Ceawlin of Wessex - Wessex at Ceawlin's Death

Wessex At Ceawlin's Death

Ceawlin lost the throne of Wessex in 592. The annal for that year reads, in part: "Here there was great slaughter at Woden's Barrow, and Ceawlin was driven out." Woden's Barrow is a tumulus, now called Adam's Grave, at Alton Priors, Wiltshire. No details of his opponent are given. The medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury, writing in about 1120, says that it was "the Angles and the British conspiring together", Alternatively, it may have been Ceol, who is supposed to have been the next king of Wessex, ruling for six years according to the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ceawlin died the following year. The relevant part of the annal reads: "Here Ceawlin and Cwichelm and Crida perished." Nothing more is known of Cwichelm and Crida, although they may have been members of the Wessex royal house – their names fit the alliterative pattern common to royal houses of the time.

According to the Regnal List, Ceol was a son of Cutha, who was a son of Cynric; and Ceolwulf, his brother, reigned for seventeen years after him. It is possible that some fragmentation of control among the West Saxons occurred at Ceawlin's death: Ceol and Ceolwulf may have been based in Wiltshire, as opposed to the upper Thames valley. This split also may have contributed to Æthelberht's ability to rise to dominance in southern England. The West Saxons remained influential in military terms, however: the Chronicle and Bede record continued military activity against Essex and Sussex within twenty or thirty years of Ceawlin's death.