642. Cynegils of Wessex dies (?)
Cenwealh, Cynegils's son, succeeds to Wessex
Bede notes that Cenwealh refused the Christian faith which his father had accepted (HE, iii.7), and goes on to relate how he lost his earthly kingdom as well. He had been married to Penda's sister, and when he cast her aside Penda drove him into exile for three years (645-8). He took refuge at the court of Anna of the East Angles, and became a Christian there. After Cenwealh's restoration, a Frankish bishop called Agilbert who had been studying in Ireland came to the West Saxon court, and was pressed to stay on as bishop for the West Saxons. (The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle dates Agilbert's appointment to 650.) This arrangement continued for many years, until Cenwealh appointed a new bishop at Winchester, where he ordered that a minster be built (see entry on 660), and Agilbert retired to Gaul.
The name of Penda's sister, Cenwealh's earlier wife, is not recorded. He later married a woman called Seaxburh, about whom very little is known, but she ruled the West Saxons for a year after his death in 672. He fought battles in 652 (perhaps a civil strife), 658 (against the Britons), and 661 (against Wulfhere of Mercia). He seems to have shared his authority with Cuthred, son of his brother Cwichelm (see entry on 648), and also with Cenberht, father of Cædwalla, who is called King Cenberht in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle when it notes his death in 661. Bede reports that Cenwealh suffered heavy losses at the hands of his enemies, and it was this which led him to ask Agilbert to come back as bishop of the West Saxons, which led to Agilbert sending his nephew Leuthere (HE, iii.7); the only record of these losses in the Chronicle is the note of Wulfhere of Mercia's raid on Ashdown in 661, but this might well have been part of a prolonged campaign.