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Cynegils of Wessex

Cynegils (23 May 587 — 5 September 642) was the King of Wessex from 611 until his death in 642. He was the son of King Ceol who died when Cynegils was young. He succeeded his uncle who was Ceol's younger brother, Ceolwulf, as king. During his reign, the kingdom expanded into northern Wiltshire and Somerset, southern Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, and western Berkshire. He is depicted as one of Wessex's greatest and most powerful kings ever.

Cynegils
A Portrait of Cynegils in a Cathedral
A Portrait of Cynegils in a Cathedral
King of the West Saxons (more...)
Reign 22 April 611 — 5 September 642
Coronation 26 April 611
Predecessor Ceolwulf
Successor Cenwalh
Issue
House Wessex
Father Ceol of Wessex
Religion

King in Wessex

Cynegils was the grandson of Cutha.[1] He was the son of Ceol of Wessex[2] and probably the nephew of Ceolwulf.[3] He ruled jointly with his son Cwichelm.[4] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 614 says Cynegils and Cwichelm fought together at a place named Beandun. The account said they slew two thousand sixty-five Welsh.[5] This was a major victory for the West Saxons.[3] Cynegils had some setbacks however during the middle of his reign. His son Cwichelm sent someone to try to kill King Edwin of Northumbria.[6] When Edwin attacked Wessex in retaliation five Kings of Wessex were killed.[a][7] The Northumbrian attack weakened the West Saxon army. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 628 says that Cyngils, king of Wessex, and Cwichelm his son 'fought with Penda at Cirencester and came to an agreement with him there'.[9] The 'agreement' seems to have been to give Cirencester to Penda.[10] So this was a defeat for Cynegils and his son Cwichelm and a permanent loss of Cirencester.[7]

In 634 Pope Honorius I sent Bishop Birinus to England.[3] When he reached the territory of the Gewisse (Wessex) he found them almost completely pagan. He began to convert the West Saxons to Christianity. In 635 Cynegils was baptized by Birinus and King Oswald of Northumbria stood as his Godfather.[11] This may have been a condition of the marriage between Oswald and Cynegils's daughter, Cyneburh.[12] He gave Bishop Birinus the city of Dorchester and several churches so he could convert the pagans in Wessex.[13] The conversion took some time to complete and several kings who followed were either pagan or converted to Christianity later in their reigns.[12]

Cwichelm, his son, ruling as either co-king or underking, died in 636.[4] From that time on Cynegils seems to have ruled Wessex by himself until his death in 643. He was succeeded by his son Cenwalh.[14] Cynegils's reign marked the turning point for Wessex from bands of warriors to the beginnings of a united kingdom.[12]

Family

Cynegils had the following children:

Cynegils Of Wessex Media

  • Map of British peoples c. 600

  • Mortuary chest at Winchester Cathedral which purportedly held Cynegils's remains. It contains the bones of several individuals as the bones from it and other mortuary chests were scattered during the Civil War.

Notes

  1. ↑ Evidence suggests that there were several 'kings' in the West Saxon royal family at the same time. So the Northumbrian attack probably killed five members of the royal house of Wessex.[7] It may have been a custom of the time to give the title 'king' to all of the war leaders in the royal family.[8] But one king would be the overlord of the kingdom.[8]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 77; Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens (New york: Carroll & Graf, 1999), p. 303
  2. ↑ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 77
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens (New york: Carroll & Graf, 1999), p. 303
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Barbara Yorke. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England (London: Routledge, 1997), p. 143
  5. ↑ Benjamin Thorpe, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle according to the Several Original Authorities: Translation (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1861), p. 19
  6. ↑ Benjamin Thorpe, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle according to the Several Original Authorities: Translation (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1861), p. 20
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Peter Hunter Blair, Roman Britain and Early England; 55 B.C.–A.D. 871 (New York; London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1966), p. 206
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 66
  9. ↑ Benjamin Thorpe, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle according to the Several Original Authorities: Translation (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1861), p. 21
  10. ↑ Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 45
  11. ↑ Benjamin Thorpe, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle according to the Several Original Authorities: Translation (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1861), p. 22
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens (New york: Carroll & Graf, 1999), p. 304
  13. ↑ Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, trans. Leo Sherley Price, revsd. R. E. Latham (London; New York: Penguin Books, 1990), p. 153
  14. ↑ Peter Hunter Blair, Roman Britain and Early England; 55 B.C.–A.D. 871 (New York; London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1966), p. 207

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