Ine of Wessex

Ine, king of the West Saxons, succeeded Ceadwalla in 688, his title to the crown being derived from Ceawlin.

In the earlier part of his reign he was at war with Kent, but peace was made in 694, when the men of Kent gave compensation for the death of Mul, brother of Ceadwalla, whom they had burned in 687. In 710 Ine, in alliance with his kinsman Nun, probably king of Sussex, defeated Geraint of Dumnonia, according to Florence of Worcester. In 715 he fought a battle with Ceolred, king of Mercia, at Woodborough in Wiltshire, but the result is not recorded.

Shortly after this time a quarrel seems to have arisen in the royal family. In 721 Ine slew Cynewulf, and in 722 his queen Æthelburg destroyed Taunton, which her husband had built earlier in his reign. In 722 the South Saxons, previously subject to Ine, rose against him under the exile Aldbryht, who may have been a member of the West Saxon royal house. In 725 Ine fought with the South Saxons and slew Aldbryht.

In 726 he resigned the crown and went to Rome, being succeeded by Aethelheard in Wessex. Ine is said to have built the minster at Glastonbury. The date of his death is not recorded. He issued a written code of laws for Wessex, which is still preserved.

See Bede, Hist. Eccl. (Plummer), iv. 15, v. 7; Saxon Chronicle (Earle and Plummer), sa. 688, 694, 710, 715, 721, 722, 725, 728; Thorpe, Ancient Laws, i. 2-25; Schmid, Geseize der Angelsachsen (Leipzig, 1858); Liebermann, Gesetze der Angelsachsen (Halle, 1898—99).

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.