Geuissae

Geuissae^[1] (Anglosaxonice Gewisse) gens fuisse censentur Anglosaxonum, qui mediam vallem Thamesis inter saecula VI et VII incolebant, nomenque suum ad familiam regiam Saxonum occidentalium quodam modo tradere solebant.

Res fontibus traditae

Hanc gentem commemorant Beda (anno circiter 731), Asserius (anno circiter 893 si vita Alfredi re vera eo auctore attribuenda sit), auctor narrationis De sede episcopali Exoniensi (inter annos 961 et 988), auctores varii Annalium Cambriae, aliorumque chronicorum tardiorum.

Dorcestria ad Thamesim hodierna. Ibi Birinus "apostolus Geuissorum"^[2] sedem episcopalem anno circiter 635 statuit

Beda in Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, de episcopo Mellito a filiis Sabercti^(en) regis orientalium Saxonum anno circiter 616 expulso narrans, "non multo tempore," ait, "reges, qui praeconem a se veritatis expulerant, daemonicis cultibus inpune serviebant. Nam egressi contra gentem Geuissorum in proelium, omnes pariter cum sua militia corruerunt" (Beda, Historia ecclesiastica 2.5). Deinde de gente "Occidentalium Saxonum qui antiquitus Geuissae vocabantur" sic explicat: Birinum episcopum, in "Brittaniam ... ac primum Geuissorum gentem" ingredientem, regem Cynigilsum ad fidem Christianam et ad amicitiam cum Oswaldo rege Nordanhymbrorum anno circiter 635 persuasisse: quos duos reges "civitatem quae vocatur Dorcic ad faciendum inibi sedem episcopalem" Birino concedisse, sedem cum "provincia Occidentalium Saxonum" aegre correspondentem: alteram sedem postea apud Wintoniam sub rege Coinualch constitutam esse (Beda, Historia ecclesiastica 3.7-8). Deinde "Caedualla, iuvenis strenuissimus de regio genere Geuissorum," ait, "cum exularet a patria sua, interfecit regem Aedilualch" Sussaxonum, atque deinde "rex Geuissorum" creatus erit (Beda, Historia ecclesiastica 4.15).^[3]

De primo Saxonum adventu: adventus Cerdicii qui "regnum Gewissorum seu West Saxonum" armis adeptus est (Bibliotheca Britannica MS Cotton Domitian A VIII f. 4v)

"Narratio Plegmundi" (Bibliotheca Britannica, Add. MS. 7138 f. 1r)

Chronica Anglosaxonum nihil de gente, nihil de regibus Geuissorum dicit, sed genealogia Wessexiana manuscripto Parkeriano horum chronicorum praefixa Cerdicum, seriei regum Occidentalium Saxonum conditorem, abnepotem cuiusdam Giwis fuisse dicit. In eadem genealogia ab Asserio in vita Alfredi regis (cap. 1) Latine recensa "Geuuis, a quo Britones totam illam gentem Geguuis nominant" enumeratur. Cui rei relevant Annales Cambriae ubi sub anno 900 legimus: "Albrit rex Giuoys moritur," i.e. Alfredus rex Geuissorum obiit. Narratio Plegmundi dicta, sub titulo De sede episcopali Exoniensi olim edita, ante annum 988 scripta, regem Eduardum Alfredi filium synodum anno circiter 918 congregavisse: synodicos ibi "singulis . . . tri[bu]bus Ieuuissorum singulos . . . episcopos" constituisse, "et quod dudum duos habuerunt, in quinque" episcopatus divisisse. Hae quinque sedes episcopales, videlicet Wintonia et Scireburna confirmatae, Ramesberia, Wellae, Cridia nuper constitutae, ab hoc tempore cum quinque sciris Hantunscir, Dornsæte, Wilsæte, Sumorsæte, Defenas correspondebant.^[4]

Eruditio recentiorum

Ex his fontibus eruditi recentiores Geuissas censent aut eosdem fuisse atque populum qui Saxones vel occidentales Saxones postea appellabatur,^[5]^[6] aut e stirpe Saxonum per vallem Thamesis occidenti versus progrediente ortos esse qui familiam regiam Saxonum occidentalium mox condiderint^[7] vel singulum stirpem regentem inter plures constituerint,^[8] aut e societate bellica horum Saxonum cum Iutis,^[9] aut e tali societate Saxonum Brittonumque ortos esse.^[10] Aut reges Saxonum occidentalium iam saeculo VIII ineunte se progeniem cuiusdam Gewis credebant,^[11] aut nomen Geuissorum, sub forma proavi suppositicii Gewis, in genealogiam regum Saxonum occidentalium tardius additum est.^[7]

Credere ergo licet Geuissas contra Brittones anno 552 Sorvioduni, anno 556 Bereberiae^(en) proelia vicisse:^[12] terras deinde accepisse in campo Oxoniensi quas anno 628 Ciricestriae contra Pendam Merciae regem defenderint:^[13] in eadem regione anno 636, regem Geuissarum Cynigilsum baptizatum esse a Birino, cui Dorcestriae sedes episcopalis concessa sit: Geuissas postea bellum gessisse contra Brittones in Somersetia et contra Sussaxones in Hantonia, anno 676 sedem episcopalem novam Wintoniae creavisse atque a saeculo VIII sub appellatione Saxonum occidentalium magnam partem Angliae meridionalis rexisse.

Notae

↑ "Geuissae, Geuissi": Beda, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum 2.5, 3.7, 4.15-16.
↑ "Birinus episcopus Dorcastrensis & apostolus Gerwissorum" (recte "Gewissorum"): Ioannes Lelandus, Itinerarium (p. 93 apud Google Books).
↑ Caedualla secundum Chronica Anglosaxonum ab anno 685 "de regno contendere incepit" annoque 688 Romae mortuus est.
↑ Patrick W. Conner, Anglo-Saxon Exeter: A Tenth-century Cultural History (Woodbridge, 1993) p. 222: vide "De sede episcopali Exoniensi."
↑ Yorke (1990): 138, 155: "It is from the time of Caedwalla that his people came to be known as the 'Saxons' or 'West Saxons' instead of the earlier 'Geuissae' ... it was during his reign that the title 'king of the Saxons' replaced 'king of the Geuissae'".
↑ Keynes, Simon (2014), "Kings of the West Saxons", in M. Lapidge et al., edd., The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England (Cicestriae: Wiley): 533–534: "The people known originally as the Gewisse (HE iii.7) came to be known as ‘Saxons’ in the seventh century and as ‘West Saxons’ in the late seventh and early eighth centuries".
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 Yorke, Barbara (2014), "Gewisse", in M. Lapidge et al., edd., The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England (Cicestriae: Wiley): 209: "a Saxon people based in the upper Thames whose rulers subsequently founded the kingdom of Wessex. . . . The name of Gewis, their eponymous founder, was incorporated into the prehistoric part of the West Saxon genealogy".
↑ Kirby (2000): 39, 45: The Gewisse should not necessarily be seen as exclusive of other dynastic lineages. . . . It is difficult to envisage the West Saxons of a later period as exclusively identical with any of them [i.e. cum gregibus Saxonum saeculo VI bella gerentibus], even the Gewisse".
↑ Leeds (1954): 56: "Gewisse, the supposed combination of Jutes and Saxons".
↑ Yorke, Barbara (2014), "Cerdic", in M. Lapidge et al., edd., The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England (Cicestriae: Wiley): 96: "he may have been the leader of a mixed British/Saxon group in the upper Thames where the Gewisse are first reliably recorded".
↑ Kirby (2000): 38-39: The West Saxon kings, even by the early eighth century and the time of Bede, evidently thought of themselves as the progeny of Gewis".
↑ Leeds (1954): 56: "In 552 Searobyrig fell to the Gewisse . . . within four years they were able to inflict a thorough defeat on the British at Beranbyrig".
↑ Yorke (2018): 36: "a battle in the vicinity of Cirencester recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 628 between Cynegils and Cwichelm of the Gewisse and Penda of Mercia".

Bibliographia

"Gewisse" (1998), in Heinrich Beck, Dieter Geuenich, Heiko Steuer, edd., Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde vol. 12 (Berolini: de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-016227-1) p. 48 sqq.
Blair, John (1994). Anglo-Saxon Oxfordshire. Stroud.
Coates, Richard (1989), "On some controversy surrounding Gewissae/Gewissei, Cerdic and Ceawlin", Nomina 13:1-11.
Dumville, David (1985), "The West Saxon genealogical regnal list and the chronology of early Wessex", Peritia 4.21-66. Situs venalis
Hamerow, Helena, Christopher Ferguson, John Naylor (2013), "The Origins of Wessex Pilot Project", Oxoniensia 78: 49-69.
Kirby, D. P. (1965), "Problems of Early West Saxon History", English Historical Review 80: 10-29.
Kirby, D. P. (2000), The earliest English kings, Londinii: Routledge. (Paginae selectae apud Google Books)
Leeds, E.T. (1954), "The Growth of Wessex", Oxoniensia 59: 45-60.
Sims-Williams, Patrick (1983), "The settlement of England in Bede and the "Chronicle", Anglo-Saxon England 12: 1-41
Yorke, Barbara (1990), Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England, Londinii. (Paginae selectae apud Google Books)
Yorke, Barbara (1995), Wessex in the Early Middle Ages, Londinii: Continuum, ISBN 978-0718518561. Epitome
Yorke, Barbara (2018), "Competition for the Solent and 7th Century Politics" in Ben Jervis, ed., The Middle Ages Revisited: Studies in the Archaeology and History of Medieval Southern England presented to Professor David A. Hinton (Oxoniae: Archaeopress) pp. 35-44

[1] "Geuissae, Geuissi": Beda, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum 2.5, 3.7, 4.15-16.

[2] "Birinus episcopus Dorcastrensis & apostolus Gerwissorum" (recte "Gewissorum"): Ioannes Lelandus, Itinerarium (p. 93 apud Google Books).

[3] Caedualla secundum Chronica Anglosaxonum ab anno 685 "de regno contendere incepit" annoque 688 Romae mortuus est.

[4] Patrick W. Conner, Anglo-Saxon Exeter: A Tenth-century Cultural History (Woodbridge, 1993) p. 222: vide "De sede episcopali Exoniensi."

[5] Yorke (1990): 138, 155: "It is from the time of Caedwalla that his people came to be known as the 'Saxons' or 'West Saxons' instead of the earlier 'Geuissae' ... it was during his reign that the title 'king of the Saxons' replaced 'king of the Geuissae'".

[6] Keynes, Simon (2014), "Kings of the West Saxons", in M. Lapidge et al., edd., The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England (Cicestriae: Wiley): 533–534: "The people known originally as the Gewisse (HE iii.7) came to be known as ‘Saxons’ in the seventh century and as ‘West Saxons’ in the late seventh and early eighth centuries".

[Yorke_(2014)-7] 7.0 ^7.1 Yorke, Barbara (2014), "Gewisse", in M. Lapidge et al., edd., The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England (Cicestriae: Wiley): 209: "a Saxon people based in the upper Thames whose rulers subsequently founded the kingdom of Wessex. . . . The name of Gewis, their eponymous founder, was incorporated into the prehistoric part of the West Saxon genealogy".

[8] Kirby (2000): 39, 45: The Gewisse should not necessarily be seen as exclusive of other dynastic lineages. . . . It is difficult to envisage the West Saxons of a later period as exclusively identical with any of them [i.e. cum gregibus Saxonum saeculo VI bella gerentibus], even the Gewisse".

[9] Leeds (1954): 56: "Gewisse, the supposed combination of Jutes and Saxons".

[10] Yorke, Barbara (2014), "Cerdic", in M. Lapidge et al., edd., The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England (Cicestriae: Wiley): 96: "he may have been the leader of a mixed British/Saxon group in the upper Thames where the Gewisse are first reliably recorded".

[11] Kirby (2000): 38-39: The West Saxon kings, even by the early eighth century and the time of Bede, evidently thought of themselves as the progeny of Gewis".

[12] Leeds (1954): 56: "In 552 Searobyrig fell to the Gewisse . . . within four years they were able to inflict a thorough defeat on the British at Beranbyrig".

[13] Yorke (2018): 36: "a battle in the vicinity of Cirencester recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 628 between Cynegils and Cwichelm of the Gewisse and Penda of Mercia".

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]