Cynegils of Wessex

**Cynegils** (23 May 587 — 5 September 642) was the King of Wessex from 611 to his death. 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.

## King in Wessex

Cynegils was the grandson of Cutha, the son of Ceol of Wessex and probably the nephew of Ceolwulf. He ruled jointly with his son Cwichelm. The A_nglo-Saxon Chronicle_ for 614 states that Cynegils and Cwichelm fought together at a place named Beandun and that they killed 2065 Welsh. That was a major victory for the West Saxons.

Cynegils had some setbacks, however, during the middle of his reign. His son Cwichelm sent someone to try to kill King Edwin of Northumbria. When Edwin attacked Wessex in retaliation, five kings of Wessex were killed. The Northumbrian attack weakened the West Saxon army. The _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ for 628 states that Cyngils, king of Wessex, and his son Cwichelm 'fought with Penda at Cirencester and came to an agreement with him there'. The 'agreement' seems to have been to give Cirencester to Penda. That would bw a defeat for Cynegils and for Cwichelm and a permanent loss of Cirencester.

In 634, Pope Honorius I sent Bishop Birinus to England. When he reached the territory of the Gewisse (Wessex), he found them to be 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. That may have been a condition of the marriage between Oswald and Cynegils's daughter, Cyneburh. He gave Birinus the city of Dorchester and several churches to could convert the pagans in Wessex. The conversion took some time to complete, and several kings who followed were pagan or converted to Christianity only later in their reigns.

Cwichelm, his son, ruled as either co-king or underking and died in 636. From then onward, Cynegils seems to have ruled Wessex by himself until his death in 643. He was succeeded by his son Cenwalh. Cynegils's reign marked the turning point for Wessex from being bands of warriors to starting to be a united kingdom.

## Family

Cynegils had the following children:
- Cwichelm (died 636), ruled with his father
- Cenwalh (died 672), succeeded his father as King of Wessex
- Centwine, King of Wessex
- Cyneburh, in 635 married King Oswald of Northumbria

## Other websites

- Britannia: Kings of Wessex

## Infobox (royalty)

- **name**: Cynegils
- **caption**: A Portrait of Cynegils in a Cathedral
- **succession**: List of monarchs of Wessex, King of the West Saxons
- **moretext**: (Style of the British sovereign#West Saxon sovereigns, more...)
- **reign**: 22 April 611 — 5 September 642
- **coronation**: 26 April 611
- **predecessor**: Ceolwulf of Wessex, Ceolwulf
- **successor**: Cenwalh of Wessex, Cenwalh
- **issue-type**: Issue (genealogy), Issue
- **house**: House of Wessex, Wessex
- **father**: Ceol of Wessex
- **birth place**: Winchester, Hampshire, Kingdom of Wessex, Wessex (present-day England)
- **death place**: London, Kingdom of Essex, Essex
- **burial date**: 26 September 642
- **burial place**: Winchester Cathedral