sistance from Widred, the king, who proved successful against Mollo,
brother to Ceodwalla, and slew him in a skirmish. Ceodwalla at last,
tired with wars and bloodshed, was seized with a fit of devotion;
bestowed several endowments on the church; and made a pilgrimage to
Rome, where he received baptism, and died in 689. Ina, his successor,
inherited the military virtues of Ceodwalla, and added to them the more
valuable ones of justice, policy, and prudence. He made war upon the
Britons in Somerset; and, having finally subdued that province, he
treated the vanquished with a humanity hitherto unknown to the Saxon
conquerors. He allowed the proprietors to retain possession of their
lands, encouraged marriages and alliances between them and his ancient
subjects, and gave them the privilege of being governed by the same
laws. These laws he augmented and ascertained; and though he was
disturbed by some insurrections at home, his long reign of thirty-seven
years may be regarded as one of the most glorious and most prosperous of
the Heptarchy. In the decline of his age he made a pilgrimage to Rome;
and after his return, shut himself up in a cloister, where he died.

[* Higden, lib. v. Chron. Sax. p. 15. Alured
Beverl p. 94.]

[** Bede, lib. iv. cap., 12. Chron. Sax. p. 41.]

Though the kings of Wessex had always been princes of the blood,
descended from Cerdic, the founder of the monarchy, the order of
succession had been far from exact; and a more remote prince had often
found means to mount the throne, in preference to one descended from a
nearer branch of the royal family. Ina, therefore, having no children
of his own and lying much under the influence of Ethelburga, his queen,
left by will the succession to Adelard, her brother, who was his
remote kinsman; but this destination did not take place without some
difficulty. Oswald, a prince more nearly allied to the crown, took arms
against Adelard; but he being suppressed, and dying soon after, the
title of Adelard was not any further disputed; and in the year 741,
he was succeeded by his cousin Cudred. The reign of this prince was
distinguished by a great victory, which he obtained by means of Edelhun,
his general, over Ethelbald, king of Mercia. His death made way for
Sigebert, his kinsman, who governed so ill, that his people rose in
an insurrection, and dethroned him, crowning Cenulph in his stead. The
exiled prince found a refuge with Duke Cumbran, govern