History:Wihtwara
Wihtwara (Old English: Wihtware or Wihtsætan) were the Early Medieval inhabitants of the Isle of Wight, a 147-square-mile (380 km2) island off the south coast of England. Writers such as Bede attribute their origin to Jutes who migrated to the island during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. They formed an independent kingdom at points in the Early Middle Ages, with their last king Arwald dying as the last heathen Anglo-Saxon king. After this point, the island was controlled from Great Britain.
Name
The term Wihtware translates from Old English as "the people of the Isle of Wight", with the suffix -ware denoting a people group, as in Cantware ("the people of Kent").[1][2][3] In the Old English translation of Bede's work, the term Wihtsætan is used instead, possibly as it was the more common name by which the group was known at the time of writing. It has been suggested that the suffixes -sæta and -ware may have had a slight semantic difference, with the latter being used more for political purposes and in reference to groups with a fixed location. Consequently, the loss of political independence of the Wihtware may have led to a change over time in name.[1] Other synonyms include Latin: Uictuarii and possibly Wihtgara, a group mentioned in the Tribal Hidage as having 800 hides of land.[4]
Early Middle Ages
Founding
Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People writes that the Jutes settled Wight as part of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, along with the part of Great Britain opposite the island, and Kent. While his accounts reflect later geopolitics and have limited historical accuracy, a 'Jutish' material culture has been identified in these regions. Similarities in culture and genetics further support the migration of people at this time to Britain from continental northern Europe such as modern day Denmark and northern Germany.[5][6]
Asser's biography of Alfred the Great lists Wihtgar and Stuf as the two earliest kings of Wight and nephews of Cerdic, founder of the Kingdom of Wessex, making them ancestors of Alfred the Great's mother Osburh.[7][8] The account further describes how Wihtgar and Stuf were of Jutish and Gothic origin and set about exterminating the island's native Briton inhabitants, either killing them or driving them into exile.[9] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives a similar account in which Wihtgar and Stuf were kinsmen of Cerdic; Wihtgar and Stuf received the island from Cerdic's son Cynric in 534, with the death of Wihtgar taking place in 544.[10] 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, with Wiht deriving from the Latin name of the island, Vecta.[7][11]
Conquest and Annexation
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.[12] Bede, however, records that the island was converted after an invasion in 686 by King Cædwalla of Wessex,[13] which the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states was conducted together with his brother Mul of Kent.[14] The final Jutish king of the Wihtwara, Arwald, was purportedly killed while resisting Cædwalla.[7][15] Arwald's two younger brothers, after attempting to escape Cædwalla, were captured, baptised, then executed by him.[13]
Later Middle Ages
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.[16][17] 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.[18]
See also
Citations
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kökeritz 1943, pp. 185–186.
- ↑ Bosworth 2014a.
- ↑ Bosworth 2014b.
- ↑ Kökeritz 1943, pp. 188–189.
- ↑ Higham & Ryan 2013, pp. 73, 75, 77.
- ↑ Gretzinger et al. 2022.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Yorke 2004b.
- ↑ Yorke 2004a.
- ↑ Asser, Life of King Alfred.
- ↑ Swanton 2000, pp. 14–17.
- ↑ Baker & Brookes 2013, p. 57.
- ↑ Swanton 2000, pp. 32–34.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Bede 1910.
- ↑ Swanton 2000, pp. 38–39.
- ↑ Venning 2013.
- ↑ Chisholm 1911, p. 338.
- ↑ DoNB, p. 28, vol. 4.
- ↑ GLOUCESTER.
Bibliography
Primary
- Bede (1910), Lionel C. Jane, ed., Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, IV.16
- Swanton, Michael, ed (2000). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (2nd ed.). Orion Publishing Group. pp. 14–17.
- Asser (1906). Life of King Alfred. Ginn & Company. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/63384/63384-h/63384-h.htm. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
- Eddius Stephanus Vita Dunstani
Secondary
- Baker, John; Brookes, Stuart (2013). Beyond the Burghal Hidage: Anglo-Saxon Civil Defence in the Viking Age. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-24605-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=A0baFBTNmXoC. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
- Gretzinger, Joscha; Sayer, Duncan; Justeau, Pierre; Altena, Eveline; Pala, Maria et al. (October 2022). "The Anglo-Saxon migration and the formation of the early English gene pool" (in en). Nature 610 (7930): 112–119. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05247-2. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 36131019. Bibcode: 2022Natur.610..112G.
- Higham, Nicholas John; Ryan, Martin J. (2013). The Anglo-Saxon world. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300125344.
- Kökeritz, Helge (1943). "Wihtgaraburh". Modern Language Notes 58 (3): 181–191. doi:10.2307/2910271. ISSN 0149-6611. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2910271.
- Venning, Timothy (2013). The Kings & Queens of Anglo-Saxon England. Amberley Publishing.
- Bosworth, Joseph (2014a). "Cant-ware" (in en). Faculty of Arts, Charles University. https://bosworthtoller.com/5839.
- Bosworth, Joseph (2014b). "Wiht-ware" (in en). Faculty of Arts, Charles University. https://bosworthtoller.com/35715.
- "GLOUCESTER, Humphrey duke of (Protector of England)". http://www.archontology.org/nations/uk/england/king_england/gloucester_h.php.
- "Dictionary of National Biography". New York Macmillan. https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofnati04stepuoft#page/28/mode/2up.
- Yorke, Barbara (September 23, 2004a). "Osburh [Osburga"]. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20887. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/20887. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
- Yorke, Barbara (September 23, 2004b). "Wihtgar (d. 544?), king of Wight.". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29380. https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-29380. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
- Henry Beauchamp
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