Kingdom of Wessex Westseaxna rīce
←   ←   ←   ← 519–927 →
Wyvern of Wessex
Capital	Winchester[1]
Language(s)	Old English (Englisc)
Religion	Paganism Christianity
Government	Monarchy
Monarchs (see full list)
- 519–534	Cerdic
- 688–726	Ine
- 871–899	Ælfrēd the Great
- 925–927	Æþelstān
Legislature	Witan
History
- Established	519
- Unification of England by Æthelstan	927

Imaginary depiction of Cerdic from John Speed's 1611 "Saxon Heptarchy"

The Kingdom of Wessex ( /ˈwɛsɨks/) or Kingdom of the West Saxons (Old English: Westseaxna rīce) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons in South West England, from the 6th century until the emergence of a united English state under the Wessex dynasty in the 10th century. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest of 1016, from 1020 to 1066. After the Norman Conquest there was a dissolution of the English earldoms and Wessex was split among the followers of William the Conqueror.

Origin[link]

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ASC) Wessex was founded by Cerdic and Cynric, chieftains of a clan known as "Gewisse". They are said to have landed on the Hampshire coast and conquered the surrounding area, including the Isle of Wight. However, the specific events given by the ASC are in some doubt; archæological evidence points instead to a considerable early Anglo-Saxon presence in the upper Thames valley and Cotswolds area, entered from The Wash along Icknield Way.^[2] The centre of gravity of Wessex in the late sixth and early seventh century seems to have lain farther to the north than in later periods, following successful expansion to the south and west. Bede states that the Isle of Wight was settled not by Saxons but Jutes, who also settled on the Hampshire coast (known as the Meonsæte) and that these areas were only acquired by Wessex in the later seventh century. It is therefore possible that the ASC account is a product of the circumstances of the eighth and ninth centuries being projected back into the past to create an origin story of the ruling kinship appropriate to the contemporary form of the kingdom.^[3] It may also be noted that the names of some of the early West Saxon leaders appear to be Brythonic in origin, including the dynastic founder Cerdic (being a form of Ceredic or Caradoc) and Cædwalla (from Cadwallon, a Welsh name derived from Caswalawn a Brythonic version of Cassivellaunus). These are interspersed with Old English names such as Ceolwulf, Coenberht and Aescwine. This variation might suggest the early rulers came from a hybrid Anglo-British dynasty or that the rule of early Wessex shifted between more than one royal clan, but this is conjecture.

The two main sources for the names and dates of the kings of Wessex are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and an associated document known as the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List. The Chronicle gives small genealogies in multiple places, under the annals for different years. These sources, however, conflict in various ways and cannot be fully reconciled. A recent analysis by David Dumville that has produced a set of plausible dates for the West Saxon kings has been used by other scholars but cannot be regarded as definitive. Dumville's dates are used in the historical outline below, with reference to the original sources to highlight some of the conflicts. The later genealogies may have been contrived with the intent of connecting all lineages to Cerdic, and this has introduced additional inconsistencies which cannot all be resolved.

Though the Chronicle gives 495 as the date for Cerdic's arrival in Britain

"495. There came two eaorlmen to Britain, Cerdic and Cynric his son, with five ships, to a place called Cerdicesora, on the same day they fought the Welsh."

F. M. Stenton^[4] gives evidence of doubled entries in the Chronicle, which suggests an early sixth-century date for the landing of the ancestor of the Wessex ruling kinship.

Most historians appear agreed that the location of Cerdicesora or "Cerdic's Shore" is somewhere on Southampton Water, perhaps Calshot. After making a beachhead and consolidating their position they next appear to have attacked the area around Southampton at the Battle of Natanleod. The location of this Natanleod has been placed at Netley Marsh.

"508. This year Cerdic and Cynric killed a British king named Natanleod, and five thousand men with him. After that the land was known as Natanleag up to Cerdicesford."

The location of Cerdicesford has been placed at various locations in southern Hampshire including Chandler's Ford. The historian Albany Major places the site at Charford at the crossing of the River Avon (Hampshire) close to the border with Wiltshire.

"514. The West-Saxons came to Briton with 3 ships to a place called Cerdicesora and in the same year they fought the Britons and put them to flight."

"519. Cerdic and Cynric received the West-Saxon kingdom, and the same year they fought with the Britons, in a place now called Cerdicesford. The royal line of Wessex ruled from that day."

Despite the repetition there is no reason to presume there were not multiple landings along a coast known to the Saxons as Cerdic's Shore. It is likely that both Winchester and Silchester would have fallen to the West Saxons between the years 508 and 514, but this transition is only suggested by the absence of these important towns in the later annals of the British scribes. A later thrust up the Hampshire Avon towards Old Sarum in 519 appears to have been checked by the Britons at Charford. Albany Major in Early Wars of Wessex makes the case that the borders of the traditional county of Hampshire probably match those of the first West Saxon kingdom established by Cerdic and his son. Evidence of this comes from the border between Hampshire and Berkshire which follows generally the line of the Roman road that ran east and west through Silchester but is deflected in the north in a rough semicircle, in such a way as to include the whole district around the town. He argues that the capture of Silchester, of which no record has been passed down to us, was not the work of Mercian Angles but of the West Saxons probably striking north from Winchester and possibly acting in concert with a separate force making its way up the Thames Valley towards Reading. Silchester was left desolate after its fall and it is most improbable that any regard would have been paid to its side of the border had the fixing of the county boundary been made at a later period.^[5]

Study of the borders between Hampshire and Wiltshire also seem to suggest the West Saxons' westward advance was checked by about 519AD. The area north of Charford This would corroborate the date given in the Annales Cambriae for the crucial British victory at the Battle of Mons Badonicus in 517AD which is believed to have stopped further Anglo-Saxon encroachments in south-west and midland Britain for at least a generation.

The length of Cerdic's reign is unclear but the throne passed to Cynric in about 554. Cynric is Cerdic's son according to some sources and Cerdic's grandson in others, which name Creoda, son of Cerdic, as Cynric's father. Cynric was in turn succeeded by Ceawlin, who was probably his son, in about 581.

Ceawlin's reign is thought to be more reliably documented than those of the earlier kings, though the Chronicle's dates of 560 to 592 are substantially different from the revised chronology. He overcame pockets of Britons to the northeast in the Chilterns and in Gloucestershire and Somerset the captures of Cirencester, Gloucester and Bath (577), after a long pause caused by the battle of Mons Badonicus, opened the way to the southwest. Ceawlin is one of the seven kings named in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People as holding "imperium" over the southern English; the Chronicle later repeats this claim and refers to Ceawlin as a bretwalda, or "Britain-ruler".

Ceawlin was deposed, perhaps by his successor Ceol, and died the following year. Ceol was the son of Ceawlin's brother, Cutha. Six years later, in about 594, Ceol was succeeded by Ceolwulf, his own brother; and Ceolwulf was succeeded in his turn in about 617 by Cynegils. The genealogies are remarkably inconsistent on Cynegils' pedigree: his father is variously given as Ceola, Ceolwulf, Ceol, Cuthwine, Cutha, and Cuthwulf.

Christian Wessex and the rise of Mercia[link]

British kingdoms around about the year 800 AD

It is in Cynegils' reign that the first event in West Saxon history that can be dated with reasonable certainty occurs: the baptism of Cynegils by Birinus, which happened at the end of the 630s, perhaps in 640. Birinus was then established as bishop of the West Saxons, with his seat at Dorchester-on-Thames. This was the first conversion to Christianity by a West Saxon king, but it was not accompanied by the immediate conversion of all the West Saxons: Cynegils' successor (and probably his son), Cenwealh, who came to the throne in about 642, was a pagan at his accession. However, he too was baptised only a few years later and Wessex became firmly established as a Christian kingdom. Cynegils's godfather was King Oswald of Northumbria and his conversion may have been connected with an alliance against King Penda of Mercia, who had previously attacked Wessex.

These attacks marked the beginning of sustained pressure from the expanding kingdom of Mercia. In time this would deprive Wessex of its territories north of the Thames and the Avon, encouraging the kingdom's reorientation southwards. Cenwealh married Penda's daughter, and when he repudiated her, Penda again invaded and drove him into exile for some time, perhaps three years. The dates are uncertain but it was probably in the late 640s or early 650s. He spent his exile in East Anglia, and was converted to Christianity there. After his return, Cenwealh faced further attacks from Penda's successor Wulfhere, but was able to expand West Saxon territory in Somerset at the expense of the Britons. He established a second bishopric at Winchester, while the one at Dorchester was soon abandoned as Mercian power pushed southwards. Winchester would eventually develop into the effective capital of Wessex.

After Cenwealh's death in 673, his widow, Seaxburh, held the throne for a year; she was followed by Aescwine, who was apparently descended from another brother of Ceawlin. This was one of several occasions on which the kingship of Wessex is said to have passed to a remote branch of the royal family with an unbroken male line of descent from Cerdic; these claims may be genuine, or may reflect the spurious assertion of descent from Cerdic to legitimise a new dynasty. Aescwine's reign only lasted two years, and in 676 the throne passed back to the immediate family of Cenwealh with the accession of his brother Centwine. Centwine is known to have fought and won battles against the Britons, but the details have not survived.

Centwine was succeeded by another supposed distant relative, Caedwalla, who claimed descent from Ceawlin. Caedwalla reigned for just two years, but achieved a dramatic expansion of the kingdom's power, conquering the kingdoms of Sussex, Kent and the Isle of Wight, although Kent regained its independence almost immediately and Sussex followed some years later. His reign ended in 688 when he went on pilgrimage to Rome, where he was baptised by the Pope and died soon afterwards.

His successor was Ine, who also claimed to be a descendant of Cerdic through Ceawlin, but again through a long-separated line of descent. Ine was the most durable of the West Saxon kings, reigning for 38 years. He issued the oldest surviving English code of laws apart from those of the kingdom of Kent, and established a second West Saxon bishopric at Sherborne, covering the territories west of Selwood Forest. Near the end of his life he followed in Caedwalla's footsteps by abdicating and making a pilgrimage to Rome. The throne then passed to a series of other kings who claimed descent from Cerdic but whose supposed genealogies and relationship to one another are unknown.

During the 8th century Wessex was overshadowed by Mercia, whose power was then at its height, and the West Saxon kings may at times have acknowledged Mercian overlordship. They were, however, able to avoid the more substantial control which Mercia exerted over smaller kingdoms. During this period Wessex continued its gradual advance to the west, overwhelming the British kingdom of Dumnonia and absorbing Devon. As a result of the Mercian conquest of the northern portion of its early territories in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, the Thames and the Avon now probably formed the northern boundary of Wessex, while its heartland lay in Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Dorset and Somerset. The system of shires which was later to form the basis of local administration throughout England (and eventually, Ireland, Wales and Scotland as well) originated in Wessex, and had been established by the mid-eighth century.

The hegemony of Wessex and the Viking raids[link]

In 802 the fortunes of Wessex were transformed by the accession of Egbert who came from a cadet branch of the ruling dynasty that claimed descent from Ine's brother Ingild. With his accession the throne became firmly established in the hands of a single lineage. Early in his reign he conducted two campaigns against the "West Welsh", first in 813 and then again at "Gafulford" in 822. During the course of these campaigns he conquered the western Britons still in Devon and reduced those beyond the River Tamar, now Cornwall, to the status of a vassal.^[6] In 825 he overturned the political order of England by decisively defeating King Beornwulf of Mercia at Ellendun and seizing control of Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Essex from the Mercians, while with his help East Anglia broke away from Mercian control. In 829 he conquered Mercia, driving its King Wiglaf into exile, and secured acknowledgment of his overlordship from the king of Northumbria. He thereby became the Bretwalda, or high king of Britain. This position of dominance was short-lived, as Wiglaf returned and restored Mercian independence in 830, but the expansion of Wessex across south-eastern England proved permanent.

Egbert's later years saw the beginning of Danish Viking raids on Wessex, which occurred frequently from 835 onwards. In 851 a huge Danish army, said to have been carried on 350 ships, arrived in the Thames estuary. Having defeated King Beorhtwulf of Mercia in battle, the Danes moved on to invade Wessex, but were decisively crushed by Egbert's son and successor King Aethelwulf in the exceptionally bloody Battle of Aclea. This victory postponed Danish conquests in England for fifteen years, but raids on Wessex continued.

In 855-6 Aethelwulf went on pilgrimage to Rome and his eldest surviving son Aethelbald took advantage of his absence to seize his father's throne. On his return, Aethelwulf agreed to divide the kingdom with his son to avoid bloodshed, ruling the new territories in the east while Aethelbald held the old heartland in the west. Aethelwulf was succeeded by each of his four surviving sons ruling one after another: the rebellious Aethelbald, then Ethelbert, who had previously inherited the eastern territories from his father and who reunited the kingdom on Aethelbald's death, then Aethelred, and finally Alfred the Great. This occurred because the first two brothers died in wars with the Danes without issue, while Aethelred's sons were too young to rule when their father died.

The last English kingdom[link]

In 865 another enormous Danish army arrived in England. Over the following years this army overwhelmed the kingdoms of Northumbria and East Anglia. Wessex was invaded in 871, and although Aethelred and Alfred won some victories and succeeded in preventing the conquest of their kingdom, a number of defeats, heavy losses of men and the arrival of a fresh Danish army in England compelled Alfred to pay the Danes to leave Wessex.^[7] The Danes spent the next few years subduing Mercia and some of them settled in Northumbria, but the rest returned to Wessex in 876. Alfred responded effectively and was able with little fighting to bring about their withdrawal in 877. A portion of the Danish army settled in Mercia, but at the beginning of 878 the remaining Danes mounted a winter invasion of Wessex, taking Alfred by surprise and overrunning much of the kingdom. Alfred was reduced to taking refuge with a small band of followers in the marshes of the Somerset Levels, but after a few months he was able to gather an army and defeated the Danes at the Battle of Edington, bringing about their final withdrawal from Wessex to settle in East Anglia.

Over the following years Alfred carried out a dramatic reorganisation of the government and defences of Wessex, building warships, organising the army into two shifts which served alternately and establishing a system of fortified burhs across the kingdom. This system is recorded in a 10th century document known as the Burghal Hidage, which details the location and garrisoning requirements of thirty-three forts, whose positioning ensured that no one in Wessex was more than a long day's ride from a place of safety.^[8] In the 890s these reforms helped him to repulse the invasion of another huge Danish army – which was aided by the Danes settled in England – with minimal losses.

Alfred also reformed the administration of justice, issued a new law code and championed a revival of scholarship and education. He gathered scholars from around England and elsewhere in Europe to his court, and with their help translated a range of Latin texts into English, doing much of the work in person, and orchestrated the composition of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. As a result of these literary efforts and the political dominance of Wessex, the West Saxon dialect of this period became the standard written form of Old English for the rest of the Anglo-Saxon period and beyond.

The Danish conquests had destroyed the kingdoms of Northumbria and East Anglia and divided Mercia in half, with the Danes settling in the north-east while the south-west was left to the English king Ceolwulf, allegedly a Danish puppet. When Ceolwulf's rule came to an end he was succeeded as ruler of "English Mercia" not by another king but by a mere ealdorman named Aethelred, who acknowledged Alfred's overlordship and married his daughter Ethelfleda. The process by which this transformation of the status of Mercia took place is unknown, but it left Alfred as the only remaining English king.

The unification of England and the Earldom of Wessex[link]

After the invasions of the 890s Wessex and English Mercia continued to be attacked by the Danish settlers in England and by small Danish raiding forces from overseas, but these incursions were usually defeated, while there were no further major invasions from the continent. The balance of power tipped steadily in favour of the English. In 911 Ealdorman Aethelred died, leaving his widow, Alfred's daughter Aethelflaed, in charge of Mercia. Alfred's son and successor Edward the Elder, then annexed London, Oxford and the surrounding area, probably including Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, from Mercia to Wessex. Between 913 and 918 a series of English offensives overwhelmed the Danes of Mercia and East Anglia, bringing all of England south of the Humber under Edward's power. In 918 Aethelflaed died and Edward took over direct control of Mercia, extinguishing what remained of its independence and ensuring that thenceforth there would be only one Kingdom of the English. In 927 Edward's successor Athelstan conquered Northumbria, bringing the whole of England under one ruler for the first time. The Kingdom of Wessex had thus been transformed into the Kingdom of England.

Although Wessex had now effectively been subsumed into the larger kingdom which its expansion had created, like the other former kingdoms it continued for a time to have a distinct identity which periodically found renewed political expression. After the death of King Eadred in 955, England was divided between his two sons, with the elder Edwy ruling in Wessex while Mercia passed to his younger brother Edgar. However, in 959 Edwy died and the whole of England came under Edgar's control.

After the conquest of England by the Danish king Cnut in 1016, he established earldoms based on the former kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia, but initially administered Wessex personally. Within a few years, however, he had created an earldom of Wessex, encompassing all of England south of the Thames, for his English henchman Godwin. For almost fifty years the vastly wealthy holders of this earldom, first Godwin and then his son Harold, were the most powerful men in English politics after the king. Finally, on the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066, Harold became king, reuniting the earldom of Wessex with the crown. No new earl was appointed before the ensuing Norman Conquest of England, and as the Norman kings soon did away with the great earldoms of the late Anglo-Saxon period, 1066 marks the extinction of Wessex as a political unit.

Symbols[link]

Wyvern or dragon[link]

A modern version of the Wessex flag

Wessex is often symbolised by a wyvern or dragon.

Both Henry of Huntingdon and Matthew of Westminster talk of a golden dragon being raised at the Battle of Burford in AD 752 by the West Saxons. The Bayeux Tapestry depicts a fallen golden dragon, as well as a red/golden/white dragon at the death of King Harold II, who was previously Earl of Wessex. However, dragon standards were in fairly wide use in Europe at the time, being derived from the ensign of the Roman cohort, and there is no evidence that it identified Wessex.^[9]

A panel of 18th century stained glass at Exeter Cathedral indicates that the association of a dragon with the kingdom of Wessex pre-dates the Victorians. Nevertheless, the association was popularised in the 19th century, particularly in the writings of E A Freeman. By the time of the grant of armorial bearings by the College of Arms to Somerset County Council in 1911, a (red) dragon had become the accepted heraldic emblem of the former kingdom.^[10] This precedent was followed in 1937 when Wiltshire County Council was granted arms.^[11] Two gold Wessex dragons were later granted as supporters to the arms of Dorset County Council in 1950.^[12]

In the British Army the wyvern has been used to represent Wessex: The 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division adopted a formation sign consisting of a gold wyvern on a black background, and both the Wessex Brigade and Wessex Regiments used a cap badge featuring the heraldic beast.

When Sophie, Countess of Wessex was granted arms, the sinister supporter assigned was a blue wyvern, described by the College of Arms as "an heraldic beast which has long been associated with Wessex".^[13]

The Wessex Society have promoted the use of a flag, designed by William Crampton, which features an heraldic golden wyvern on a red background.

Attributed coat of arms[link]

A coat of arms was attributed by medieval heralds to the Kings of Wessex. These arms appear in a manuscript of the thirteenth century, and are blazoned as Azure, a cross patonce between four martlets Or.^[14] The assigning of arms to the West Saxon kings is prochronistic as heraldry did not develop until the twelfth century. These arms continued to be used to represent the kingdom for centuries after their invention.^[15]

Wessex, a region[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2011)

Hardy's Wessex

The English author Thomas Hardy used a fictionalised Wessex as a setting for many of his novels, adopting his friend William Barnes' term Wessex for their home county of Dorset and neighbouring counties in the South and West of England. His Wessex did not include Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire (although the city of Oxford, renamed "Christminster", is visited as part of Wessex in Jude the Obscure), along with Devon. He gave the counties the following fictionalised names: Berkshire = North Wessex; Devon = Lower Wessex; Dorset = South Wessex; Hampshire (including the Isle of Wight) = Upper Wessex; Somerset = Outer Wessex; Wiltshire = Mid-Wessex. Neighbouring Cornwall was described as Off-Wessex or Lyonesse.

There is a movement in south-central England to create a regional cultural and political identity for Wessex. This consists of three distinct but interlinked organisations. The Wessex Regionalist Party is a registered political party which contests elections. The Wessex Constitutional Convention is an all-party pressure group in which those sympathetic to Wessex devolution who are not members of the Wessex Regionalist Party can also be represented. The Wessex Society is a cultural society which promotes the distinctive identity of the region while remaining neutral on questions of politics, including the devolution espoused by the Wessex Constitutional Convention and the Wessex Regionalist Party. The Wessex Constitutional Convention and the Wessex Regionalist Party do not believe that Cornwall should form part of the devolved Wessex Region, which they wish to see replace the South West region of England.

The boundaries of the proposed Wessex region remain unclear. The Wessex Constitutional Convention and Wessex Society added Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire to Hardy's list. Because it does not take a political position regarding devolution to a strictly defined territory, the Society can afford to assume a relaxed position about where exactly the boundaries of cultural Wessex lie. The Wessex Regionalists had used Hardy's definition of Wessex for their political Wessex Region, but today the party also includes Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. In the 2010 UK General Election the Wessex Regionalists contested the West Oxfordshire parliamentary seat of Witney. Most definitions exclude Cornwall. In addition there are some (e.g. within Devon) who would identify with a Dumnonian regional identity that is not so geographically broad, and would include Cornwall. An eight county definition of Wessex has been criticised from a number of quarters. Some people regard Hardy's definition as correct on the grounds that the counties north of the Thames, along with Berkshire and north-east Somerset, were part of Mercia for much of the Anglo-Saxon period. Others would argue that such references to the Dark Ages are not relevant to a modern region defined by its geography.

The Wessex regionalist organisations justify their eight-shire definition of Wessex in terms both of modern regional geography and (less convincingly) early English history. They point to the impossibility of pleasing everyone as an argument against change to their definition of Wessex at the present time, though they do not rule out the possibility of change in the future if the popular will demands it.

The name 'Wessex' in use[link]

• Wessex Synod of the United Reformed Church (URC)^[16]
• Wessex Institute of Technology
• Wessex Stadium, home to Weymouth F.C.
• 43rd (Wessex) Brigade – British Army's regional command for the South West region
• Royal Wessex Yeomanry – British Army territorial unit
• Wessex Archaeology – an educational charity and the largest UK archaeological practice^[17]
• Wessex culture – an archæological label used to describe a Bronze Age culture whose remains are found in the Wessex area
• Wessex League – football league covering Hampshire and parts of the surrounding counties
• 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
• Wessex Cyclists Touring Club – cycling and events across the region^[18]
• University of Southampton sports teams have adopted 'Wessex' as a group identity^[19]
• Southampton University Rugby Football Club players are called Wessex Rangers.
• University of Reading halls of residence adopted 'Wessex' as its name.^[20]
• Wessex Scene – a student newspaper produced by Southampton University Student's Union (SUSU)
• Westland Wessex – a British built helicopter
• Wessex Saddleback – a pig breed originating from Wessex
• Thomas Hardy's Wessex the semi-fictional region described in the novels of Thomas Hardy
• A338 – known locally as the Wessex Way, a road linking Bournemouth to the A31 and leading to Salisbury
• Wessex Deanery – responsible for the organisation and assessment of junior doctors training within the area^[21]
• Wessex Boy - song by folk/punk singer Frank Turner

Earl of Wessex[link]

In an unusual move, The Prince Edward was made Earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn in honour of his marriage to Sophie Rhys-Jones. The previous earl, King Harold Godwinson, was famously killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

See also[link]

• List of West Saxon Monarchs

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Case for Wessex (devolutionary movement)PDF (863 KB)
• The Burghal Hidage
• Thomas Hardy's Wessex Research site by Dr Birgit Plietzsch
• The History Files: Kings of the West Saxons
• Wessex Law Academy

Coordinates: 51°12′N 2°00′W / 51.2°N 2°W / 51.2; -2

Frank Turner
Frank Turner at a radio session for XFM in London.
Background information
Birth name	Francis Edward Turner
Also known as	Frank 'Dave' Turner
Born	(1981-12-28) 28 December 1981 (age 30) Manama, Bahrain
Origin	Meonstoke, England
Genres	Folk, folk-punk, hardcore punk, alternative rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, Vocals
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Xtra Mile Recordings (UK), Epitaph, Paper + Plastick
Associated acts	Million Dead, Reuben, The Record Buying Public, Kneejerk, Badger Doritos, Albuquerque Meat Hat, Dive Dive
Website	frank-turner.com

Frank Turner (born 28 December 1981) is an English^[1] folk/punk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Winchester. Initially the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, Turner embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based solo career following the band's split in 2005. To date, Turner has released four solo albums, two rarities compilation albums and four EPs. Turner began recording for his new album England Keep My Bones, in January 2011. It was released on 6 June 2011 in the UK, and 7 June 2011 worldwide.

Early life[link]

Turner was educated on a scholarship at Eton College, where he studied alongside Prince William,^[2] and later went on to attend the London School of Economics where he read History. His father, Roger Turner, is the son of Sir Mark Turner, formerly chairman of high street retailer BHS, and had himself also attended Eton before becoming a City investment banker, while his mother, Jane, the daughter of a bishop, is a primary school headmistress.

Musical career[link]

Beginnings and Million Dead (Up to 2005)[link]

Turner's musical career began at school, with the short-lived alternative band Kneejerk. The band released three records and played several shows around the UK (including a support slot for Boysetsfire), before disbanding in November 2001. The last record, their only full length, was entitled 'The half life of kissing' and was released by Yorkshire DIY hardcore label Sakari Empire after the band had actually broken up.^[3]

In 2001, Turner joined London post-hardcore band Million Dead at the invitation of former Kneejerk drummer Ben Dawson.^[4] In 2005, after four years and two albums, the band announced that they were parting ways, as "irreconcilable differences within the band mean that it would be impossible to continue."^[4]

[edit] Sleep is for the Week and Love Ire & Song (2005-2008)

Turner's first solo shows took place prior to the break-up of Million Dead, with a set at the Smalltown America all-dayer at 93 Feet East in London. After the band's split, Turner felt that "it seemed like the logical thing to do to try my hand at playing these songs more publicly and more concertedly than before".^[5] Turner states that "when Million Dead finished, I wanted to stay on tour, but I didn’t want the hassle of putting a band together."^[6]

After a split EP with rock band Reuben, Turner's first solo EP, Campfire Punkrock, was released in May 2006 on Xtra Mile Recordings, with him being recorded and backed by Oxford band Dive Dive who he had met while out on tour with Reuben.^[5][7] Band members Tarrant Anderson, Ben Lloyd and Nigel Powell would become his backing band from this point on, with most of his subsequent UK headline tours being full band shows. After touring in support of American singer-songwriter Jonah Matranga, the two released a split EP in August 2006. In September, he was the last act to appear on Steve Lamacq's "Lamacq Live" show on BBC Radio 1.^[8] Turner's debut full-length studio album, Sleep Is for the Week was released in January 2007, again recorded at Dive Dive's studio, produced by their guitarist Ben Lloyd^[9] and featuring drummer Nigel Powell.

After an extensive tour, including dates supporting yourcodenameis:milo and Biffy Clyro, and an appearance at SXSW,^[10] Turner released an EP, The Real Damage, in May 2007. After a further tour with Jonah Matranga and Jacob Golden, the "All About The Destination" DVD was released in October, before returning to the studio in Hampshire to record his second album. The album, Love Ire & Song again saw Ben Lloyd from Dive Dive in the producer's seat,^[11] and was released on 31 March 2008, followed by an extensive UK tour with Andy Yorke and Chris T-T. T-T also joined the live lineup on keyboards through summer 2008.

During summer 2008, Turner made several festival appearances, including sets at Y Not Festival, Two Thousand Trees Festival, the Cambridge Folk Festival, Truck, Glastonbury, Jam By The Lake (in Durham) and the Reading and Leeds Festivals.

In October/November, during his 2008 UK Tour for the Love, Ire and Song album, he became ill with gastroenteritis, and was forced to leave the stage in Nottingham halfway through his set. All remaining shows, which included Nottingham, Liverpool and Ireland, were cancelled - the first time that Turner had cancelled any show in ten years.^[12] He went on to reschedule all cancelled shows in January 2009.

[edit] Poetry of the Deed (2008-2010)

In December 2008 Turner released The First Three Years, a compilation of demos, b-sides and covers that are not featured on either of his studio albums. In January 2009, he released a combined package of The First Three Years and Love Ire & Song, and supported The Gaslight Anthem on their tour of the UK and Europe, demoing several new songs and announcing his plans to record a new album in May. The album was produced by Alex Newport, as previously suggested in interview by Turner.^[13] His band at the time still consisted of Ben Lloyd, Tarrant Anderson and Nigel Powell from Dive Dive, with keyboardist Matt Nasir having been added on the Love, Ire and Song tour.

Prior to recording Poetry of the Deed, Turner stated that:^[14]

Turner was announced as the support act on The Offspring's summer tour, during which he documented his travels with a blog on British music website NME.^[15] Regarding the support slot, Turner stated: "Smash was one of the first punk records I ever bought, and I’m blown away to even be considered for the shows. From a “career” point of view, it’s also great - playing to many thousands of people a night across the States is an opportunity not to be sniffed at."^[16]

On 28 April, Turner signed with Epitaph Records for releases outside the UK.^[17]

Preceded by the single "The Road", Turner's third studio album, Poetry of the Deed, was released on 7 September 2009 and reached #36 in the UK album chart. The following month he embarked upon a UK tour with his band in support of the album (with singer/songwriter Beans On Toast and US band "Fake Problems" as support acts), culminating in a sell-out show at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on 29 October 2009. A live DVD/CD, entitled Take to the Road, documenting two shows from the tour - Shepherds Bush Empire and the Union Chapel - was released in the UK in March 2010. In November 2009, Turner began a tour of the US which moved to Europe from 28 November and returned to the UK on 19 December. He completed the year with a New Year's Eve show at The Spiegeltent in Gloucester.

In early 2010, Turner played several more UK gigs, with Chuck Ragan and Crazy Arm supporting. He also accompanied Flogging Molly and The Architects on the 2010 Green 17 Tour, and announced via his Twitter that he was working on new songs.^[18]

In June, he supported Green Day on their stadium shows, and also featured as the cover star of Kerrang! magazine for the first time, with an article inside documenting his solo career up to that point.

[edit] Rock & Roll EP and England Keep My Bones (2010-present)

Turner played at many festivals throughout the summer, including his headlining appearance at the Two Thousand Trees Festival, playing his new song I Still Believe. The song was released first as a single and then appeared on his Rock and Roll EP. I Still Believe appeared on Turner's most recent album, England Keep my Bones, released on 6 June 2011.^[19] Turner also contributed one song, a cover of Build Me Up Buttercup, to Centrepoint's 2010 Charity cover album 1969 Key to Change.^[20] On 25 January 2011 he was nominated for two Shockwaves NME Awards, for best Solo Artist and best Band Blog or Twitter.^[21]

Turner announced on his Twitter on 24 February 2011 that his fourth studio album would be called England Keep My Bones and that it would be released in the UK on 6 June 2011 and worldwide on 7 June 2011. He also announced details of solo tours in Australia, Germany, UK, and the US & Canada.^[22] Frank started recording of this album on 10 January 2011 ^[23] and finished recording on 20 January 2011,^[23] with mixing completed in February 2011. In March 2011, Turner stated that:^[24]

On 21 March 2011, it was announced that Turner would be making the step up to the main stage at Reading and Leeds in August 2011.^[25] He spoke about the "perks" of playing Reading in a recent interview with 6 Towns Radio.^[26] He will also be playing Download, Blissfields and Cambridge Folk festivals, as well as many other festivals across Europe.

Several songs from England Keep My Bones were debuted at Playfest (a new music festival in Norfolk) on 28 May.

Turner leaked new song, "I Am Disappeared" to YouTube on 29 March 2011, later making it available for free download through Xtra Mile. He also announced on the 29th that he would soon be releasing "Peggy Sang the Blues" as the first single from the album.

In early 2011, Turner was booked to play as a headliner at Blissfields Festival.

During his May 2011 tour, Turner played a new song, tentatively titled "Rod Stewart." This song later became retitled as "Sailors Boots" and features as the B-side to "If Ever I Stray".

England Keep My Bones entered the UK chart at number 12 on its week of release, Turner's highest charting album to date.^[27]

Turner later released a rarities compilation, titled The Second Three Years, on 18 November 2011 through Xtra Mile Recordings and 16 January 2012 through Epitaph Records. The album compiles material recorded after the release of Turner's first compilation, The First Three Years, that does not appear on either of Turner's two successive studio albums, including tracks from EPs, singles, covers and unreleased material.

On 21 April 2011 Frank played his 1000th solo show at the Strummerville festival in Shoreditch, London.

In spring 2012, he is scheduled to play several dates in Canada as an opening act for Joel Plaskett.^[28]

On Friday 13th April 2012, Frank headlined Wembley Arena to a sold out crowd of 12,000^[29][30]. Support for the show came from Beans On Toast, dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip and Billy Bragg.

Backing band[link]

Turner's band, 'The Sleeping Souls',^[31] both live and in the studio, consists of:

• Ben Lloyd - guitar, harmonica, mandolin
• Tarrant Anderson - bass
• Matt Nasir - piano, organ, guitar, backing vocals
• Nigel Powell - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Sleep Is for the Week (2007)
• Love Ire & Song (2008)
• Poetry of the Deed (2009)
• England Keep My Bones (2011)

TBA (2013)

Videography[link]

• Casanova Lament (unaired)
• Vital Signs (2006)
• The Real Damage (2007)
• Photosynthesis (2008)
• Reasons Not to Be an Idiot (2008)
• I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous (2008)
• Long Live the Queen (2008)
• The Road (2009)
• Poetry of the Deed (2009)
• Isabel (2010)
• Try This at Home (2010)
• I Still Believe (2010)
• Peggy Sang the Blues (2011)
• If Ever I Stray (2011)
• Sailor's Boots (2011)

DVDs[link]

• All About the Destination (22 October 2007)
• Take to the Road (22 March 2010)

Awards and nominations[link]