Centwine

Centwine (also Centuuine, Centuwyne, Centwyn, Coentuuinus, Kentwine, Kentwyne ; † after 685) was from 676 to around 685 king of the Gewissæ , an ethnic group that formed the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Wessex in the late 7th century as "West Saxony" .

Life

family

Centwine comes from the House of Wessex and is considered the son of Cynegil († around 642). He was married to a sister-in-law of King Ecgfrith of Northumbria , unknown by name . Centwine was the father of the daughter Bugga. Cynreow and Aldhelm may have been his sons. Michael Lapidge put forward the thesis that Dunne, the mother of a Bugga, could be identified with Centwine's wife. However, this thesis is controversial.

Domination

Map of kingdoms and tribal areas

A politically unstable period began after King Cenwalh's death in 672. Beda Venerabilis reported that the kingdom was divided between the sub-kings. It seems likely that after Cenwalh's death the “strong hand” of a dominant king was missing and that the empire fell into sub-empires during a 10-year period of weakness.

Centwine ascended the throne in 676 as the successor to Æscwine . Centwine, like his brother Cenwalh (642–672 / 673) and his father Cynegils (611 – around 642), maintained good contacts with Northumbria, with whose royal family he was related by marriage. According to Beda, who did not mention Centwine, the reunification of the kingdom would have occurred during Centwine's reign. The banishment of his successor Caedwalla should also be seen in this context . Baldred (fl. 681-693), a relative of Centwines, appears to have continued to rule as sub-king in north Somerset and Wiltshire , while Cissa (fl.? -699?) "At the time of Centwines" as regulus ( minor king ) in Wiltshire and parts of it of Berkshire is said to have ruled.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports a battle against the British around the year 682, in which Centwine drove his opponents back "to the sea". Aldhelm narrated a total of three victorious battles, which could not be localized, but point to the continuation of the expansion to the southwest. Around 680 the west Saxon area extended at least to Exeter . The size of Wessex given in the Tribal Hidage as 100,000 hidas ( hooves ) may correspond to a somewhat later state, but Centwine certainly ruled over one of the largest Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of its time. In addition, Aldhelm praised the "just" rule of Centwines and the donations of land to newly built churches. A charter from 682 certifies a donation of land to Hæmgils, the abbot of Glastonbury Abbey .

Abdication and death

Among the churches and the founding of monasteries supported by Centwine was probably the unknown monastery, to which he retired as a monk in 685. It is unknown whether his abdication was forced or voluntary by his successor, Caedwalla . In the latter case, this was probably due to the influence of Bishop Wilfrid , who was an exile at Centwine's court for some time around 681.

Centwines death year is unknown, but he had already died at the time of King Ine (688–726) when Aldhelm wrote a poem for his daughter Bugga. The Chronicle of Glastonbury portrays Centwine as an important patron of the abbey and says that he was buried there.

swell

• anonymous: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , online in Project Gutenberg (English)
• Aldhelm : Carmen ecclesiasticum III In: Michael Lapidge, James L. Rosier (transl.): Aldhelm: the poetic works , Boydell, 1985, ISBN 9780859911467
• Æthelweard : Chronica
• Beda Venerabilis : Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum , online in the Medieval Sourcebook (English)
• Eddius Stephanus: The life of Bishop Wilfrid , chap. 40

literature

• Barbara Yorke : Wessex in the early Middle Ages (Studies in the Early History of Britain) , Continuum, 1995, ISBN 978-0718518561 .
• Barbara Yorke: Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 . PDF (6.2 MB)
• DP Kirby: The Earliest English Kings , Routledge, London-New York 2000, ISBN 978-0415242110 .
• John Cannon, Anne Hargreaves: The Kings and Queens of Britain , Oxford University Press, 2009 (2nd revised edition), ISBN 978-0-19-955922-0 .
• Clare Stancliffe: Kings who opted out . In: P. Wormald, D. Bullough, R. Collins (Eds.): Ideal and reality in Frankish and Anglo-Saxon society , 1983, pp. 154-176.

Web links

• Centwine 1 in Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE)
• Centwine in Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
• Barbara Yorke: Centwine (paid registration required). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved November 13, 2011

Remarks

1. ^ ^{A b} Simon Keynes: Kings of the West Saxons . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , pp. 511-514.
2. ↑ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 495
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Barbara Yorke: Centwine  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   (paid registration required). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved November 13, 2011
4. ↑ Centwine 1 ( Memento of the original from February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE)  
5. ^ Susan E. Kelly: Charters of Malmesbury Abbey . Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0197263174 , p. 6.
6. ↑ Charter 1429
7. ↑ Michael Lapidge: Anglo-Latin Literature 600-899, Vol 1 , Hambledon, 1996, ISBN 978-1852850111 , pp. 374-375.
8. ↑ Bugga 1 ( Memento of the original from February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE); see: Dorothy Whitelock: English Historical Documents 500-1041 , Vol 1, Routledge, London 1995 (2nd edition), ISBN 978-0-415-14366-0 , p. 494.  
9. ↑ John Cannon, Anne Hargreaves: The Kings and Queens of Britain , Oxford University Press, 2009 (2nd revised edition), ISBN 978-0-19-955922-0 , p. 55.
10. ↑ Bede : HE 4:12
11. ^ Barbara Yorke: Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 , pp. 144-147.
12. ↑ Barbara Yorke: Wessex in the early Middle Ages (Studies in the Early History of Britain) , Continuum, 1995, ISBN 978-0718518561 , pp. 57-58.
13. ↑ Barbara Yorke: Wessex in the early Middle Ages (Studies in the Early History of Britain) , Continuum, 1995, ISBN 978-0718518561 , p. 83.
14. ↑ John Hudson (Ed.): Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis. The History of the Church of Abingdon, Volume I , Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-929937-9 , pp. LXXXV; Cissa 1  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE)  
15. ↑ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 681
16. ^ Barbara Yorke: Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 , p. 137.
17. ↑ Charter S237
18. ↑ Johannes Glastoniensis (author), David Townsend (transl.), James P. Carley (ed.): The Chronicle of Glastonbury Abbey. An Edition, Translation and Study of John of Glastonbury's "Cronica Sive Antiquatates Glastoniensis Ecclesi" , Boydell & Brewer, 2009, ISBN 0-85115-859-5 , p. 31.

predecessor	Office	successor
Æscwine	King of Wessex 676–685 with Baldred (fl. 681–693), Cenred (fl. Around 670 / 676–705 / 717) and Cissa (fl.? –699?) As sub-kings	Caedwalla