resistance 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.
[FN [y] Chron. Sax. p. 22. [z] Higden, lib. 5. Chron. Sax. p. 15.
Ann. Beverl. p. 93. [a] Bede, lib 4 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 farther 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