The West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List (also known as the West Saxon Regnal Table, West Saxon Regnal List, and Genealogical Preface to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) is the name given in modern scholarship to a list of West-Saxon kings (which has no title in its medieval manuscripts, and is not strictly a genealogy). It is one of the main sources for understanding the early history of Wessex and the attempts of its dynasties (at the time of Alfred the Great and possibly before) to project an image of dynastic stability.
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West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List in the context of Wessex
The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886.
The Anglo-Saxons believed that Wessex was founded by Cerdic and Cynric of the Gewisse, though this is considered by some to be a legend. The two main sources for the history of Wessex are the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (the latter of which drew on and adapted an early version of the List), which sometimes conflict. Wessex became a Christian kingdom after Cenwalh (r. 642–645, 648–672) was baptised and was expanded under his rule. Cædwalla later conquered Sussex, Kent and the Isle of Wight. His successor, Ine (r. 689–726), issued one of the oldest surviving English law codes and established a second West Saxon bishopric. The throne subsequently passed to a series of kings with unknown genealogies.
West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List in the context of Cynric
Cynric (/ˈkɪnˌrɪtʃ/) was King of Wessex from 534 to 560. Everything known about him comes from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. There, he is stated to have been the son of Cerdic, who is considered the founder of the kingdom of Wessex. However, the Anglian King-list and parts of the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List (which may partly derive from the Anglian King-list and was a source for the Chronicle), instead says that Cynric was the son of Cerdic's son Creoda. Similarly, the paternal genealogy of Alfred the Great given in Asser's The Life of King Alfred, includes the name Creoda, while the account of the king's maternal ancestry in the same work calls Cynric son of Cerdic.