The arrival of the South Saxons and West Saxons

Cymenesora

Under the year 477, the Anglo-Saxon chronicle states:

Her cuom Ęlle on Bretenlond 7 his .iii. suna, Cymen 7 Wlencing 7 Cissa, mid .iii. scipum on þa stowe þe is nemned Cymenesora, 7 þær ofslogon monige Wealas 7 sume on fleame bedrifon on þone wudu þe is genemned Andredesleage.

Here Ælle and his 3 sons, Cymen and Wlencing and Cissa, came to the land of Britain with 3 ships at the place which is named Cymen’s Shore, and there killed many Welsh and drove some to flight into the wood which is named the Weald.

jebson t.,2007. swanton m., 2000, 14. asc A.

Mawer and Stenton identified Cymenes ora, Cymen’s shore, as the Owers in Selsey, Sussex. The names Malt Owers, Middle Owers and Outer Owers are located on the Admiralty Charts off the coast of Selsey Bill. Cimen shore is also marked on a 17th c. map:

Morden R., 1695.

Cerdicesora

For the year 495 we have the entry:

Her cuomon twegen aldormen on Bretene, Cerdic 7 Cynric his sunu, mid .v. scipum in þone stede þe is gecueden Cerdicesora 7 þy ilcan dæge gefuhtun wiþ Walum.

Here two chieftains; Cerdic and Cynric his son, came to Britain with 5 ships at the place which is called Cerdic’s Shore and the same day fought against the Welsh.

jebson t.,2007. swanton m., 2000, 14. asc A.

The landing site appears in variant forms: Cerdices ora (C) Certicesora (E). Its location is proposed the Ower in Hampshire:

The Ower at Calshot.

This location, the junction of Southampton Water and the Solent, has been considered a strategic site even till today.

Calshot spit and castle. © Hamphire County Council.

The birth of Wessex

As explained in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Arthur’s death there are a number of entries in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the period late 5th to early 6th c. which have been moved backwards in time by one or two Metonic cycles:

Fictitious	Historical	Event
495, 514	533	Cerdic and his son Cynric arrive in Britain at Cerdic Shore.
500, 519	538	Cerdic and Cynric succeed to the kingdom of Wessex. Battle at Cerdic’s Ford.
501	539	Port and his sons Bieda and Mægla arrive in Britain. (Battle of Camlan)
508, 527	546	Cerdic and Cynric fight at Cerdic’s Wood. They kill king Natanleod and 5000 men. Land as far as Charford named Netley.
530	549	Cerdic and Cynric take the Isle of Wight, killing a few men at Wihtgar’s stronghold.
534	553	Cerdic dies. Cynric rules for 26 years. Isle of Wight given to nephews Stuf and Wihtgar.
544	563	Wihtgar dies and is buried at Wihtgar’s stronghold.

Dates of events in early Wessex.

The Adventus Saxonum

Dating

The Preface in the Winchester manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles states:

Then their brother Alfred succeeded to the kingdom; and he was then 23 years old; and it was 300 and 96 years since his ancestors had first conquered the West Saxons’ land from the Britons.

Swanton M.J., 2000, 4.

396 years prior to the start of Alfred’s reign, in the year 871, suggests an Adventus Saxonum in the year 475. This, of course, was not the first arrival of Germanic peoples to Britain. However, there was an influx of Saxon invaders around this time as indicated by the chronicle entry for the year 477:

Here Ælle and his 3 sons, Cymen and Wlencing and Cissa, came to the land of Britain with 3 ships at the place which is named Cymen’s Shore, …

Swanton M.J., 2000, 14.

It would thus seem that the West Saxons and the South Saxons arrived at around the same time. They also appear to have landed in areas that are in close proximity, namely Cerdicesora (Southampton area) and Cymenesora (Selsey area). Perhaps, the two dates refer to the same invasion, a discrepancy of two years in the Chronicles would be nothing unusual. However, more likely, as Ælle does not appear in the W. Saxon pedigrees, there were indeed two events and the West and South Saxons went on to expand their kingdoms westwards and eastwards respectively.

Bede and Gildas

When Bede wrote:

Et ex eo tempore nunc ciues nunc hostes uincebant usque ad annum obsessionis Badonici montis, quando non minimas eisdem hostibus strages dabant, quadragesimo circiter et quarto anno aduentus eorum in Brittaniam.

From that time on, first the Britons won and then the enemy were victorious until the year of the siege of Mount Badon, when the Britons slaughtered no small number of their foes about forty-four years after their arrival in Britain.

Colgrave, B., Mynors, R.A.B., 1969, 54-55.

his source for this information, De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, was referring to this later Adventus, not the one traditionally dated to the year 449. Bede’s version of the DEB is likely to have been closer to Gildas’s original text than any of our later surviving copies. Gildas was a little more precise than Bede with regards to the time interval between the Adventus and Badon when he stated:

And this commences, a fact I know, as the forty-fourth year,⁴² with one month now elapsed; it is also the year of my birth.

Williams H., 1899, ch. 26.

The first year being 475 implies the forty-fourth year is 518, the traditional date for Badon. The battle occurred one month into that year. He states that year is when he was born. The Annales Cambriae tells us that Gildas died in the year 572, giving a plausible life-span of 54 years.

Gildas may have started formulating his ideas concerning the DEB around the age of 20, that is c. 538. Camlan occurred in 539 and could well have been as a result of an internecine feud amongst the Britons, since triad 84 tells us it was one of the Futile Battles of the Island of Britain¹. Indeed, it may have been one of the triggers that set Gildas on the path to writing the DEB 10 years later, around the year 548.

Chronicon Britannicum

Note, this document states:

CCCCXLVII. Angli in majorem Britanniam venerunt, & Britones inde ejecerunt
CCCCXC. Natus est S. Gildas. Hiis diebus fuit Arturus fortis.

It gives an incorrect date for Gildas’s birthdate which is 43 years later than the erroneous date for the Adventus that was also used by Bede.

1. Bromwich R., 2006, 217.