CHAP.

I.

i

Sr HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

doms, as well as to Wales, it received its namefrom that circumstance. Wibba, the son of Crida,founder of the monarchy, being placed on thethrone by Ethelbert, king of Kent, governed hispaternal dominions by a precarious authority;and after his death, Ceorl, his kinsman, was,by the influence of the Kentish monarch, prefer-red to his son, Penda, whose turbulent characterappeared dangerous to that prince. Penda wasthus fifty years of age before he mounted thethrone ; and his temerity and restless dispositionwere found nowise abated by time, experience,or reflection. He engaged in continual hostilitiesagainst all the neighbouring states; and , by hisinjustice and violence, rendered himself equallyodious to his own subjects and to strangers. Sige-bert, Egric, and Annas, three kings of East-Anglia, perished successively in battle against him;as did also Edwin and Oswald, the two greatestprinces that had reigned over Northumberland. Atlast, Oswy, brother to Oswald, having defeatedand slain him in a decisive battle, freed theworld from this sanguinary tyrant. Peada, hisson, mounted the throne of Mercia in 655 , andlived under the protection of Oswy, whosedaughter he had espoused. This princess waseducated in the Christian faith , and she employedher influence with success , in converting herhusband and his subjects to that religion. Thusthe fair sex have had the merit of introducing theChristian doctrine into all the most considerablekingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy. Peada died