A patriarch of royalty in Saxony, landed in Hampshire in 495 and in 519 gained a victory at Charford. He was first crowned King of the West Saxons, when, as it is reported, the legendary King Arthur, who had his castle on the steep coast of Cornwall, yielded to him the section of land now known as Hampshire and Somerset. In 520, being unable to extend his rule west of the Avon and defeated at Badbury, co. Dorset, Cedric withdrew. Ten years later he conquered the Isle of Wight. He died in 534. Cerdic is said to be the founding figure of the West Saxon dynasty. However, much of this is obscure and not documented, subject to dispute by history scholars. There was no secure chronicle in the 6th century. (Wurts)

A rebellion in Britain of its barbarian settlers, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, may have been led by the British prince Cerdic, a rival to the British throne. Natlod "Wledic", King of Britain, granted Cerdic by charter the county of Hampshire as his estate in 495, and Cerdic took the title "ealdorman". Cerdic held office as "Count of the Saxon Shore" under King Natlod "Wledic", and, he also held the title "dux gewissorum", which meaning is debatable. For some reason Cerdic was expelled by King Natlod "Wledic"; and he went abroad and hired foreign mercenaries, Saxons, and returned with them [under their own leaders, Colgrin and Baldulf] and fought Natlod "Wledic" to recover his estate. After six years of fighting, Cerdic defeated and slew Natlod "Wledic" in the Battle of Netley Marsh, Year 501, and took back possession of his estate.

Cerdic succeeded Natlod "Wledic" as King of Britain, and contended with the claimant, Arthur, his predecessor's former rival, over the British Throne. This was the first of the three reigns of Cerdic of Wessex, or this is the first of three different people of the same name to successively hold that title, which is feasible because there were several contemporary British princes who had that name. The name "Cerdic" is an anglicized form of the Latin "Caratacus", the British hero-king and resistance-leader at the time of the Roman conquest of Britain, whose name enjoyed a sudden popularity in post-Roman Britain as the Britons re-discovered their native heritage. Cerdic (III), the "dux Gewissae", succeeds Natlod "Wledic" as King of Britain, Year 501. He established his capital city or castle in Hampshire at Winchester; reigned three years; during which Cerdic waged war against his nemesis Arthur. Arthur eventually overcame Cerdic in the Battle of Bath (504), and, after three years of campaigns against the barbarian settlers in Britain, the Anglo-Saxons, as well as against the Scots, Picts, and Irish, was finally recognized as the nation's king (507).