Þe Kings and Cƿeens of England

Opening Words
The text here was adapted from a document called "Kings and Queens of England & Britain" by Ben Johnson, and from information on Wikipedia. Keep in mind that English history this old is often more legend than fact.

The King List
Cerdic 519 – 534

It is said that Cerdic and his son Cynric came from outside of Briten, landed in Hampshire in 495, slew a British king named Natanleod, and made the Kingdom of Wessex. It is weird, however, that Cerdic and the next few men in his bloodline seem to bear British names. Some believe Cerdic was in truth a Brit, and that his kingdom only became English over time, with its later folk edwriting stear to make it seem as though the kingdom was English from the start.

Cynric 534 – 560

Under Cynric, Wessex widened into Wiltshire and took Barbury Castle.

Ceawlin 560 – 592

Ceawlin kept on widening Wessex, fighting Brits as well as fellow Engle-Saxen. Bede says Ceawlin gained overlordship over all the lands south of the Humber. It is said that his neve took his throne after winning the of Woden's Barrow.

Ceolric 592 – 597

Ceolric was the of Cynric. He handed the throne over to his brother Ceolwulf.

Ceolwulf 597 – 611

Ceolwulf fought neighboring folk.

Cynegils 611 – 642

Cynegils may have fought against Penda of.

Cenwalh 642 – 674

Cenwalh was baptized by Birinus, but it seems he was not a good Christen. It is said he wed Penda's daughter, but swapped her out for another wife, leading to him being driven out of his kingdom and taking shelter with the East Engles. He seems to have come back to his throne and set up bishoprics.

Seaxburg 672 – 674

Seaxburg was the wife of Cenwalh. It may be that throughout her Wessex was splintered into underkingdoms.

Æscwine 674 – 676

Wessex may have still been splintered throughout his time on the throne. He fought off a storming of Wessex by Wulfhere of the Merken Rich.

Centwine 676 – 686

Wessex may have still been splintered throughout his time on the throne. It is said he drove the Brits to the sea, and at some time became a Christen, and later gave up his throne to become a monk.

Cædwalla 685 – 688

Cædwalla was from Wessex as a youth, but he is said to have brought some of us men with him and slew the king of the South Saxen, but could not hold the land for himself. He home, took the throne, and bound the kingdom back together. Cædwalla widened his ; he back to Sussex and took the land; he went south, took the Iland of Wight, wiped out its kingly house, and made the landfolk become Christens; he went east and put Kent under his overlordship. At the end of his life, Cædwalla went to Rome to be baptized by Pope Sergius I, and died shortly after.

Ine 688 – 726

Ine could not hold onto all the land Cædwalla had, though he kept Hampshire. Ine put forth a set of laws called in Latin "leges Inae". Later in life he gave up the throne and went to Rome.

Æthelheard 726 – 740

Æthelheard may have been the brother-in-law of Ine. It may be that Æthelheard took the throne with Merkish backing, and this may have put Wessex under the Merken Rich's overlordship.

Cuþræd 740 – 756

Cuþræd may have been Æthelheard's brother. At this time the Merken Rich was at its height. Cuþræd freed Wessex from the Merken Rich's overlordship at Gouth Edge in Burford.

Sigeberht 756 – 757

Sigeberht was kin of Cuþræd. He was unliked and was thrown off the throne. He was given wald over Hampshire, but before long he was driven out of there and killed.

Cynewulf 757 – 786

Cynewulf was raised to the throne by the Wittenmoot after Sigeberht was cast down. He fought the Welsh, and the Merkmen to the north. It is said that while Cynewulf was away from his seat and with only a small, Cyneheard, the brother of Sigeberht, gathered some men and beset Cynewulf at his hold. Cynewulf went out to fight, but was overcome. When some of Cynewulf's thanes became aware that something was amiss they rushed to their king only to find him dead. Cyneheard offered these thanes riches if they would yield, but the thanes chose to fight for their king and were also slain. The next morning when the other thanes, those who had not heard yesterday's din, learned of their king's death, they rode to where Cyneheard was abiding. Again Cyneheard offered riches, saying he would give both wealth and land to these thanes if they would follow him, but again he was spurned. The thanes told him they would never follow the one who slew their king. The thanes fought until they broke through the gates of Cyneheard's hold, and they slew the atheling and his men.

Berhtric 786 – 802

Berhtric was king when the earliest known Wiking raid happened at Dorset. He was a of King Offa of the Merken Rich.

Ecgberht 802 – 839

Ecgberht was the son of Berhtric, and the first king to set up a steady and wide wald over all of Engle-Saxish England. After coming back from at the  of  in 802, he took back his kingdom of Wessex. Following his taking of the Merken Rich in 827, he held wald over all of England south of the Humber. After further in Northumberland and northern Wales he became known by the title "Brytenwalda". Shortly before he died, almost seventy years old, he felled a host of Danes and Cornish in Cornwall.

Æþelwulf 839 – 856

Æþelwulf was the son of Ecgberht. In 851 he felled a Danish heer at the gouth of Oakley while his eldest son Æþelstan felled the Danes at sea off the shore of Kent. A highly man, Æþelwulf fared to Rome with his son Ælfræd to see the Pope in 855.

Æþelbald 856 – 860

Æþelbald was the eldest son of Æþelwulf. He was throned after he came back from a pilgrimage to Rome and made his father step down. Following his father’s death in 858, he wed his widowed stepmother Judith, but under from the church the wedlock was fordone after only a year.

Æþelberht 860 – 866

Æþelberht was the brother of Æþelbald. Shortly after being throned, a Danish heer landed and sacked Winchester before being felled by the Saxan. In 865 the Wiking Great Heathen Heer landed in East Engla and swept athwart England.

Æþelræd 866 – 871

Æþelræd was the brother of Æþelberht. His time on the throne was a long struggle with the Danes who had taken York in 866, setting up the Wiking kingdom of Yorvik. When the Danish heer fared south, Wessex itself was threatened, and so together with his brother Ælfræd he set out and fought much with the Wikings at Reading, Ashdown and Basing. Æthelræd took earnest wounds during the next great gouth at Meretun in Hampshire and died shortly after.

Ælfræd the Great 871 – 899

Ælfræd was the brother of Æþelræd, he was learned and is said to have gone to Rome twice. Ælfræd showed himself to be a strong leader in many gouths, and as a wise leader had might to hold down five uneasy years of with the Danes before they again struck Wessex in 877. Ælfræd was made to fall back to a small iland in the Somerset Wetlands, and it was from here that he masterminded his comeback (and where tales say he was chided by an old woman he was taking shelter with for unwittingly letting her cakes burn). With great syes at Edington, Rochester and London, Ælfræd spread West Saxish wald over most of England. To fasten his hard won meres, Ælfræd set up a lasting heer and what would become the Kingly Fleet of later years. To fasten his stead in stear, he called for the writing of the Engle-Saxish Saw.

Eadweard the Elder 899 – 924

Eadweard was the son of Ælfræd. He took back southeast England and the Midlands from the Danes. Following the the death of his sister Æthelflæd of the Merken Rich, Eadweard fayed the kingdoms of Wessex and the Merken Rich. In 923, the says the Scottish King Constantine II acknowledged Eadweard as “father and lord”. The following year, Eadweard was killed in a gouth against the Welsh near Chester.

Æthelstan 924 – 939

Æthelstan was the son of Eadweard. He widened the meres of his kingdom at the Gouth of Brunanburh in 937. In what is said to be one of the bloodiest gouths ever fought on British ground, Æthelstan felled a fayed heer of Welsh and Danes, taking for himself the of Bretwalda. The gouth saw the Engle-Saxish folk brought together for the first time under a true and whole Kingdom of England. For this, Æthelstan is known as the first king of England.

Edmund 939 – 946

Edmund was the halfbother of Æthelstan, and had fought alongside him at the Gouth of Brunanburh two years earlier. He again set up Englekin wald over northern England, which had fallen back under Northman wald following the death of his brother. At twenty-five, and while the feast of Augustine, it is said Edmund was stabbed to death by a thief in his kingly hall at Pucklechurch.

Eadred 946 – 955

Eadred was the brother of Edmund. He followed in his  of slaying Wikings, and in 954 threw out the last Wiking King of York, Eric Bloodaxe. Eadred lived with an earnest belly sickness that ended up killing him in his early thirties. He was unwed and without an.

Eadwig 955 – 959

Eadwig was the of Eadred, and was about sixteen when he was throned. Tales have it that his throning had to be stalled to let Bishop Dunstan rip Eadwig from his bed, and from his whore and her mother. Likely for this, Eadwig had Dunstan flemed to France. Eadwig died when he was only twenty, the of his death were not written down.

Eadgar the Frithful 959 – 975

Eadgar was the brother of Eadwig, and had been at odds with his brother over the throne for some years. Following Eadwig's weird death, Eadgar called Dunstan back right away from flemedom, making him Archbishop of Canterbury as well as his personal. Following his throning in 973, Eadgar moved his heer to Chester to be met by six kings of Britain. The kings, the King of the Scots, the King of Strathclyde, and sundry athelings of Wales, are said to have showed their trow to Eadgar by rowing him in his ferry down the River Dee.

Eadweard II the Throer 975 – 978

Eadweard was the son of Eadgar, and was throned at twelve years old. Although staddled by Archbishop Dunstan, his call to the throne was by  of his much younger halfbrother Æthelræd. The following between gainstanding folds within the church and between  almost led to infighting in England. Eadweard's short time on the throne ended when he was murdered by staddlers of Æthelræd.

Æþelræd II the Unredey 978 – 1016

Æþelræd was the halfbrother of Eadweard. He could not stand against the Danes, earning him his ekename. He became king ten years old, but fled to Normandy in 1013 when Sweyn Forkbeard, King of the Danes, stormed England. Sweyn was boded King of England but died only five weeks later. Æthelræd eftcame in 1014 after Sweyn's death and took back his throne. The rest of Æthelræd's time on the throne was one of an unyielding war with Sweyn's son Cnut.

Edmund II Ironside 1016 – 1016

The son of Æthelræd the Unredey, Edmund had led the gainstanding to Cnut’s storming of England since 1015. Following the death of his father he was made king by the folk of London. The Wittenmoot, however, chose Cnut. Following his loss at the Gouth of Assandun, Edmund made a deal with Cnut to split England between them. Edmund died later that year, maybe from murder.

Cnut (House of Denmark) 1016 – 1035

Cnut became king of all England following the death of Edmund II. The son of Sweyn Forkbeard, he lead well and gained the blessing of his English underlings by sending most of his heer back to Denmark. In 1017, Cnut wed Emma of Normandy, the widow of Æthelræd II, and sundered England into the four earldoms of East Engla, Mirka, Northumbra and Wessex. He went to Rome in 1027. Tales have it that he once went to the sea and bade the tide not to come in so that his underlings could see his might was not beyond that of a man, though later edtellings twist things to have Cnut being so that he truly thought the tide would listen to him.

Harold I Harefoot (House of Denmark) 1035 – 1040

Harold was the misbegotten son of Cnut. He took the English throne upon the death of his father while his older halfbrother Harthacnut, the rightful erfnimmer, was back home shielding Denmark from foes. Harold died three years into his time on the throne, only weeks before Harthacnut was set to come back and take his throne. Harthacanute had his brother's body dug up, beheaded, and thrown into the Thames. His bits were later gathered and edburied in London.

Harthacnut (House of Denmark) 1040 – 1042

Harthacnut was right away as king. Maybe at the behest of his mother, he welcomed his English halfbrother Eadweard, son of Æthelred the Unredey, back from fremedom in Normandy. Only about a year later, Harthacnut died at a wedding while toasting to the health of the bride. He was only twenty-four.

Eadweard III the Andetter 1042 – 1066

Eadweard was the brother of Edmund Ironside, and halfbrother to Harthacnut. He brought back the House of Wessex to the English throne. A deeply trowful man, he oversaw the eftbuilding of Westminster Abbey, leaving much of the running of the land to his earl Godwin and his son Harold Godwinson. Eadweard died childless, and with no erfnimmer.

Harold II Godwinson 1066

Although not from the house of Wessex himself, Harold Godwinson was chosen king by the Wittenmoot. However, William the Misbegotten, the Earl of Normandy, put forth that Eadweard had made William his erfnimmer some years earlier. While Harold was busy felling a Norwayish heer at the Gouth of Stamford Bridge up north, William stormed southern England. Harold swiftly brought his men down without time for rest, and the two sides met at the Gouth of Hastings, whereat Harold was felled.

Eadgar II Æþeling 1066

Eadgar was born in Hungary to Eadweard the Fleme, the son of king Edmund Ironside who had been kicked out of England by Cnut. Eadgar's father had eftcame to England on the behest of Eadweard the Andetter, but Eadweard died shortly thereafter. Although named king by the Wittenmoot, Eadgar could not stand up to William's heer, and so he stood down from the throne. Eadgar sought to take back his throne not long after, but found he still could not. For the rest of his life he went hither and thither, sometimes at odds with the Normans, sometimes beside them, but always putting his mark on the great happenings of the day.