European Kingdoms

Minor Anglian, Jutish & Saxon Princes

Woden, legendary king of Angeln, is claimed as an ancestor figure by many of the Anglian, Jutish and Saxon tribes which migrated to Britain. Although entirely impossible to prove, one theory is that this semi-mythical figure represents a powerful Anglian king whose many sons and their descendants found or created positions of power as the Anglian peoples fragmented before and during their migration.

Baeldaeg's Folk

One of the sons of Woden, king of Angeln, Bældæg was the originator of the line of princes which migrated to Britain in the fifth century and founded the Saxon Gewissae peoples who may have occupied the Thames Valley region of southern England. The problem is that their lineage seems to have been hijacked by the West Saxons at a later date and appended to the Cerdingas, the founders of the West Saxon kingdom.

Bældæg / Baeldaeg

Son of Woden of Angeln. Originator of the Gewissae.

Brand

Son. Father of Benoc.

Freothogar

Son.

Freawine

Son. A repetition from the pre-Woden list in Angeln.

Wieg / Wig

Son. An addition by Wessex of the son of Saxon hero, Freawine.

fl c.450?

Gewis

Son. Founder of the Gewissae. Settled the Thames Valley?

c.450s?

Gewis is probably the one who leads his people into Britain to settle a new territory. Although later claimed by the West Saxons as an ancestor figure of theirs, it seems more likely that the Gewissae settle along the Thames Valley, although this is still very much conjecture.

The River Eider, in modern Schleswig-Holstein, formed the southern border of the general mass of Anglian settlements, although some groups could be found further southwards

Esla

Son. Thames Valley Saxon?

Elesa

Son. Thames Valley Saxon?

519 - 534?

Cerdic

'Son of Elesa' & Celtic woman. Conquered West Saxon kingdom.

495 - 519

Cerdic leads what is apparently a takeover of areas of southern England in 495, and by 519 he has conquered the West Saxons, probably made up of Jutish settlements to the immediate east. Later chroniclers claim Elesa as his father in order to give him a pedigree, but although this claim seems doubtful today, it does seem certain that Cerdic shares a mixed Romano-British-Saxon heritage.

Benoc's Folk

One of the sons of Woden, king of Angeln, Benoc was the originator of the line of princes which migrated to Britain in the late fourth to mid-fifth centuries and created the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia based on an existing British territory known as Bernaccia.

Benoc

Son of Brand, grandson of Baeldaeg. Originator of the Bernicians.

Aloc

Son.

Angenwit

Son.

Ingui

Son.

c.500

Esa / Oesa

Son. Probably settled his people in Bernaccia as laeti.

c.520

Eoppa

Son.

547 - 559

Ida

Son. Took over the Celtic Bernaccian kingdom.

547

Ida assumes control of the British kingdom of Bernaccia during an apparent power vacuum. The kingdom, which is known as Bernicia by the Angles, becomes one of the strongest of all during subsequent centuries.

Caser's Folk

One of the sons of Woden, king of Angeln, Caser was the originator of the line of princes which migrated to Britain in the late fifth and early sixth centuries and founded the Anglian kingdom of the East Angles.

Caser

Son of Woden of Angeln. Originator of the East Angles.

Tyttman

Son.

Trygil

Son.

c.490s

Wealhtheow is the queen of the Danes, wife of Hrothgar. Her husband appears in Norse Sagas and two Old English epic poems, Beowulf and Widsith, while she is a Wulfing, ancestor (or mother) of the Wuffingas who, within twenty years, are to be found creating their own kingdom of the East Angles in Britain.

Hrothmund

Son.

c.510s

Hrype

Son. Probably in Britain.

c.530s

Wilhelm

Son. Probably in Britain.

c.560s

Wehha

Son. Possibly sowed the seeds of East Anglian consolidation.

571 - 578

Wuffa

Son. United North and South Folk to form the East Angles.

571

Wuffa is the first acknowledged king of the East Angles, a kingdom that is founded more than a century after the first coming of the Anglo-Saxon peoples to Britain.

Waegdaeg's Folk

One of the sons of Woden, king of Angeln, Wægdæg was the originator of the line of princes which migrated to Britain in the fourth to fifth centuries and created the Anglian kingdom of Deira based on an existing British territory known as Deywr.

Wægdæg / Waegdaeg

Son of Woden of Angeln. Originator of the Deiran Angles.

Sigegar

Son.

Swebdaeg

Son.

Sigegeat

Son.

c.420

Sæbald / Saebald

Son. Led the Angles as laeti into Deywr?

c.420

Saebald apparently leads his people into Deywr in Britain to settle as laeti. In 559, his descendant founds the independent Anglian kingdom of Deira.

Wehta's Folk

One of the sons of Woden, Wehta was the father of Witta, a contemporary of Offa of Angeln and ruler of the Swæfe. These people were probably located immediately to the south of Angeln, in modern Schleswig near Schwabsted. The Swæfe are generally agreed to be the Suevi, and it is assumed that they and the Angles were related, especially as some Classical writers name the Angles as part of the Suebi confederation of tribes. Witta's father was the originator of the line of princes which migrated to Britain in the fifth century and founded the Jutish kingdom of Kent. It is possible that Hengist, by about AD 445, was an exile due to the feuds between his own people. He sought the service of a Danish prince, and journeyed with him to Frisia about 448.

Wehta

Son of Woden of Angeln (or Wihtlæg?). Originator of the Cantware.

Witta

Son. Ruler of the Swæfe.

Wihtgils

Son.

c.448

Hnæf of the Danes is killed at the 'Fight at Finnesburg' in Frisia, as is Finn's eldest son. Finn is subsequently killed by Hengist, Hnæf's Anglian comrade in arms. Hengist appears to be the leader of a sizable portion of Hnæf's comitatus, perhaps as much of half of the force of sixty or so warriors who follow him on this visit to Frisia, and these thirty or so are all Jutes. They appear to owe allegiance to Hengist while he is in Hnæf's service alongside Hnæf's own Danish retinue. With the death of the Danish prince, Hengist is in command of the entire force, and is sworn to avenge his lord's death.

The invasion of Roman Canterbury in British Kent was led by Hengist, but his followers included Jutes and Frisians in large numbers

455 - 488

Hengist

Son. Born c.420-425. Landed in Kent as a mercenary leader.

449/450

Hengist and his brother Horsa are invited to Britain by the High King, Vortigern, and land at Ypwines fleot (Ebbsfleet) with their Jutish followers. Traditionally, they fulfil the terms of their contract by fighting back Pictish and Irish Scotti invaders and receive territory on which to settle. Very shortly they begin to carve out a kingdom of their own which they call Kent. It seems that Hengist takes with him large numbers of Frisians, which would account for archaeological findings in Kent which originate from the mouth of the Rhine.