Cissa of sussex

Cissa
King of Sussex?
Artists impression of three Saxon ships
Reign	514–567?
Predecessor	Ælle
Successor	Æðelwealh
Issue	Unknown

Cissa (/ˈtʃɪsɑː/) was part of an Anglo-Saxon invasion force that landed in three ships at a place called Cymensora in AD 477. The invasion was led by Cissa's father Ælle and included his two brothers. They are said to have fought against the local Britons. Their conquest of what became Sussex, England continued when they fought a battle on the margins of Mecredesburne in 485 and Pevensey in 491 where they are said to have slaughtered their opponents to the last man.

The main source for this story is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a series of annals written in the vernacular Old English. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle was commissioned in the reign of Alfred the Great some 400 years after the landing at Cymenshore. One of the purposes of the chronicle was to provide genealogies of the West Saxon kings. Although a lot of the facts provided by the chronicle can be verified, the foundation story of Sussex involving Ælle and his three sons can not. It is known that Anglo-Saxons did settle in eastern Sussex during the fifth century, but not in the west where Cymensora was probably situated.

The city of Chichester, whose placename is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, of AD 895, is supposedly named after Cissa.

In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Cissa is listed as one of the three sons of Ælle, who in the year 477 arrived in Britain, at a place called Cymenshore (traditionally thought to have been in the Selsey area of Sussex). The chronicle lists Ælle and his 3 sons as having three battles, Cymenshore in 477, one near the banks of Mercredesburne in 485 and lastly one at Pevensey in 491 where it claims all Britons were slaughtered. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was originally compiled in Winchester the capital of Wessex and completed in 891. It was then distributed to various monasteries throughout the country for copying. The different versions were then updated periodically. The chronicle charted Anglo-Saxon history from the mid-fifth century, until 1154. Pre Norman Conquest the manuscripts were mainly written in Old English, post conquest the scribes tended to use Latin. The Chronicle was commissioned during the reign of Alfred the Great over 400 years after Cissa, and the accuracy of the events and dates listed during the fifth century are regarded as questionable. The sources for the fifth century annals are obscure, however an analysis of the text demonstrates some poetic conventions, so it is probable that they were derived from an oral tradition, such as sagas in the form of epic poems. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was commissioned for a number of reasons including that of a propaganda tool, it provided genealogies of the kings of Wessex, showing them in a positive light. The Kingdom of Sussex, founded by Ælle, was absorbed into Wessex during the reign of Egbert of Wessex.