661. Wulfhere of Mercia conquers Isle of Wight, gives it to Æthelwealh of Sussex
Bede (HE, iv.13) notes that Æthelwealh of Sussex was baptized with the sponsorship of Wulfhere of Mercia, and in token of this relationship Wulfhere gave Æthelwealh the territories of Wight and of the Meonware in adjacent southern Hampshire. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle dates Wulfhere's conquest and gift of the Isle of Wight to 661, though it calls the South Saxon king "Æthelwold". South Saxon rule over Wight lasted only about twenty years, as Cædwalla of Wessex would kill Æthelwealh and ravage the Isle of Wight in the 680s (see entries on c.680?685, 686-7).