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166 THE GENEALOGY OF THE April and that this rule had been neglected in Kent between Edric and Wihtred and in Wessex between Cenwalh and Ceadwalla. If so, it is impossible to believe that Centwine was the son of King Cynegils, and therefore the brother of King Cenwalh : other- wise his claim to the throne would have been far better than Ceadwalla's. Moreover, St. Aldhelm's poem supplies us with negative evidence which points in the same direction. The poem was intended as a compliment to Bugge, the daughter of King Centwine. It is as Bugge's father that Centwine finds a place in the poem. After Centwine, the poet mentions his successors Ceadwalla and Ine, who were only distant kinsmen of Bugge. Is it conceivable that the name of King Cynegils, the first Christian king of Wessex, should have been omitted from this poem, the subject of which was the building of Bugge's new church, if he had really been Bugge's grandfather ? It seems clear, therefore, that the Cynegils of the annal of 676 was not the king of the West Saxons of that name. If his father Ceolwulf is to be identified with Ceolwulf Cynricing of the annal of 674, we must assume that some names have been accidentally lost in the annal of 676, the immediate cause of this omission being the similarity of the names Cuthgils and Cynegils. Accordingly, Cent wine's pedigree would have to be conjecturaUy reconstructed as follows : Centwine Cynegilsing, Cynegils Cen- ferthing, Cenferth Cuthgilsing, Cuthgils Ceolwulfing. Such a re- construction, however, would be too bold to command general confidence, and, fortunately, it is not necessary. Besides the Ceolwulf of the annal of 674, we have King Ceolwulf, the pre- decessor of King Cynegils. If King Ceolwulf left a son, who was too young to succeed him in 611, that son may well have been the Cynegils whose son Centwine came to the throne in 676. x If we may trust the preface, King Ceolwulf was the brother of Cuth- wine Ceawlining, 2 and we obtain the pedigree printed on p. 167. In the tables of the genealogy of the West Saxon kings as they are commonly printed, not only does the rule of succession appear to be chaotic, but kings and athelings whom we know to have been contemporaries are separated by two or more generations. 3 The pedigree now proposed is entirely free from over in favour of iEscwine, who, if our pedigree is right, also passed over Centwine. In 676 Cenred was again passed over, this time for Centwine. In 685 Ceadwalla was, perhaps, rightly chosen in preference to Cenred, but in 688 we have a still greater surprise, for Cenred is then for a third time passed over and this time in favour of his own son, Ine. 1 If the text of the annal of 676 is sound, it is almost necessary to assume that Ceolwulf is the king of that name, since all the other genealogical fragments are carried back to the name of a king. 2 Cynegils Cuthwining was, according to the preface, King Ceolwulf 's brother's son. 3 Thus iEscwine, who reigned from 674 to 676, is placed in the sixth generation from I'ynrie, while Centwine, who reigned from 676 to 685, is placed in the fourth generation