Anglo-Saxons; Great Britain -- History -- Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066
Even more improbable is the story of the Saxon settlement on the more
distant portion of the south coast. In 495 "came twain aldermen to
Britain, Cerdic and Cynric his son, with five ships, at that place that
is cleped Cerdices ora, and fought that ilk day with the Welsh."
Clearly, the name of Cerdic may be invented solely to account for the
name of the place: since we see by the sequel that the English freely
imagined such personages as pegs on which to hang their mythical
history.[1] For, six years later, one Port landed at Portsmouth with two
ships, and there slew a Welsh nobleman. But we know positively that the
name of Portsmouth comes from the Latin _Portus_; and therefore Port
must have been simply invented to explain the unknown derivation. Still
more flagrant is the case of Wihtgar, who conquered the Isle of Wight,
and was buried at Wihtgarasbyrig, or Carisbrooke. For the origin of that
name is really quite different: the Wiht-ware or Wiht-gare are the men
of Wight, just as the Cant-ware are the men of Kent: and Wiht-gara-byrig
is the Wight-men's-bury, just as Cant-wara-byrig or Canterbury is the
Kent-men's-bury. Moreover, a double story is told in the Chronicle as to
the original colonisation of Wessex; the first attributing the conquest
to Cerdic and Cynric, and the second to Stuf and Wihtgar.
[1] Cerdic is apparently a British rather than an English
name, since Bæda mentions a certain "Cerdic, rex Brettonum."
This may have been a Caradoc. Perhaps the first element in
the names Cerdices ora, Cerdices ford, &c., was older than
the English conquest. The legends are invariably connected
with local names.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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