Origins
of the name Hickling
Hicklings are unique in their claim to be able to span the gulf between the English peoples of historic times and their pre-historic continental ancestors.
|
A |
nglo-saxon <iceling> pronounced <ickeling>
means <son of icel>.
the surname first appears in
the Anglo-Saxon version of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English
Nation (The AS
Chronicle).Derived from a text written before the end of the VIIth
Century it records the genealogy of king Penda .
·
an.
DCXXVI . her eanflæd . eadwines dohtor cinges .
wæs geffullod on þone halgan æfan pentecosten . J penda hæfde xxx. wintra ríce .
J he wæs L. wintre þa he to ríce feng.
penda wæs pybbing . pybba creoding . creoda cynewalding . cynewald
cnebbing . cnebba
iceling . icel eomæring . eomær
angelþeowing . angelþeow offing . offa wæmunding . wæmund wihtlæging . wihtlæg
wodening . .......
·
[translation] In
the year 626 Eanfled, king Edwin’s
daughter, was baptised on the holy eve of Pentecost. Penda had held the kingdom
for 30 winters and he was 50 winters old when he succeeded to the kingdom. Penda was son of Pybba, Pybba of Creoda,
Creoda of Cynwald, Cynwald of Cnebba, Cnebba of Icel, Icel of Eomer, Eomer of
Angeltheow, Angeltheow of Offa, Offa of Wermund, Wermund of Witlaeg, Witlaeg of
Woden.......
Penda claimed descent from the
royal family of the continental Angles descended from Woden through Offa king of Angeln (in Slesvig) - one of the
chief heroes of Germanic legend and remembered as <the best of all mankind between the
seas>. The fact that
the Mercian royal family was known later as Ickelingas strengthens the claim
that it was Ickel and his son Cnebba
Ickeling who came to Britain about AD 499.
The Icelingas [now the Hickelings] became
the family name given to the kinsmen and descendants of Cnebba.
It
was in open boats like this example found in a bog at Nydam, Denmark that the
Angles came to britain.
The
Nydam boat is 21M (70 feet) long and is built from only five planks on each of
its sides.
It
was not fitted for sail, but propelled by 15 pairs of
oars.
|
T |
he Ickelingas entered
Britain through the estuaries of the Wash and the Trent. They settled in
low- lying areas served
by navigable rivers and Roman canals. The Romans sent no further coins to
their British provinces from about 395; their villas and towns had fallen into
ruin as the economy that had supported them had collapsed although the network of roads and canals
remained.
The English settlements
became part of a highly sophisticated and prosperous society never far away from
means of communication whether by navigable rivers, canals or stone surfaced
roads.
|
S |
OURCES:
Bede:
Ecclesiastical History of the English
Nation,
The Anglo-SaxonChronicle. Roman Britain: Collingwood & Myers;
pp. 356, 416-417. Anglo-Saxon
England: Prof F M Stenton. Chronicon ex Chronicis; Florence of
Worcester. The Lost Kingdom: Anglo-Saxon Lindsey;
K Leaby & C M Coutts [ISBN 0947777091.1987]
Back
to Home Page