Ceawlin in a sentence

Ceawlin is also named as one of the eight " bretwaldas ", a title given in the Chronicle to eight rulers who had overlordship over southern Britain, although the extent of Ceawlin's control is not known.

Stenton, p. 29, accepts the date given for Ceawlin's accession in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 560, but Barbara Yorke in her online DNB article on Ceawlin states that his reign seems to have been deliberately lengthened.

Emma became the chatelaine of the Longleat Estate in Wiltshire when she married Ceawlin Thynn, Viscount Weymouth, who is the heir of the 7th Marquess of Bath, Alexander Thynn, 87.

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ceawlin died the following year.

At some point Ceawlin ceased to hold the title of bretwalda, perhaps after a battle at Stoke Lyne, in Oxfordshire, which the Chronicle dates to 584, some eight years before he was deposed in 592 (again using the Chronicle's unreliable dating).

Bede also makes it clear that Ceawlin was not a Christian—Bede mentions a later king, Æthelberht of Kent, as "the first to enter the kingdom of heaven".

Bede names Ceawlin as the second on the list, although he spells it "Caelin", and adds that he was "known in the speech of his own people as Ceaulin".

Ceawlin defeated Æthelberht in 568 according to the Chronicle.

Ceawlin's campaigns are not given as near the coast.

Ceawlin was active during the last years of the Anglo-Saxon expansion, with little of southern England remaining in the control of the native Britons by the time of his death.

Cuthwulf's relationship with Ceawlin is unknown, but the alliteration common to Anglo-Saxon royal families suggests Cuthwulf may be part of the West Saxon royal line.

D.N. Dumville, "The West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List and the chronology of Wessex", 1985, cited in Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, p. 133. The sources do agree that Ceawlin is the son of Cynric and he usually is named as the father of Cuthwine.

For the earlier bretwaldas, such as Ælle and Ceawlin, there must be some element of anachronism in Bede's description.

If this battle is placed near the year 590, before Æthelberht has established himself as a powerful king, then the subsequent annals relating to Ceawlin's defeat and death may be reasonably close to the correct date.

It also has been used to argue that perhaps, Ceawlin did not win the battle and that the chronicler chose not to record the outcome fully – a king does not usually come home "in anger" after taking "many towns and countless war-loot".

It is possible that some fragmentation of control among the West Saxons occurred at Ceawlin's death: Ceol and Ceolwulf may have been based in Wiltshire, as opposed to the upper Thames valley.

It is possible that when Ceawlin and Cuthwine took Bath, they found the Roman baths still operating to some extent.

It may be that Ceawlin's overlordship of the southern Britons came to an end with this battle.

Kirby, Earliest English Kings, p. 17. The prior bretwalda, Ceawlin, is recorded by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as having fought Æthelberht in 568. The entry states that Æthelberht lost the battle and was driven back to Kent.

Some of the problems in the Wessex genealogies may have come about because of efforts to integrate Ceawlin's line with the other lineages: it was very important to the West Saxons to be able to trace their ancestors back to Cerdic.