Talk:Cissa of Sussex

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The reign of Cissa is not mentioned by any source earlier than Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote during the years 1130 to 1154, and evidently used his imagination to fill out gaps in the historical record.

In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Cissa is a son of Ælle, who allegedly arrived in three ships, with three sons, and fought three battles. It is obvious that this story is as fictitious as that of Goldilocks and the three bears [1] or Tsar Dodon and his three sons [2]. In reality, the Germanic migration to Britain was a gradual process over a prolonged period.

Supposedly the city of Chichester is named after Cissa, but both Bede and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle had an unfortunate tendency to invent people to explain place names that they did not understand. Bede imagined that Rochester was named after an Anglo-Saxon called Hrofi, whereas the place name is actually derived from an earlier Romano-British form: Durobrivae. Likewise, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that, in 501, Port, and his two sons came in two ships and landed at Portsmouth, regardless of the fact that the port was previously called Portus Magnus. Clearly, if the annal for 501 is fiction, then the earlier annals for 477, 485, and 491 are likely to be also, not least because the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was not complied until 891.

Another place name associated with Cissa is the Iron Age hill fort of Cissbury Ring near Cissbury, which Camden said "plainly bespeaks it the work of king Cissa", but as late as it 1663 it was still called by the earlier name of Caesars Bury.

Hovite 00:48, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Coastal Erosion

The Belgae settled in Selsey initially as did the Romans. However the Romans very quickly made Chichester their civitas, probably because of coastal erosion at Selsey. The Saxons also initially established their capital at Selsey, this could have been due to it's isolation from the mainland, which made it easily defendible. Access by the sea, to Selsey,was much better than at Chichester. However, once they were established they too moved the capital to Chichester again probably because of coastal erosion, a large storm in the 9th/10th century washed away large parts of the coast. The final straw for Selsey is when William the Conqueror moved the See to Chichester. This was more to do with protection from Viking raids. Anyway we would therefore expect that Selsey should have earlier AS remains than Chichester. Unfortunately, if there is any archaeology it is likely to be under the sea. However, AS cremation urns have turned up in Selsey and Pagham and some AS gold fragments. None are earlier than 6th century though. The South Saxons were mainly Pagan until the 7th century when Wilfrid turned up to convert them to Christianity. It is only when they became Christian that they learnt to write, and started to record things. Appart from sparce information from runic ,sources there was virtually nothing written down in the dark ages. It could be that the chroniclers source for Ælle and sons was from an oral source such as a saga. The sagas were largely mythical but quite often part fact, they were about the heroism and adventures of various characters. So about fighting and conquering all, rather than having a tea party on the beach with the locals. The earliest reference to Ælle, is Bede and he doesn't say very much, and he certainly does not say where they landed. So it is likely that Ælle and sons existed in some time and space, the rest you have to make up your mind for yourself! Wilfridselsey (talk) 11:52, 28 November 2009 (UTC)