What is "wessex"

Anglo-Saxon kingdom in southern England, literally "(land of the) West Saxons;" see west + Saxon. Modern use in reference to southwestern England (excluding Cornwall) is from Hardy's novels.

Wessex (; , "kingdom of the West Saxons") was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from 519 until England was unified by Æthelstan in the early 10th century.

The Anglo-Saxons believed that Wessex was founded by Cerdic and Cynric, but this may be a legend. The two main sources for the history of Wessex are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List, which sometimes conflict. Wessex became a Christian kingdom after Cenwalh was baptised and was expanded under his rule. Cædwalla later conquered Sussex, Kent and the Isle of Wight. His successor, Ine, 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.

During the 8th century, as the hegemony of Mercia grew, Wessex largely retained its independence. It was during this period that the system of shires was established. Under Egbert, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Essex, and Mercia, along with parts of Dumnonia, were conquered. He also obtained the overlordship of the Northumbrian king. However, Mercian independence was restored in 830. During the reign of his successor, Æthelwulf, a Danish army arrived in the Thames estuary, but was decisively defeated. When Æthelwulf's son, Æthelbald, usurped the throne, the kingdom was divided to avoid war. Æthelwulf was succeeded in turn by his four sons, the youngest being Alfred the Great.

Wessex was invaded by the Danes in 871, and Alfred was compelled to pay them to leave. They returned in 876, but were forced to withdraw. In 878 they forced Alfred to flee to the Somerset Levels, but were eventually defeated at the Battle of Edington. During his reign Alfred issued a new law code, gathered scholars to his court and was able to devote funds to building ships, organising an army and establishing a system of burhs. Alfred's son, Edward, captured the eastern Midlands and East Anglia from the Danes and became ruler of Mercia in 918 upon the death of his sister, Æthelflæd. Edward's son, Æthelstan, conquered Northumbria in 927, and England became a unified kingdom for the first time. Cnut the Great, who conquered England in 1016, created the wealthy and powerful earldom of Wessex, but in 1066 Harold Godwinson reunited the earldom with the crown and Wessex ceased to exist.

Wessex was a European Parliament constituency covering all of Dorset in England, plus parts of western Hampshire and southern Wiltshire. It was named after the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Wessex.

Prior to its uniform adoption of proportional representation in 1999, the United Kingdom used first-past-the-post for the European elections in England, Scotland and Wales. The European Parliament constituencies used under that system were smaller than the later regional constituencies and only had one Member of the European Parliament each.

The constituency consisted of the Westminster Parliament constituencies of Bournemouth East, Bournemouth West, Christchurch and Lymington, North Dorset, Poole, South Dorset, Westbury and West Dorset.

The constituency was replaced by much of Dorset East and Hampshire West and parts of Somerset and Dorset West and Wiltshire in 1984. Following further changes, these seats became part of the much larger South West England and South East England constituencies in 1999.

Wessex was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in early medieval England.

Wessex or West Saxon may also refer to:

• Wessex Archaeology – an educational charity and the largest UK archaeological practice,
• Wessex culture a name given to the predominant prehistoric culture of southern Britain during the early Bronze Age
• Early West Saxon the Germanic dialect spoken by the West Saxons following Anglo-Saxon settlement
• Late West Saxon the language usually known as Old English
• Thomas Hardy's Wessex a semi-fictional region of England in the novels of Thomas Hardy
• Westland Wessex a helicopter
• Earl of Wessex
  • Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex a British prince and current earl, and
  • Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward's wife, the Countess
• Wessex (European Parliament constituency), a former constituency covering Dorset and part of Hampshire and Wiltshire
• Wessex, Ontario, Canada, a fictitious city in the Canadian sitcom Dan for Mayor
• Wessex Formation, an English fossil site and geological formation
• Wessex RFC, a rugby union team in Devon, England
• Wessex League – football league covering Hampshire and parts of the surrounding counties
• The Wessex Institute of Technology
• Wessex Stadium, home to Weymouth F.C.
• The 43rd (Wessex) Brigade – British Army's regional command for the South West region
• The Royal Wessex Yeomanry – a British Army territorial unit
• Wessex Sound Studios – a renowned former recording studio, in Highbury, London
• Wessex Trains – train operating company that used to operate in much of the South West region
• Wessex Water – water supply and sewage company that covers much of the South West region
• The Wessex Rangers
• Wessex Scene – a student newspaper produced by Southampton University Student's Union (SUSU)
• Wessex Saddleback – a pig breed originating from Wessex
• The Wessex Way - a trunk road linking Bournemouth to the A31 and leading to Salisbury
• Wessex, a community that is a part of Morningside Place in Houston

• , the name of more than one ship of the British Royal Navy

• Wessex (ward), an electoral ward in Somerset, England

Wessex is an electoral ward of South Somerset District Council in Somerset, England. It is one of the wards that makes up the parliamentary constituency of Somerton and Frome.

Wessex covers an area of and in 2011 a population of 5,402 was recorded.

The small town of Somerton is the main settlement in the ward, which also includes Compton Dundon.

The ward is represented by two councillors; in the district elections of 2015 one Conservative Party candidate and one Liberal Democrat candidate were elected.