In the meantime, Caedwalla,1 a young man of great vigour, of the royal race of the Gewissae,2 an exile from his country, came with an army, slew Ethelwalch,3 and wasted that province with cruel slaughter and devastation; but he was soon expelled by Berthun and Andhun, the king’s ealdormen, who held in succession the government of the province. The first of them was afterwards killed by the same Caedwalla, when he was king of the Gewissae, and the province was reduced to more grievous slavery: Ini,4 likewise, who reigned after Caedwalla, oppressed that country with the like servitude for many years; for which reason, during all that time, they could have no bishop of their own; but their first bishop, Wilfrid, having been recalled home, they were subject to the bishop of the Gewissae, that is, the West Saxons, who were in the city of Venta.5
← IV.14 How a pestilence ceased through the intercession of King Oswald. [681-686 a.d.] · Contents · [[BEH IV.16|IV.16 How the Isle of Wight received Christian inhabitants, and two royal youths of that island were killed immediately after Baptism. [686 a.d.] →]]
Footnotes
-
C. 12, note. ↩
-
The West Saxons, v. II, 5 and note. Cf. III, 7. ↩
-
C. 13. ↩
-
v. V, 7 ad fin. Like Caedwalla, a descendant of Ceaulin, “A king who deserves the name of great” (Bright), great both as a conqueror and a legislator. He was probably the first king to introduce written law into Wessex, viz., his famous “Dooms,” enacted by a West Saxon witenagemot in the early years of his reign. ↩
-
Winchester. At this time Haedde was bishop there (c. 12). For the creation of a South Saxon bishopric v. V, 18 ad fin. ↩