to organize themselves into independent kingdoms. Among these new polities three stood above the rest:

The most heavily Romanized of areas was the South of Britannia, where the more urban population gathered behind the lead of Ambrosius Aurelianus, a competent general who likely descended from high Roman nobility. Deemed by later historians as "the Last of the Romans," Ambrosius managed to retain some semblance of Roman organization in the South and the Saxon Shore, being recognized by many of the Southern kingdoms as overlord and defender against the Germanic raiders across the channel.

In the North reigned High King Coel "the Old," a Romano-Briton warlord who had been placed there as a ruler by the late Emperor Magnus Maximus nearly three decades prior when he crossed the channel and left the island devoid of roman troops, setting up native warlords in the outlying areas to organize the defense of the island if needed. With Rome gone from Britannia, Coel asserted his authority and established a large kingdom in the North, organizing against the Picts and Scotti raiders in the area.

Reigning much of western Britannia was King Vortigern of Pagenses (later known as Powys), known by many across Britannia as a cruel tyrant. Vortigern assembled a line of defense against Pictish and Irish raiders but his forces proved ineffective and was soon overwhelmed. Vortigern requested the services of Germanic mercenaries to fight against them, essentially using barbarians to fight other barbarians. His usage of mercenaries would soon backfire as he would be responsible for opening the floodgates of Britannia to these people, eventually leading to much conflict across the island as these warriors-for-hire would integrate with existing Germanic populations in the island and begin to form settlements across the East, challenging British rule in the island for years to come...

 

[iain_a_wilson]

This is great - I love this timescale, and as a Briton I'm always a sucker for an AAR dealing with the motherland. Subscribed! What's the mod you're using?

 

[Senior Chamoy]

This is great - I love this timescale, and as a Briton I'm always a sucker for an AAR dealing with the motherland. Subscribed! What's the mod you're using?

Thanks! The mod I'm using is "The Winter King," its a total conversion mod which only includes what is now France, Great Britain and Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, the southern parts of Sweden and Norway, and the western parts of Switzerland and Germany. It's mostly focused on the British/Anglo-Saxon conflict and the Frankish conquest of Gaul, with adjacent areas being mostly where both Franks and Anglo-Saxons come from. It's real neat.

 

[Bullfilter]

I’ve tuned in for a look too. Which of the characters/dynasties are you going to play as?

 

[Senior Chamoy]

I’ve tuned in for a look too. Which of the characters/dynasties are you going to play as?

Thanks for tuning in! I'll be playing as the line of Ida, founders of the kingdom of Bernicia which would later merge with Deira to form Northumbria. Ida and the North Angles haven't arrived to Britannia yet, so next chapter will be about how the early Germanic kingdoms got started, and then unto the gameplay. I will also try to highlight other dynasties though, as they fall or conquer their way through Britain.

 

[iain_a_wilson]

Thanks for tuning in! I'll be playing as the line of Ida, founders of the kingdom of Bernicia which would later merge with Deira to form Northumbria. Ida and the North Angles haven't arrived to Britannia yet, so next chapter will be about how the early Germanic kingdoms got started, and then unto the gameplay. I will also try to highlight other dynasties though, as they fall or conquer their way through Britain.

REALLY looking forward to this.

 

[Senior Chamoy]

The Collapse of Roman Life, and the Beginning of Germanic Britannia
410 AD ~ 530 AD

A British Hillfort​

Prior to the conquest of Rome, Britannia was populated by hardy and war-like tribes which fiercely fought against one another. These peoples fiercely resisted the Roman conquest, and were oft to revolt under occupation. Eventually however, Rome pacified these peoples, confiscated their weapons, and forced them to embrace a more "civilized" way of life, forcing them to abandon their ancient hillfort villages for the grid-like urban cities of Rome. This new way of life heavily relied on specialization, with entire towns and villages focusing their efforts on single tasks, such as glass making, pottery crafting, etc. These urban centers heavily relied on the Empire's road and trade network to survive, and as the empire receded were soon abandoned and left to decay, for the peoples inhabiting them could no longer rely on neighboring towns to supply them of the raw materials needed for their craft, nor of the food they would require to feed themselves whilst producing it.

The economy of the island collapsed as population centers became insular. The population heavily plummeted as a result. Famines became commonplace throughout Britannia, as the people inhabiting the heavily specialized Roman towns could no longer rely on trade to acquire their food and they lacked the skills to farm or hunt. Raids from across the Irish Sea and Hadrian's Wall (which now laid abandoned) contributed to this decline of population as well, as these Roman towns laid defenseless and often near the coast or a river, making for an easy incursion by Irish, Scot, or Pictish raiders. It did not help that so heavily was the Romanization of the island, that few of those once proud Celts could now even wield a sword, making easy prey for the more hardy peoples outside the Roman sphere of influence. Further contributing to the decline, Justinian's Plague would strike the island during 540-549 AD, with estimates mounting the death toll of Britons up to 50%, as their more urban way of life and high population density left them vulnerable to its effect. Concurrently with these events, a large-scale migration out of Britain was taking place, leaving entire towns and cities uninhabited. The vast majority of these migrants made the Armorican peninsula their new home, and such was the impact they made on the population there that it would be renamed Brittany, and their culture and language would supplant the native peoples which once lived there. This near-apocalyptic state of affairs would further be thrown into chaos following the arrival of Germanic settlers and mercenaries to the island.

The arrival of Hengist and Horsa​

The historical record during this era is sparse, and most of what is known was compiled centuries after these events had occurred, and thus is often full of unreliable stories and dates. making it hard to separate fiction from truth. Among these stories lays that of the first Germanic arrivals to the island of Britannia, with some dating them to around 360 AD, with the first recorded raids launched by Saxons, as well as multiple settled Germanic peoples placed there by the Romans themselves as Laeti, or barbarian communities from outside the empire permitted to settle there and granted land in exchange for military service to Rome. Many of these first settlers would regularly fill the garrisons of the walls and cities, allowing them to mingle and diffuse their culture with that of the native Britons. It is thought that some of the Germanic kingdoms formed centuries later such as those in Lindsey, Bernicia, and Deira had their origins in these old Laeti populations.

More important for the narrative however is the story of the first post-Roman arrivals, namely that of the brothers Hengist and Horsa, which according to legend were hired by the then High-King of Britannia Vortigern, which allowed them to settle some of the eastern lands of Britannia in exchange for help against the Pictish and Scottish raiders which savagely ravaged the island. Their arrival is usually dated around 449 AD. The brothers would go on to defeat these raider warbands whenever they encountered them, proving largely effective at stopping their attacks. It is said that during their service of Vortigern they sent word back home about "the worthlessness of the Britons, and the richness of the land" and asked for assistance. Afterward more people arrived in Britannia from the "three great powers of Germania: the Saxons, the Jutes, and the Angles."

It is unclear what exactly occurred between King Vortigern and the two brothers, but at some point during the year 455 AD their agreement broke down, as Vortigern was unable to meet the payment demanded by the mercenaries, or perhaps simply refused to pay the agreed amount. Whatever the circumstances were, both sides met at the Battle of Aylesford where both Vortigern and Horsa were slain. The result of the battle was inconclusive, and two years later in 457 AD Hengist and his son Æsc met the forces of the Britons "and there slew four thousand men," putting the Britons to flight, and abandoning the lands of Cantia, where Hengist and Æsc would establish the first of the Germanic kingdoms, the Kingdom of the Kentish, or Kent, where they would co-rule as kings.

For two decades conflict between the Germanic peoples and the Britons continued mostly uninterrupted, as more and more peoples from the continent continued to arrive to Britannia. The vast majority of these arrivals were mere farmers and refugees from the mainland, fleeing an even more chaotic and disrupted way of life, often battling nature just to make ends meet. Not all interactions between the arrivals and the natives were hostile, and in fact these early years were filled with a great deal of cultural diffusion between both groups, especially as many Britons would throw their lot in with the Germanic peoples who were far more skilled in farming and began to live near or within their villages, with even more submitting to their new overlords in areas such as Kent, where now laid kings.

According to legend, in the year 477 AD Ælle and his followers came to Britain in three ships and settled in the lands West of Kent at a place named Cymen's Shore and "there slew many Britons and drove some to flight to the woods in the North." It is believed that Ælle's arrival coincides with the union of the Frankish kingdoms under Clovis I, who now was able to exercise power across the Southern coast of Britain and diverted Germanic raiders from the continent and toward Britain, thus forcing him to satiate his ambitions against the Britons, rather than in Gaul.

For the next two decades or so Ælle would cement himself as the most powerful of rulers in Britannia and supreme among his fellow Germanics, establishing the kingdom of the South Saxons, or Sussex, and earning the moniker of "Bretwalda" or Britain-ruler for his Imperium, or ability to exert power over all the lands of the Anglo-Saxons, with even King Æsc of Kent bowing down to his supremacy.

The Kingdom of Sussex (Purple), the Kingdom of Kent (Red), and all other Anglo-Saxon settlements which King Ælle exerted dominion over (East of the purple line).

King Ælle's Imperium over the Anglo-Saxons would lead to great victories over the Britons of the island. His warbands seemed unstoppable, and proved to be so until around 500 AD, when Ælle's fortunes would come to an end at the Battle on Badon Hill, where the Germanic forces of Sussex would meet their match and suffer their greatest defeat, halting Anglo-Saxon advances for nearly two generations. It is unclear who was the miraculous leader who put a stop to Ælle's reign of terror, but his victory would lead to the birth of the myth of King Arthur and his knights. What is known is that their victory was so great that Ælle's Imperium broke apart and the Britons could now resort to infighting, free of the pressures of the Germanic invaders who stopped their advance to lick their wounds for several decades. Regardless of this pause in their aggression, the floodgates had been opened, and the rivers of Britannia would soon flow red with the blood of Britons and Anglo-Saxons alike. No peace lasts forever, especially in the post-Roman world.

 

[Nikolai]

Very exciting to read this! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Dunaden]

I love this mod, though I haven't played it in a while. I also love the books that inspired this mod, Bernard Cornwell's Winter King Trilogy.

 

[iain_a_wilson]

I’m definitely going to have to get this mod. Great style of storytelling too

 

[Sarwan88sadin]

Loving it

 

[Senior Chamoy]

The Isle of Britain in the year 530 AD
​

I meant to start the gameplay on this third chapter, but I thought it'd be best to give an overview of the state of Britain at the start date I chose, so that when some of these names or peoples come up I don't have to do as much explaining in the future chapters. This way at least readers can have a slight idea of what places I might be referring to and get a sense of how the political situation in the island evolves.

While the defeat of King Ælle's against the Britons proved disastrous, dissolving his Imperium of the Germanic East overnight and bringing a wave of relief over the native Britons, it left a large vacuum of power to be filled by ambitious chieftains dotting the land. These strong-men would soon begin transforming the mostly insular network of independent settlements into a more interconnected set of large chiefdoms and even small kingdoms looking to compete against the more established Kingdoms of Kent and Sussex.

Southern Britain in 530 AD, with the Germanic Kingdoms East of the Red line​

While the Kingdom of South Seaxe (South Saxons, Sussex) stagnated, the kingdoms of the Wihtwara (People of Wiht, or Wight) and Suþrige (Surrey) would be established around it. The first by Jutish settlers, whilst the later by Saxons, albeit led by a Jutish King. The Kingdom of Cantwaras (People of Cant, Kent) would continue to expand its power, establishing control over the newly established Kingdom of East Seaxe (East Saxons, Essex). Further north laid the East Anglian kingdoms of the Suþfolc (South Folk, Suffolk) and the Norþfolc (North Folk, Norfolk). In the borderlands between the Germanic East and the British West laid the kingdom of the Cilternsæte Saxons (People of the Chilterns) on the Chiltern Hills, the Romano-British Kingdom of Cynwydion, and the Kingdom of the Middel Engle (Middle Angles) where conflict between Britons and Anglo-Saxons is common and both groups frequently intermingle. In-between the Middle Angles and the East Angles lays the Anglian Kingdom of the Gyrwas (people of the Gyr, or the deep bog) inhabiting the swamps and bogs of the Fens. Further North lays the Anglian Kingdom of Lindesege (Lindsey), while right across the river Humber laid Derenrice (Deira), a settlement of Angles under the boot of the British Kingdom of Ebrauc.

Western Britain continued to fracture following their victory over Sussex thirty years prior, with the Romano-British Kingdom of Dumnonia and the British kingdoms of Powys and Gwynedd coming out on top. Southwest of them laid the sole outlier in the region, the Kingdom of Demetia, ruled by an Irish elite who took over the kingdom during the chaos following the fall of Rome.

Northern Britain in 530 AD, with the British kingdoms South of the Green line and the Anglian settlement of Bernicia in Red.​

Outside of the settlement of Deira, the lands North of the Humber still remained in the hands of the native Britons, ruled by an elite claiming descent from Old King Coel, the monarch who forged a powerful kingdom in Northern Britain following the fall of Rome. While his kingdom was partitioned upon his death, his descendants still held vast power, halting all Germanic expansion North of the Humber, whilst also stopping the Picts and Scots from settling South of the Antonine Wall. The only Germanic settlement in these lands was that of Beornice (Bernicia), which served as mercenaries for the monarchs of Bryneich. Far from the core of Germanic Britain, the Bernicians mostly kept to themselves, trying to avoid the wrath of the northern Britons.

Britannia was not just divided culturally between East and West, but also religiously. While Rome had abandoned the island, it left on its wake the church of Christ, virulently spreading across the island in the Celtic West. While there remained some strongholds of paganism, all but one (the Irish kingdom of Connachta) had embraced the Roman religion. Its spread was not without adversity however, as a priest by the name of Pelagius soon began spreading his version of Christianity across the island, one heavily influenced by the pagan past of Britain. This heresy would prove difficult to stamp out, and would cause further discord within the British kingdoms, as they not only faced the Germanic threat but also religious turmoil between their pagan past, their Roman future, and the Pelagian heresy.

The Germanic East meanwhile enjoyed a resurgence of Paganism, as the Anglo-Saxons brought from the continent their form of paganism, worshiping a pantheon of varied deities such as Thunor the God of Thunder (his name is where the words for Thunder and Thursday come from), Frige the Goddess of Love, and Woden the King of all Gods. Even among their British subjects paganism experienced a resurgence, as free of Rome they could once again openly exercise their beliefs without fear of persecution, further facilitating their integration into the Germanic ruling class who welcomed their pagan practices. Only in Pictland were the people of Britannia openly worshipping the ancient Gods, outside of the Germanic kingdoms.

Culture in Southern Britain in the year 530 AD​

While it's easy to conflate all Britons in the island as one group, and all Germanics as another, the situation in the year 530 was actually a bit more complex than that. During Roman times the Southeast of the Island had been heavily Romanized, and what remained of those people still exert their power over the Southwest, even in areas not inhabited by these Romano-Britons, such as the kingdom of Dumnonia which remained staunchly British without much Roman influence. Across the British West can also be seen a myriad of Irish settlements, pockets of migrants from across the Sea which settled in Britain following the collapse of Rome. Some of them even came to dominate the native British population, such as in the Kingdom of Demetia.

The Germanic East meanwhile was mostly composed of three ethnic groups, the Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes. The Jutes were the first to organize into kingdoms, following the brothers Hengist and Horsa, and establishing the Kingdom of Kent. Later some of these Jutes would also settle the Isle of Wight. The Saxons would follow on their footsteps and establish the kingdoms of Sussex, Surrey, Essex, and the Cilternsæte. The Angles meanwhile would inhabit the northernmost Germanic kingdoms, making up the bulk of Norfolk and Suffolk, the Kingdoms of Middle Anglia and the Gyrwas, the Kingdom of Lindsey, and the settlements of Bernicia and Deira, encompassing a much larger area than the other two ethnic groups combined. Within the Anglian kingdoms also laid pockets of Taifals and Suebi peoples, two Germanic groups who came to the island during the times of Rome to serve as mercenaries, now relegated to mere subjects of their powerful Anglian overlords.

Culture in northern Britain in 530 AD​

Without Rome to unify the peoples of Britain, the culture of the Britons began to diverge beyond just Romanized and non-Romanized Britons. The Britons in the North, south of the Antonine Wall soon began to develop a distinct Cumbric culture separate of their southern neighbors, used to a more rugged and warlike lifestyle. These Cumbrians would frequently see themselves involved in wars against their Pictish neighbors to the North, as well as the more recent Gaelic (Scottish) arrivals from northern Ireland. Thus far the British North has not involved themselves much with the the Anglo-Saxons, but the following decades would see a burst of Germanic aggression out of Deira and especially Bernicia that would forever change the landscape of the island.

 

[Senior Chamoy]

Very exciting to read this! Looking forward to reading more!

Thanks. Next chapter will finally get to the gameplay bits, so it should be moving much faster and interesting I think.

I love this mod, though I haven't played it in a while. I also love the books that inspired this mod, Bernard Cornwell's Winter King Trilogy.

I personally haven't read that trilogy, but I like the Saxon Stories and the show the Last Kingdom a lot

I’m definitely going to have to get this mod. Great style of storytelling too

Thank you, and yes you should definitely get the mod if you enjoy this time period. I find a lot of people don't know much about it since it tends to get skipped, most history classes will go from Rome straight into 1066 skipping the entirety of the Anglo-Saxon period, which to me is a travesty since I find it to be the most fascinating period of British history.

Loving it

I'm glad to hear that!

 

[Nikolai]

Love how detailed this is.

 

[iain_a_wilson]

most history classes will go from Rome straight into 1066

When I was growing up, there was an article in a newspaper complaining about the state of how history was taught in British schools. The author described it as going "Pyramids->Romans->Normans->Nazis".

 

[Senior Chamoy]

When I was growing up, there was an article in a newspaper complaining about the state of how history was taught in British schools. The author described it as going "Pyramids->Romans->Normans->Nazis".

Haha that sounds about accurate from what I know. I think there's mainly three things that affect that:

The first and probably most important is how few primary and even secondary sources there are for that time. Most historians rely on Wessex' "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", The Venerable Bede's "Ecclesiastical History of the English People," and Gildas' "On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain." All three mythologize the origins and arrivals of the Anglo-Saxons, frequently contradict each other and even themselves, are written multiple centuries after many of the events they talk about, often seem like they write down dates first and then fill them out with events that happened even if they might not've happened in that year, and are very heavily biased. The Chronicle is heavily biased toward Wessex and against Mercia, Bede being Northumbrian has a great bias toward them and against Mercia, and yet another problem arises there because Mercia heavily dominated most of the Anglo-Saxon period, and two of the main three sources often write poorly of or against Mercia. Gildas meanwhile gives us a very apocalyptic view of the events as he was the kinda guy you'd see on the streets nowadays warning us about how "the end is near." This lack of sources makes teaching this period very difficult in a world where education focuses around dates and battles instead of events and people.

The second is the fascination with the Normans and all the dynasties that came after them, as well as the wars with France. They kind of represent a clean start point past the mess that is Anglo-Saxon sources, and one single English "storyline" to follow, rather than that of a dozen+ independent kingdoms.

The third is the Victorian's fixation with Rome. Historians and archeologists of the Victorian Era have hugely influenced how we see British history to this day, heavily emphasizing their similarity with Rome as they saw themselves as a continuation of them, what with their colonizing, conquering and "civilizing" of other peoples. They saw the Anglo-Saxon period rather poorly and often exaggerated on how antiquated and behind people of that era were. They really hated the fall of Rome and were basically the first Romaboos . This focus on the Roman Empire and disliking on the Anglo-Saxon period basically transformed in what we have today. Other than mentioning Alfred the Great and maybe Rollo and Cnut, there just isn't much schools teach on the matter.

 

[coz1]

Just picked this up and it's great! Love the excellent overview prior to the start of gameplay. Very detailed and all inclusive to the starting position. Looking forward to more.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Fascinating. How does the archaeological evidence from this era stack up against from Roman era? Thank you for updating

 

[HistoryDude]

Interesting. Following.

 

[Senior Chamoy]

King Cynric "Longspear" and the Rise of the West Saxons
530 AD - 541 AD​

It is easy to reduce the events occurring in Britain as one of Britons against Anglo-Saxons, or Christians vs Pagans, but reality is often much more complicated than that. To the West of the Kingdom of Sussex laid the land of the Belgae Britons, known then as the Kingdom of Gwinntguic. This realm was ruled by a Briton named Natan, who supposedly claim descent from the Romans which once controlled the land, giving his rule a modicum of legitimacy often lacked by other monarchs. Not everyone within the Kingdom was a Briton however, as the lands along the channel were home to a population of Germanic settlers comprised of the descendants of mercenaries which arrived centuries prior under Rome, migrants from the Isle of Wight, and Saxons from the neighboring Sussex. Their proximity to the Britons had broken down much of the differences between them and the British population however, and this degree of admixture could even be seen by their leader, a man by the name of Cerdic.

The name of Cerdic was highly unusual for an Anglo-Saxon, and likely was a variation of the Celtic name Caracticos. Some to this day even debate if Cerdic even was Germanic at all, with some pointing to him actually being a Romano-Briton part of the ruling class of Gwinntguic who after forming bonds with the Germanic populace in the South became their leader as they sought to overthrow the British and establish their own realm. Chief Cerdic was not alone however, and his son Cynric, (another Germanized Celtic name) ruled alongside him, as joint kings of the Kingdom of Gewissae, what would later be known as the Kingdom of West Seaxe, or Wessex.

King Cerdic, first king of the Gewissae​

It is unclear when exactly but sometime before the year 530 AD, Cynric traveled to Germania to seek adventurers, warriors and farmers, any men and women willing to join him and his father as they attempted to wrestle the lands of Gwinntguic from the Britons, and in June of 530 AD he returned with longboats full of men ready to lay down their lives for their dream of a Wessex, of a new home in the prosperous and fertile lands of Britain.

The forces of Cynric would land near the settlement of Limentun, the center of the Germanic population within the Kingdom of Gwinntguic where they would be bolstered further by its inhabitants at the behest of Cerdic. While the fleet which accompanied Cynric from Germania was impressive in size, the majority of the arrivals were mere farmers and fishermen, entire families full of women and children, as well as the elderly, very few among them were true warriors. These few warriors would comprise the werod, a term for the elite class of warriors within the Germanic kingdoms of Britain, described by later historians as "psychopatic peacocksvof the kings," due to their affinity for ornate and luxurious armor and weaponry. Kings were givers of rings and gifts in these times, and those gifts usually went to the werod, thus their ornate looks.

These werods were often comprised of a few dozen warriors, very rarely reaching the hundreds, and only until the time of the Viking invasions would they reach the thousands, and only with the inclusion of the fyrds, the militia. The battles of this time were completely unlike that of the Romans which could field armies in the tens of thousands. The Britons were no different, as their warbands too were reduced in size as the Germanic ones, and thus it was often difficult for armies to encounter each other on the field, leading to a more ritualized style of combat across the island, with armies choosing to encamp at busy river crossings or plains, where men often frequented and thus could easily let the other side know where to meet their foes. It was at the site of the old Roman town of Clausentum where the warbands of the British King Natan and those of King Cynric would meet, and where the Gewissae would "inflict great slaughter" upon the men of Gwinntguic, forcing King Natan to abandon the surrounding lands, what would later become Lymington, and the beginning of the Kingdom of Wessex.

The establishment of the Kingdom of Wessex, 530 AD​

While Cynric's victory over the Britons was an impressive feat, their celebrations were cut short as turmoil plagued their encampment. The Jutish soldiers within his army had originally hoped to establish an independent kingdom of their own in the region, not a Saxon one led by the Brito-Saxon hybrids of Cynric and Cerdic, leading to their desertion and sacking of the camp, after which they headed to the Isle of Wight to seek support from the King there, a fellow Jute. This Jutish uprising quickly spread to the neighboring Kingdom of Sussex, where the Jutes which inhabited the lands of Portchester too sought to overthrow their Saxon leaders and join the Jutes of Wessex and Wight to establish a larger Kingdom of their own.

King Cynric was quick to act however, and he marshalled his troops across the channel into the Kingdom of Wight, where the men of Wessex swiftly defeated King Swithelm and his werods. This battle is the first recorded instance of violence between two Germanic kingdoms, as their strength had been strictly devoted against the Britons in the past. Cynric was as brutal as he was efficient, and he put the ruling family of Wight to the sword, directly annexing the Isle into Wessex, doubling the size of his nascent kingdom by the end of 531 AD.

Around this time a plague was in the process of ravaging the British West, especially in the Kingdom of Dumnonia, where nobles and peasants alike fell like flies to the indomitable disease. Among the victims was King Cadwy, a powerful monarch who had fought back against the men of Sussex in the past and managed to maintain his Kingdom in one piece, pushing back the Germanic menace. His death marked a turning point for the Kingdom, as his sole heir the child-King Constantine II was unable to curtail the ambitions of the nobility of Dumnonia. Sensing this weakness, King Cynric crossed the River Avon into the British Kingdom, where the forces of a Lord Peredyr where unable to defeat the West Saxons as they seized the lands of what would become Werham in 532 AD.

Unlike King Cynric who swiftly defeated the Jutes in Wessex and Wight, King Cissa of Sussex had been unable to put down the Jutish rebels. Fearing that their continued uprising could renew the flames of rebellion among the Jutes in his kingdom, King Cynric and his warbands marched East across the River Test into Portchester where the Jutes were once and for all forced to submit to Saxon rule. When King Cissa learned of this event a smile appeared across his face but it quickly dissipated as he learned that Cynric and his men had not yet left for Wessex, and that instead he had chosen to claim those lands for himself. There was little Cissa could do against his much larger werod, and those he surrendered those lands to King Cynric, who had quadrupled the size of Wessex by the end of 533 AD.

There would be a year of peace in the West, but by 535 AD King Cynric's werods would not have a moment of respite from battle as he would launch attacks on all his neighbors. The first target of his conquests would be Gwinntguic, triumphing over the British and forcing them to retreat North and abandon Wilton and the surrounding farms. He would return to Gwinntguic in 538 AD and defeat King Natan at the site of the roman town of Venta, which King Cynric would seize and later establish the foundations of Winchester, what would become the seat of power of the Kings of Wessex.

The young King Constantine II of Dumnonia would be murdered in 536 AD, usurped by an outsider named Daniel, plunging the kingdom into chaos. King Cynric would once more exploit the internal failings of the Britons and march against the forces of King Daniel, defeating him in 537 AD and seizing the old Roman town of Ilchester. As Wessex kept expanding, it kept encountering new neighbors at its borders, the newest of which was the British Kingdom of Celemion, which became the next target for the wrath of the West Saxons in the spring of 539 AD, conquering the lands of Silchester from King Einion "the Giant."

540 AD, The Battle of Chichester​

It remains unclear why King Cynric would put halt the expansion of Wessex at the expense of the Britons and instead direct his ire against the neighboring kingdom of Sussex, but in 540 AD the West Saxon werods would march from Portchester in Wessex to the plain surrounding the old Roman town of Regentium, where Cynric and his men would encamp, awaiting the arrival of the men of Sussex. Seven years prior King Cissa had been unable to force Cynric to return the lands of Portchester to him after he defeated the Jutish rebels, but since then his werods had grown in number and were fresh for battle, having enjoyed a mostly peaceful coexistence with their neighbors, as opposed to the West Saxons who while highly experienced, were bloodied and tired from Cynric's non-stop campaigns against the Britons. It would be the 3rd of June when these two forces would meet, and King Cynric would meet his end at the tip of a bloody spear. Later Wessex scribes would write down depression as the cause of his death, but the occurrence of this battle and his death happening in the same year has left most if not all historians agreeing that a Sussex warrior was the true cause of death of King Cynric. The town of Regentium would later be renamed Cissaester, in honor of King Cissa, later transforming into Chichester.

The battle would end inconclusively, with the men of Wessex retreating leaderless (it is not known when exactly Cerdic died, but most believe it to be around 533 AD, of natural causes), while King Cissa ordered his men to not chase, unwilling to risk further bloodshed. Cissa could likely have seized Portchester back from Wessex, but the risk of losing more men and leaving him weakened to Kentish ambitions forced him to stand down. Wessex had greatly expanded in the last ten years, but the reign of Cynric had come to an end, leaving behind three male heirs, all children still. A Witanegamot (also known as a Witan) was convened, a council of the most powerful men of Wessex. These witans where convened for all sorts of matters, from land charters to battle planning and even to elect kings if needed, as was very much needed in Wessex at the time. Primogeniture was not yet established in Britain for either Britons or Anglo-Saxons, but the witan saw it fit to maintain the kingdom together under the rule of King Cynric's older son, Cerdic. King Cerdic II was crowned in 541 AD, only 8 years old at the time of their choosing, but they believed it better to have a child-king they could all counsel together rather than launching the kingdom into civil war, fighting for the throne.

The Kingdom of Wessex and its provinces with the year in with each was conquered
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Life in the kingdoms surrounding Wessex too was busy during this decade, especially in the Germanic East. King Octa of Kent defeated King Swithelm of Surrey in battle, who succumbed to his wounds shortly after. Swithelm's son was placed in the throne of Surrey by King Octa to serve him as a sub-king, but the nobles of Surrey enacted a coup and killed the boy-king, forcing Octa to once more march unto Surrey, but this time he directly annexed the kingdom into Kent proper. Later Kent, as well as the kingdom of Essex and the kingdom of the Cilternsæte would expand at the expense of the Britons.

Further north however things were different. The kingdom of Middle Anglia experienced a civil war for most of the decade, enabling the British kingdoms of Elmet and Powys to liberate areas within the kingdom that were mostly populated by Christian Britons. Not content with their victory over the Middle Angles, King Llaenog of Elmet would march against the Anglian kingdom of Lindsey and seize their seat of power in Lindum, marking the first recorded instance of a British kingdom seizing a mostly Germanic-populated land. Never before had Anglo-Saxons been ruled directly by Britons. The fate of Britain was still up in the air, and while new Germanic kingdoms like Wessex kept on popping up across the land, the Britons still had much fight left in them, and yet talk from across the channel began reaching the shores of Britain, speaking of a great plague ravaging the Eastern Roman Empire and making its way across Italy, fearing it would not be long before it reached Gaul and began spreading north across the channel...