Wihtwara
Wihtwara | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 534-686 | |||||||||
 The location of the Isle of Wight within the United Kingdom | |||||||||
| Religion | Anglo-Saxon paganism, Anglo-Saxon Christianity | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
• 534–544 | Wihtgar (first; possibly legendary) | ||||||||
• ?–686 | Arwald (last) | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | |||||||||
Wihtwara was the kingdom founded on the Isle of Wight, a 147-square-mile (380 km2) island off the south coast of England, during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. The name was derived from the Jutish name Wihtwara ("Men of Wiht").
Jutish history
[edit]The Wihtwara were the people of the Isle of Wight,[1] supposedly after Wihtgar who, along with Stuf, was one of the two earliest kings of Isle of Wight.[2] According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Wihtgar and Stuf were kinsmen of Cerdic, founder of the Kingdom of Wessex; Wihtgar and Stuf received the island from Cerdic's son Cynric in 534, with the death of Wihtgar taking place in 544.[3] According to Asser's Life of King Alfred, Wihtgar and Stuf were nephews of Cerdic, and were of Jutish and Gothic origin. Stuf and Wihtgar are then said to have set about exterminating the island's native Briton inhabitants, either killing them or driving them into exile.[4] Scholars have suggested that Wihtgar may have been fictitious: that is, the central figure of a founding myth invented retrospectively, to justify the name of the island.[2][5]
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in 661 Wulfhere of Mercia conquered the Isle of Wight and gave the overlordship to his godson, King Æthelwealh of Sussex, to convert the islanders to Christianity.[6] However, Bede records that the island was converted after an invasion in 686 by King Cædwalla of Wessex,[7] which the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states was conducted together with his brother Mul of Kent.[8] The final Jutish king of the Wihtwara, Arwald, was purportedly killed while resisting Cædwalla.[2][9] Arwald's two younger brothers, after attempting to escape Cædwalla, were captured, baptised, then executed by him.[7]
Later Middle Ages
[edit]After the Norman Conquest the Isle of Wight was given to the de Redvers family in 1101 who were known as "Lords of the Isle of Wight". However the last of them was Izabel de Forz (also known as Isabella de Fortibus; 1237–1293), who was known informally as the "Queen of the Isle of Wight". Forz was visited shortly before her death by King Edward Longshanks (known later as Edward I), who said later that she had sold the Isle of Wight to him for 6,000 marks. The village of Queens Bower is said to be named after her.[citation needed]
In 1444, Henry Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick a favourite of King Henry VI was given the title (or perhaps nickname) of King of the Isle of Wight. Beauchamp died shortly afterwards and the title was not used again.[10][11] The closest existing title at that time - the Lordship of the Isle of Wight - was held by the uncle of King Henry VI, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, after being bestowed it in 1434.[12]
Citations
[edit]- ^ Clark Hall, John R. (1960). "Wihtware". A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (4th ed.). University of Toronto Press. p. 409.
- ^ a b c Yorke, Barbara (23 September 2004). "Wihtgar (d. 544?), king of Wight.". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
- ^ Swanton 2000, pp. 14–17.
- ^ "Asser's Life of King Alfred, by Albert S. Cook—A Project Gutenberg eBook". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- ^ Baker, John; Brookes, Stuart (2013). Beyond the Burghal Hidage: Anglo-Saxon Civil Defence in the Viking Age. Brill. p. 57. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
- ^ Swanton 2000, pp. 32–34.
- ^ a b Bede (1910). Lionel C. Jane (ed.). . Vol. IV.16. Translated by John Stevens – via Wikisource.
- ^ Swanton 2000, pp. 38–39.
- ^ Venning, Timothy (2013). The Kings & Queens of Anglo-Saxon England. Amberley Publishing.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 338.
- ^ Dictionary of National Biography (New York: Macmillan, 1985) vol. 4, p. 28
- ^ "GLOUCESTER, Humphrey duke of (Protector of England) - Archontology.org". www.archontology.org. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
Bibliography
[edit]- Swanton, Michael, ed. (2000). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (2nd ed.). Orion Publishing Group. pp. 14–17.
- Eddius Stephanus Vita Dunstani
- Henry Beauchamp