Britain peoples of the 7th Century
- 642-645: King of Wessexx
- 645-672: King of Wessex
Cenwealh of Wessex was born circa 619 in Wessex, England to Cynegils of Wessex (c596-642) and died 672 Wessex, England of unspecified causes. He married Sister of Penda in England.
Biography
Cenwalh, also Cenwealh or Coenwalh, was King of Wessex from c. 642 to c. 645 and from c. 648 until his death, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in c. 672.
Early Life
Bede states that Cenwalh was the son of the King Cynegils baptised by Bishop Birinus. He was also the great-great-grandson of Cerdic.[1] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle offers several ancestries for Cynegils, and the relationship of Cynegils and Cenwalh to later kings is less than certain.[2] It has been noted that the name Cenwalh is of British rather than Anglo-Saxon etymology.[3]
Marriage to Sister of Penda
Although Cynegils is said to have been a convert to Christianity, Bede writes that Cenwalh:
refused to embrace the mysteries of the faith, and of the heavenly kingdom; and not long after also he lost the dominion of his earthly kingdom; for he put away the sister of Penda, king of the Mercians, whom he had married, and took another wife; whereupon a war ensuing, he was by him expelled his kingdom...[4]
- Penda, King of Mercia, rules West Saxon for 642-645.
Cenwalh took refuge with the Christian king Anna of East Anglia, and was baptised while in exile, although the date of his exile is uncertain. Bede says that it lasted three years, but does not give the dates.[4] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that he granted lands at Ashdown to a kinsman named Cuthred. If this is the same Cuthred whose death is reported around 661, then he was perhaps a son of King Cwichelm or a grandson of Cynegils, if indeed King Cwichelm was not also a son of Cynegils.
None of the West Saxon dates give any clear evidence for the period of Cenwalh's exile, but since King Anna was killed by Penda in 654, and exiled from East Anglia by him in 651 (according to the contemporary Additamentum Nivialensis), Cenwalh's exile cannot have begun much later than 648. Furthermore, if (as William of Malmesbury states) Cenwalh was baptised by Saint Felix, this must have occurred by c. 647. Cenwalh's repudiation of Penda's sister therefore followed fairly closely upon Penda's killing of Oswald of Northumbria at Maserfeld in 642, Oswald being the godfather of Cynegils, and husband of Cenwalh's sister Cyneburh, and thus the protector of Cynegils's line in Wessex.[5] Penda was killed at the Battle of Winwaed on 15 November 655. Barbara Yorke suggests that Cenwalh returned to power in 648, D.P. Kirby places his exile in the 650s.[6]
2nd Marriage: Seaxburh of Wessex
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Cenwalh died in 672, and was succeeded by his widow, Seaxburh of Wessex (c630-c680), who held power for about a year.[7][8]
Descendants
No later kings of the West Saxons are known to be descended from Cenwalh, indeed no descendants of his are known. King Centwine is said to have been his brother, but Kirby notes the circumstantial evidence which makes this unlikely.[9]
However, if no descendants of Cenwalh held the throne in Wessex, it may be that his descendants held power in Mercia and Kent in the 9th century. The Mercian kings Coenwulf and Ceolwulf, and their brother Cuthred, King of Kent, claimed descent from an otherwise unknown brother of Penda and Eowa called Coenwalh. It has been suggested that Coenwalh was in fact this Cenwalh, brother-in-law, rather than brother, of Penda and Eowa.[10]
Siblings
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Cwichelm of Wessex (c615-636) | |||
| Cenwealh of Wessex (c618-672) | 619 Wessex, England | 672 Wessex, England | Sister of Penda Seaxburh of Wessex (c630-c674) |
| Centwine of Wessex (619-c686) | 619 Wessex, England | 686 Wessex, England | |
| Cyneburg of Wessex (c621) | |||
See Also
Bibliography
- Yorke, Barbara (1990). Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Seaby. ISBN 1-85264-027-8.
- Kirby, D.P. (1992). The Earliest English Kings. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-09086-5.
External links
- wikipedia:en:Cenwalh of Wessex
- House of Wessex - Family Tree Chart on Wikipedia
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - Pt 1 A.D. 250-750 - Online Medieval & Classical Library
- Cenwalh of Wessex at thePeerage
- Cenwalh of Wessex - Geni.com
- Anglo-Saxon and Danish Kings of England - Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
- Cenwealh 2 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
- Anglo-Saxons.net has a chronology and the texts of charters attributed to Cenwealh
- Barbara Yorke, Cenwalh, Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004
Ancestry Trees
Contemporary Sources
Anglo Saxon Chronicles
Source: Online Medieval and Classical Library Part 1 (400-750 AD)
Royal Succession Chart
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Cynegils |
King of Wessex 642–645 |
Succeeded by Penda |
| Preceded by Penda |
King of Wessex 648–672 |
Succeeded by Seaxburh as Queen of Wessex |
References
- ^ Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book III, chapter 7.
- ^ Kirby, D.P., The Earliest English Kings, pp. 51ff.; Yorke, B., Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 131ff.
- ^ Hills, C., (2003) Origins of the English, Duckworth. p. 105: "Records of the West Saxon dynasties survive in versions which have been subject to later manipulation, which may make it all the more significant that some of the founding 'Saxon' fathers have British names: Cerdic, Ceawlin, Cenwalh."
- ^ a b Bede, III, 7.
- ^ For these relationships see Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica III.7.
- ^ Kirby, p. 51; Yorke, p. 136.
- ^ Kirby, p. 52.
- ^ Barbara Yorke, Cenwalh, Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004
- ^ Kirby, p. 53.
- ^ Williams, Ann, Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England, p. 29.