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HISTORY OF EXGLANsfc

0 H A i>. The Kingdom of W E S S E X.

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I HE kingdom ofWess-x, which finally swal-lowed up all the other Saxon states, met with greatresistance on its first establishment; and the Brit-ons, who were now enured to arms, yielded nottamely their posseisions to those invaders. Cerdic,the sounder of the monarchy and his son , Ken-jic, fought many successful, and some unsuccess-ful battles, against the natives; and the martialspirit common to all (he Saxons, was, by meansof these hostilities, carried to the greatest heightamong this tribe. Ceaulin, who was the son andsuccessor of Kenric, and who began his reign in560, was still more ambitious and enterprisingthan his predecessors ; and by waging continualwar against the Britons, he added a great part ofthe counties of Devon and Somerset to his otherdominions. Carried along by the tide of success,he invaded the other Saxon states in his neigh-bourhood . and becoming terrible to all, he pro-voked a general confederacy against him. Thisalliance proved successful under the conduct ofEthelbert , king of Kent; and Ceaulin, who hadlost the affections of his own subjects by his violentdisposition, and had now fallen into contemptfrom his misfortunes, was expelled the throne II!> ,and died in exile and misery. Cuichelme, andCuthwin, his sons, governed jointly the kingdom,till the expulsion of the latter in 591, and the.

*** Chron. Sax. p. 22.