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Rh had some learning. He himself refers to Isidore, Jerome, Prosper, and Eusebius, and there are also other indications that some of the Welsh monks of his day were acquainted with parts of the writings of Ovid and Cicero, with Eutychius the grammarian, and Martianus Capella.

The Mercian attack on Wales in 796 was not pressed very far, as Coenwulf soon had other work to do in repressing a rebellion which broke out in Kent. The leader of this revolt was Eadbert Praen, presumably a descendant of the old Kentish kings. For two years he had some success, and then Coenwulf captured and blinded him, and set up his own brother Cuthred instead as under-king of Kent. But this was not all. During the revolt Archbishop Aethelheard had remained loyal to the Mercian cause, in spite of the affront that Offa had put upon the see of Canterbury in 786. Rather than yield to the rebels he had gone into exile, and there exists a letter to the Kentish leaders in which Alcuin pleads for his restoration. In return for this loyal conduct Coenwulf not only restored him to his rights, but agreed with him to undo Offa's work and suppress the recently erected Mercian archbishopric. Aethelheard accordingly journeyed to Rome to lay the matter before Pope Leo III, and having obtained his approval called a synod together at Clovesho in 803 which promulgated the deprivation of Archbishop Higbert and the restoration of the old metropolitan rights of Canterbury. It might have been expected that after this the old alliance between Tamworth and Canterbury would have been effectively restored, but it was not so. Archbishop Aethelheard died in 805, and was succeeded by a Kentish man named Wulfred, an ambitious prelate who resented Mercian control and desired independence for Kent. He soon quarrelled with Coenwulf over questions of property, especially over the nunnery of Minster in Thanet and over the important estate of Harrow in Middlesex. The trouble is said to have extended over six years and to have led to appeals to the Papacy, while it is certain that the archbishop shewed his independence by coining money which does not hear any king's name. These turmoils and Welsh campaigns take up the remainder of Coenwulf's reign; but it must not be supposed that he was altogether unmindful of the claims of the Church. Existing landbooks shew that he was a benefactor to Worcester, and he is also credited with the foundation of Winchcombe Abbey. There is also some evidence that about 813 Wulfred was attempting monastic reforms at Canterbury.

Coenwulf died in 821, it is said at Basingwerk in Flint, still occupied with plans for extending the Mercian frontier westwards from Chester to the Conway. His successor was his brother Ceolwulf, who continued the Welsh policy with success, capturing the fort of Deganwy near Llandudno and overrunning Powys. Ceolwulf's accession, however, was not unchallenged, and two years later we find him deposed in favour of a duke called Beornwulf. We are quite in the dark as to Beornwulf's