King Cynric OF WESSEX ( -560)

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage

Individual Note 1

Cynric was King of Wessex from 534 to 560. Everything known about him comes from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. There he is stated to have been the son of Cerdic, and also (in the regnal list in the preface) to have been the son of Cerdic's son, Creoda. During his reign it is said that he captured Searobyrig or Old Sarum, near Salisbury, in 552, and that in 556 he and his son Ceawlin won a battle against the Britons at Beranburh, now identified as Barbury Castle.[2] If these dates are accurate, then it is unlikely that the earlier entries in the chronicle, starting with his arrival in Britain with his father Cerdic in 495, are correct. David Dumville has suggested that his true regnal dates are 554-581.

The name Cynric has a straightforward Old English etymology meaning "kin-ruler." However, as both his predecessor, Cerdic, and successor, Ceawlin, might have Celtic names, an alternative etymology has been postulated from "Cunorix" which would mean "hound-king" in Old British (rendered as Cinir in Old Welsh, Kynyr in Middle Welsh).[3] In 1967 a stone was found at Wroxeter in a Sub-Roman context (dating to c. 460 - 475 AD[4]) with the inscription CUNORIX MACUS MAQVI COLINE, which translates as "Cunorix ('Hound-king') son of Maqui-Coline ('Son-of-Holly'), both of which are regarded as Irish personal names.[5][6]

NOTES:

1 According to the Online DNB article on Ceol, he was the son of Cutha (probably Cuthwulf) and grandson of Cynric

2 Myres, p. 162

3 Clemoes, p. 30

4 Wright, R.P. and Jackson, K.H. (1968) `A Late Inscription from Wroxeter', The Antiquaries Journal 48, part 2: 296--300.

5 Laing, p.114

6 Wright, R.P. and Jackson, K.H. (1968) `A Late Inscription from Wroxeter', The Antiquaries Journal 48, part 2: 296--300.

SOURCES:

Peter Clemoes, Simon Keynes, Michael Lapidge, (1981) Anglo-Saxon England, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521038340

Laing, L.R., (1975) The archaeology of late Celtic Britain and Ireland, c. 400-1200 AD, Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0416823602

John Nowell Linton Myres, (1989) The English Settlements, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192822357

Individual Note 2

May have been the grandson, not the son, of Cerdic.

Sources