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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cuthwine, born c. 565, was a me mber of the House of Wessex, son of Ceawlin of Wessex.[1] After the de position of his father Ceawlin from the throne of Wessex in 592 he di d not inherit the throne which passed to his cousin, Ceol. Instead h e went into exile for many decades, remaining a strong leader of the S axons and passing on the royal line through his three sons. '''Earl y life''' He was born in the fifth year of his father's long reign ov er the West Saxons. He was a grandson of Cynric, the son of Cerdic, th e first of the Saxons to come across the sea from Germany; and he an d his people were still relatively out of place in a world dominated b y the Britons. Nothing is known of his early life. Ceawlin lost the t hrone of Wessex in June 592. The annal for that year in the Anglo-Saxo n Chronicle reads, at least in part: “Here there was great slaughte r at Woden’s Barrow, and Ceawlin was driven out.” Woden’s Barro w is a tumulus, now called Adam’s Grave, at Alton Priors, Wiltshire . His opponent was Ceol, the next king of Wessex, who ruled for six ye ars. Ceawlin died in exile the following year, along with Cwichelm an d Crida, his brothers and commanders of the armies is what is now Dors et and Hampshire. The origins of the battle are unclear; it is probab le that nothing more than greed and a lust for power motivated Ceol. C uthwine, then twenty-seven, was a commander in the fateful battle; bu t upon defeat, as the rightful heir to the throne, he fled the place a long with his family.[2] '''Exile''' As stated above, the followin g year (593) saw the deaths of his father and uncles in unclear circum stances, although likely in another battle. Cuthwine escaped from thi s defeat also, and went into exile to the east with his young family ( see below). For the first few years at least he lived as an outlaw, al though his persecution seems to have waned somewhat when Ceol was supp lanted by his brother. Ceol, described as a ruthless leader, was a so n of Cutha (the brother of Ceawlin and a son of Cynric) and hence a co usin of Cuthwine; and Ceolwulf, his brother, reigned for seventeen yea rs after him. Great fragmentation of control among the West Saxons occ urred at this time: Ceol and Ceolwulf were in control of Wiltshire, a s opposed to the upper Thames valley where Cuthwine and his househol d were almost certainly based. Other factions are believed to have exi sted in Devon and Gloucestershire as the house of Ceol struggled to in crease their supremacy over Wessex. If Ceol and Ceolwulf made effort s to eradicate the members of the original branch of the ruling family , they were unsuccessful. At any rate Cuthwine remained at large durin g this period and some sources indicate that around the year 605 Ceolw ulf may have been forced into a power-sharing deal with him, his broth er (with whom he had previously shared power) having been dead seven y ears. At any rate, Cuthwine was far from a fugitive after the first fe w years of his supposed exile. In his princely years before the deat h of his father Cuthwine had at least three sons; Cynebald, born 585 ; Cedda, born 590, and Cutha Cathwulf, born 592. The name of their mot her is not recorded, but it is possible that she died in the tumult su rrounding Cuthwine's flight into exile given that Cuthwine had no mor e children after that time. Cedda became the father of Coenberht, in t urn the Caedwalla of Wessex and his brother Mul of Kent, both kings i n later years. Through Cutha Cathwulf, Cuthwine's youngest son, were u ltimately descended the Kings of Wessex after the line of Ceol becam e extinct in 685. '''Later life''' He lived a long life, remaining i n a powerful position throughout the reign of Cynegils son of Ceol; an d then Cenwalh, son of Cynegils, became king. In the year 645 Penda o f Mercia overran the kingdom (in return for Cenwalh's repudiation of P enda's sister) and was for three years king, sending Cenwalh into exil e in East Anglia. Cuthwine is recorded as having been present at the n egotiations along with his sons, but little more is known of his activ ities. Nevertheless, much can be deduced. If this experienced prince w as not the sole ruler of Wessex during the years of Cenwalh's exile (n aturally in a subservient position to Penda) then it is likely that h e was a member of the ruling body; but, given the tangled diplomacy o f the times and his eastern power base, it is equally likely that he a ided Cenwalh in his successful attempt to regain the throne in 648. A fter this, he appears infrequently as a shadowy figure, apparently alr eady passing into legend among the common people as a result of his lo ng-held position against the (at times) brutal role of Ceol and his fa mily. There is reason to suggest that he was already dead by this time ; at any rate he would have been past eighty by the beginning of Cenwa lh's reign and it seems inconceivable that he would have lived to se e the reinstatement of his line to the throne of Wessex. This enigmat ic prince and his long roster of descendants were not forgotten by th e West Saxons, however. When the line of Ceol finally became extinct , first Caedwalla of Wessex and then Ine of Wessex became king; both g reat-grandsons of Cuthwine. Nowadays he occurs in many places simply a s one of a long list of names in the descent from Egbert back to the d awn of time, but it is thanks to him that this continuous descent ca n be traced at all.[3] '''References''' ^ "Prince Cuthwine of Wessex ." Render Plus. 20 April 2009 [1] ^ Yorke, Barbara (1990). Kings an d Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Seaby. ISBN 1-85264-0 27-8. ^ Kirby, D.P. (1992). The Earliest English Kings. London: Routl edge. ISBN 0-415-09086-5.