Англо-саксондық Гевиссе тайпасы және Уэссекс патшалығының негізі

Tribe of Anglo Saxon Britain

The Gewisse ( yeWEESse'; Geuissæ) were a tribe or ruling clan of the Anglo Saxons. Their first location, mentioned in early medieval sources was the upper Thames region, around Dorchester on Thames. However, some scholars suggest that the Gewisse had origins among the ancient Britons at Cair Caratauc (Old Sarum) in Wiltshire. According to Saxon folklore, the Gewisse were the founders of the kingdom of Wessex.

Evidence of Germanic settlements appearing around Abingdon and Dorchester on Thames in the 6th and 7th centuries has been used to make assumptions about the origins of the Ġewisse, presuming them to be Germanic mercenaries that may have been settled in the region after the end of the Roman occupation to protect a border region between Britons. Another theory holds that the name of the tribe and its founding house is Brittonic and that they originated from the area that would become Old Sarum. The early Saxon myths say that the Gewisse captured Searobyrig (Old Sarum) in AD 552 and Beranbyrig (Barbury Castle) from the Britons in 556. Birinus converted the Gewisse to Christianity in AD 636 by baptising their king Cynegils and establishing the Diocese of Dorchester. The conquests by the royal house of Gewisse in the 7th and 8th centuries led to the establishment of the Kingdom of Wessex, and Bede treated the two names as interchangeable. It was only during the reign of Cædwalla (685/6 – 688) that the title "king of the Saxons" began to replace "king of the Gewisse". Barbara Yorke has suggested that it was Cædwalla's conquest of the Jutish province and the South Saxons that led to the need for a new title to distinguish the expanded realm from its predecessor. However, as there are no surviving documents to indicate how these people described themselves, the most that can be said is that by the time Bede was writing (early 8th century), the phrase "West Saxons" had come into use by scholars.