Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 28.djvu/435

Rh supremacy over all the country held by the English south of the Thames. Probably before it ended he made an incursion into East Anglia and routed all the forces of the kingdom, and as his way thither lay through Essex it is natural to suppose that it was at this period that he gained supremacy over that kingdom also, including London, where he was certainly supreme before 694. It may moreover be inferred that in his war with Kent he had to deal with an alliance between that kingdom, East Anglia, and Essex, and that the submission of Wihtred was consequent upon the defeat of his allies. Some difficulties arose between Ine and the rulers of the East-Saxons in 705 about certain West-Saxon exiles who had been received in Essex. Ine was willing to come to a peaceful settlement, and agreed to meet the East-Saxon rulers at a conference at Brentford in October to submit the matter to the two bishops of the East- and West-Saxons, and to abide by their decision. In 710, in company with Nunna, his kinsman, and probably his successor as underking in Somerset, he made war on Gerent, king of the British Dyvnaint, and put him to flight. This war seems to have advanced the West-Saxon boundary from the Quantock hills, to which it had been extended by the conquests of Centwine [q.v.], over the western districts of Somerset, and it was probably during the course of it that Ine built a fortress on the Tone, from which the town of Taunton has sprung. It is not unlikely that his kingdom included some part of Devonshire, for there is reason to believe that Exeter was partly at least peopled by English in his time. Two years later died his only brother Ingild, who, as the great-grandfather of Egbert [q. v.], became the forefather of the West-Saxon kings of England. In 715 the Mercians under Ceolred [q.v.] invaded Wessex, and after a desperately contested battle at Wanborough were forced by Ine to retreat. In 715 he suppressed the rebellion of two æthelings of the race of Cerdic, and probably of the rival line of Ceol, which had been set aside after the death of Centwine. One of them, named Cynewulf, he slew; the other, Eadbriht, in 722, perhaps in alliance with the Welsh, seized on Ine's new fortress, Taunton, but was driven out by his queen Æthelburh. Eadbriht then fled for refuge to Surrey and Sussex. Ine made war on the South-Saxons, and in 725 slew the ætheling. Between 690 and 693 he published a series of laws, the earliest extant specimens of West-Saxon legislation. In the preamble he states that they were made with the counsel and teaching of his father, Cenred, of Heddi [q.v.], his bishop, and Erkenwald [q.v.], his bishop, with all his ealdormen, the witan of his people, and a large assembly of God's servants. The mention of Erkenwald shows that London was then included in his dominions. His laws are of the nature of amendments of custom, and deal chiefly with penalties and compensations for injuries. Some relate to church matters, such as the baptism of children, the payment of church-scot, and the jurisdiction of bishops. A special interest attaches to those which concern the Welsh within the West-Saxon kingdom, for they illustrate the change in the treatment of the conquered people consequent upon the acceptance of Christianity by their conquerors. Under Ine English and Welsh lived peacefully side by side, and his laws recognise the right of the Welshman to hold property, and declare the weight to be given to his oath and the legal value of his life. While he was in an inferior position to the Englishman he was protected by the law, and had a definite place in the state. Personally it is evident that Ine had some close relations with the Welsh, who seem to adopt his exploits as those of their legendary hero, Ivor, turning English victories under Ine into Welsh victories under Ivor. A wild legend makes him marry a second wife, named Wala, after whom the name Wales is said to have been adopted in place of Cambria, receiving through her Wales and Cornwall, and uniting English and Britons under his rule; it is possible that this imaginary Welsh wife may be a survival of a tradition of an actual Welsh mother. Ine was renowned for his piety as well as his vigour in war. He was a benefactor to Glastonbury, and is said to have built the first of the churches raised to the east of the ancient wooden church of British times. His preservation of the sanctuary of the conquered people may be connected with his other relations with them. While he certainly did not, as tradition asserts, place a bishop's see at Wells, it is extremely likely that he was a benefactor, if not a founder, there. At Abingdon he annulled a number of grants previously made to the monastery, but afterwards endowed it richly. A fellow-worker with his kinsman Aldhelm [q.v.], abbot of Malmesbury, he obeyed all Aldhelm's wishes and carried out his plans. Aldhelm's effort to persuade the Welsh to conform to the Roman Easter must have been agreeable to Ine, and his success may to some extent have been due to the king's influence. On the death of Bishop Heddi, Ine carried out the scheme, proposed some years before, of dividing the West-Saxon diocese by creating in 705 the bishopric of Sherborne, to which Aldhelm was