House of Wessex
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The House of Wessex, also known as the House of Cerdic or the Saxon royal house, refers to the family that ruled a kingdom in southwest England known as Wessex. This House was in power from the 6th century under Cerdic of Wessex to the unification of the Kingdoms of England.
The House, at this point, became rulers of all England (Bretwalda) from Alfred the Great in 871 to Edmund II in 1016. This period of the British monarchy is known as the Saxon period, though their rule was often contested, notably by the Danelaw and later by the Dane Sweyn Forkbeard who claimed the throne from 1013 to 1014, during Ethelred II's reign. Sweyn and his successors ruled until 1042. After Harthacanute, there was a brief Saxon Restoration between 1042 and 1066 under Edward the Confessor and Harold II, who was a member of the House of Godwin. After the Battle of Hastings, a decisive point in British history, William of Normandy became king of England. Anglo-Saxon attempts to restore native rule in the person of Edgar the Aetheling, a grandson of Edmund II who had originally been passed over in favour of Harold, were unsuccessful and William's descendants secured their rule. Edgar's niece Matilda of Scotland later married William's son Henry I, forming a link between the two dynasties.
Please see House of Wessex family tree which also contains a list of all the members of the house.
See also: List of monarchs of Wessex, Wessex, List of British monarchs
