King Ine
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Ine or Ini (died in or after 726) was
King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
of
Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...
from 689 to 726. At Ine's accession, his kingdom dominated much of what is now
southern England Southern England, also known as the South of England or the South, is a sub-national part of England. Officially, it is made up of the southern, south-western and part of the eastern parts of England, consisting of the statistical regions of ...
. However, he was unable to retain the territorial gains of his predecessor,
Cædwalla Cædwalla (; 659 – 20 April 689) was the King of Wessex from approximately 685 until he abdicated in 688. His name is derived from the Welsh Cadwallon. He was exiled from Wessex as a youth and during this period gathered forces and attac ...
of Wessex, who had expanded West Saxon territory substantially. By the end of Ine's reign, the kingdoms of
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
,
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
, and
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
were no longer under West Saxon sway; however, Ine maintained control of what is now
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, and consolidated and extended Wessex's territory in the western peninsula. Ine is noted for his code of laws (''Ines asetnessa'' or "laws of Ine"), which he issued in about 694. These laws were the first issued by an
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
king outside Kent. They shed much light on the history of Anglo-Saxon society, and reveal Ine's Christian convictions. Trade increased significantly during Ine's reign, with the town of Hamwic (now
Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
) becoming prominent. It was probably during Ine's reign that the West Saxons began to mint coins, though none have been found that bear his name. Ine abdicated in 726 to go to Rome, leaving, in the words of the contemporary chronicler
Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...
, the kingdom to "younger men". He was succeeded by Æthelheard.


Genealogy and accession

Early sources agree that Ine was the son of Cenred, and that Cenred was the son of Ceolwald; further back there is less agreement.Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', pp. 42–43. Ine was born around 670 and his siblings included a brother, Ingild, and two sisters,
Cuthburh Saint Cuthburh or Cuthburg, Cuthburga (; died 31 August 725) was the first Abbess of Wimborne Minster. She was the sister of Ine, King of Wessex and was married to the Northumbrian king Aldfrith. Life Cuthburh was the daughter of Cenred of W ...
and Cwenburg. Ingild is given by the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies as ancestor of king
Egbert of Wessex Ecgberht (died 839), also spelled Egbert, Ecgbert, Ecgbriht, Ecgbeorht, and Ecbert, was King of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839. His father was King Ealhmund of Kent. In the 780s, Ecgberht was forced into exile to Charlemagne's court i ...
and the subsequent kings of England. Cuthburh was married to King
Aldfrith of Northumbria Aldfrith (Early Modern Irish: ''Flann Fína mac Ossu''; Latin: ''Aldfrid'', ''Aldfridus''; died 14 December 704 or 705) was king of Northumbria from 685 until his death. He is described by early writers such as Bede, Alcuin and Stephen of Ripon ...
,Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p. 143. and Ine himself was married to Æthelburg.
Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...
tells that Ine was "of the blood royal", by which he means the royal line of the Gewisse, the early West Saxon tribal name.Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', quoted from Leo Sherley-Price's translation, p. 276. The genealogy of Ine is known from the
Anglian King-list The Anglian collection is a collection of Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies and regnal lists. These survive in four manuscripts; two of which now reside in the British Library. The remaining two belong to the libraries of Corpus Christi College, Cambr ...
, the
West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List The West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List (also known as the West Saxon Regnal Table, West Saxon Regnal List, and Genealogical Preface to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'') is the name given in modern scholarship to a list of West-Saxon kings (which ha ...
(which may share a common source with the Anglian King-list) and the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...
'' (which certainly drew on and adapted an early version of the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List, alongside other sources). Both the Regnal List and ''Chronicle'' were put into their present form in the late ninth century, probably at the court of
Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...
, and show scholars at pains both to emphasise that all West-Saxon kings descended from Cerdic and to put Cerdic's foundation of the dynasty earlier than their sources claimed, yet nonetheless are often at variance.Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', pp. 128–129, 142–143. Ine's predecessor on the throne of Wessex was
Cædwalla Cædwalla (; 659 – 20 April 689) was the King of Wessex from approximately 685 until he abdicated in 688. His name is derived from the Welsh Cadwallon. He was exiled from Wessex as a youth and during this period gathered forces and attac ...
, but there is some uncertainty about the transition from Cædwalla to Ine. Cædwalla abdicated in 688 and departed for
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
to be baptized. According to the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List, Ine reigned for 37 years, abdicating in 726. These dates imply that he did not gain the throne until 689, which could indicate an unsettled period between Cædwalla's abdication and Ine's accession. Ine may have ruled alongside his father, Cenred, for a period: there is weak evidence for joint kingships, and stronger evidence of subkings reigning under a dominant ruler in Wessex, not long before this time.Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.145–146 Ine acknowledges his father's help in his code of laws,Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p. 122. and there is also a surviving land-grant that indicates Cenred was still reigning in Wessex after Ine's accession.Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p. 120.


Reign

The extent of West Saxon territory at the start of Ine's reign is fairly well known. The upper
Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...
valley on both sides of the river had long been the territory of the Gewisse, though Cædwalla had lost territory north of the river to the kingdom of
Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...
before Ine's accession. To the west,
Ceawlin of Wessex Ceawlin ( ; also spelled Ceaulin, Caelin, Celin, died ''ca.'' 593) was a King of Wessex. He may have been the son of Cynric of Wessex and the grandson of Cerdic of Wessex, whom the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' represents as the leader of the ...
is known to have reached the
Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...
one hundred years before.Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 29. The West Saxons had since expanded further down the southwestern peninsula, pushing back the boundary with the British kingdom of
Dumnonia Dumnonia is the Latinised name for a Brythonic kingdom that existed in Sub-Roman Britain between the late 4th and late 8th centuries CE in the more westerly parts of present-day South West England. It was centred in the area of modern Devon, ...
, which was probably roughly equivalent to modern
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
and
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
.Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 72–73. On the West Saxons' eastern border was the kingdom of the East Saxons, which included
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and what is now
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
. To the southeast were the
South Saxons The Kingdom of the South Saxons, today referred to as the Kingdom of Sussex (; from , in turn from or , meaning "(land or people of/Kingdom of) the South Saxons"), was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon Englan ...
, on the coast east of the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
. Beyond Sussex lay the kingdom of Kent.Blair, ''Roman Britain'', p. 209. Ine's predecessor, Cædwalla, had made himself overlord of most of these southern kingdoms,Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', pp. 137–138. though he had not been able to prevent Mercian inroads along the upper Thames. Ine retained control of the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
, and made further advances in Dumnonia, but the territorial gains Cædwalla had made in Sussex, Surrey and Kent were all lost by the end of Ine's reign.


Kent, Essex, Sussex, and Surrey

Ine made peace with
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
in 694 when its king Wihtred gave Ine a substantial sum in compensation for the death of Cædwalla's brother Mul, who had been killed during a Kentish rebellion in 687. The value of the amount offered to Ine by Wihtred is uncertain; most manuscripts of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' record "thirty thousand", and some specify thirty thousand pounds. If the pounds are equal to sceattas, then this amount is the equal of a king's
weregild Weregild (also spelled wergild, wergeld (in archaic/historical usage of English), weregeld, etc.), also known as man price ( blood money), was a precept in some historical legal codes whereby a monetary value was established for a person's life, ...
—that is, the legal valuation of a man's life, according to his rank.Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', 40–41, note 3.Lapidge, Michael (ed.), "Wergild", in ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 469. Ine kept the
South Saxons The Kingdom of the South Saxons, today referred to as the Kingdom of Sussex (; from , in turn from or , meaning "(land or people of/Kingdom of) the South Saxons"), was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon Englan ...
, who had been conquered by Cædwalla in 686, in subjugation for a period.Lapidge, Michael (ed.), "Ine", in ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 251. King Nothhelm of Sussex is referred to in a charter of 692 as a kinsman of Ine (perhaps by marriage).Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p. 125–126. Sussex was still under West Saxon domination in 710, when Nothhelm is recorded as having campaigned with Ine in the west against Dumnonia. Control of Surrey, which may never have been an independent kingdom, passed between Kent, Mercia, Essex, and Wessex in the years before Ine's reign. Essex also included London, and the diocese of London included Surrey; this appears to have been a source of friction between Ine and the East Saxon and Mercian kings until the province was transferred to the diocese of Winchester in 705.Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 49. Evidence for Ine's early control of Surrey comes from the introduction to his laws, in which he refers to Eorcenwald, bishop of London, as "my bishop". See under "Event" and "Law-making/legislation" Ine's subsequent relations with the East Saxons are illuminated by a letter written in 704 or 705 by Bishop Wealdhere of London to Brihtwold, the
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
. The letter refers to "disputes and discords" that had arisen "between the king of the West Saxons and the rulers of our country". The rulers that Wealdhere refers to are Sigeheard and Swæfred of the East Saxons, and the cause of the discord was the East Saxons' sheltering of exiles from the West Saxons. Ine had agreed to peace on the condition that the exiles were expelled. A council at
Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...
was planned to resolve the disputes.A translation of Wealdhere's letter can be found in Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', p. 729. By this point Surrey had clearly passed out of West Saxon control. Bede records that Ine held Sussex in subjection for "several years",Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', quoted from Leo Sherley-Price's translation, p. 230. but in 722 an exile named Ealdbert fled to Surrey and Sussex, and Ine invaded Sussex as a result. Three years later Ine invaded again, this time killing Ealdberht. Sussex had evidently broken away from West Saxon domination some time before this. It has been suggested that Ealdberht was a son of Ine, or a son of Ine's brother Ingild.Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p. 131 & note 75.


Dumnonia and Mercia

In 710, Ine and Nothhelm fought against Geraint of Dumnonia, according to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'';
John of Worcester John of Worcester (died c. 1140) was an English monk and chronicler who worked at Worcester Priory. He is now usually held to be the author of the . Works John of Worcester's principal work was the (Latin for "Chronicle from Chronicles") or ...
states that Geraint was killed in this battle.John of Worcester was a twelfth-century chronicler who had access to versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that have not survived to the present day. See Campbell (ed.), ''The Anglo-Saxons'', p. 222. For the chronicle text, see Forester, ''Chronicle'', p. 36. It has traditionally been thought that Ine's advance brought him control of what is now
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
, the new border with Dumnonia being the
river Tamar The Tamar (; ) is a river in south west England that forms most of the border between Devon (to the east) and Cornwall (to the west). A large part of the valley of the Tamar is protected as the Tamar Valley National Landscape (an Area of Outsta ...
. However, this does not match with subsequent events such as the Battle of Hehil or Athelstan driving the Britons from Isca (Exeter). The ''
Annales Cambriae The (Latin for ''Annals of Wales'') is the title given to a complex of Latin chronicles compiled or derived from diverse sources at St David's in Dyfed, Wales. The earliest is a 12th-century presumed copy of a mid-10th-century original; later ...
'', a tenth-century chronicle,Higham, ''King Arthur'', p. 170. records that in 722 the British defeated their enemies at the Battle of Hehil. The "enemies" must be Ine or his people, but the location is unidentified; historians have suggested locations in both Cornwall and Devon.Todd & Fleming, ''The Southwest'', p. 273. Ine fought a battle at Woden's Barrow in Wiltshire in 715, either against the
Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...
ns under Ceolred or together with them against an unnamed opponent; the result is not recorded. Woden's Barrow is a
tumulus A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...
, now called
Adam's Grave Adam's Grave was a Neolithic British Isles, Neolithic long barrow near Alton Barnes in Wiltshire, southwest England. Its remains have been scheduled as an ancient monument. The barrow is considered to be of the Severn-Cotswold tomb type. These g ...
, at Alton Prior,
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
.Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', p. 14. Ine may not have recovered any of the lands north of the Thames that had belonged to the West Saxons under previous kings, but it is known that he controlled the southern bank: a charter dated 687 shows him giving land to the church at Streatley on the Thames and at nearby
Basildon Basildon ( ) is a town in Borough of Basildon, the borough of the same name, in the county of Essex, England. It had a recorded population of 115,955 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. In 1931, the town had a population of 1,159. ...
.


Other conflicts

In 721, the ''Chronicle'' records that Ine slew one Cynewulf, of whom nothing else is known, though his name suggests a connection to the Wessex royal line. A quarrel apparently arose in the royal family soon afterwards: in 722, according to the ''Chronicle'', Ine's queen Æthelburg destroyed
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...
, which her husband had built earlier in his reign, around 710.


Internal affairs

The first mention of the office of
ealdorman Ealdorman ( , )"ealdorman"
''Collins English Dictionary''. was an office in the Government ...
in Wessex, and the first references to the shires they led, occur during Ine's reign. It may have been Ine who divided Wessex into something approximating the modern counties of Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, and Dorset, though earlier administrative boundaries might also have influenced these borders. It has also been suggested that these counties began as divisions of the kingdom among members of the royal family. By about 710, in the middle of Ine's reign, the trading settlement of Hamwic had become established on the west bank of the river Itchen; the site is now part of the modern city of
Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
. The goods traded at this port included glass vessels, and finds of animal bones suggest an active trade in hides. Further evidence of trade comes from finds of imported goods such as quernstones, whetstones, and pottery; and finds of sceattas from the town include Frisian coins. Specialist trades carried on in the town included cloth-making, smithying, and metalworking. It is not known whether Ine took an interest in Hamwic, but some of the goods he favoured, including luxuries, were imported there, and the merchants would probably have needed royal protection. The total population of Hamwic has been estimated at 5,000, and this high population itself implies Ine's involvement, since no-one but the king would have been able to arrange to feed and house such a large group of people.Campbell (ed.), ''The Anglo-Saxons'', p. 102.Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', pp. 139–140. The growth of trade after about 700 was paralleled by an expansion of the area of circulation of the sceat, the common coin of the day, to include the upper Thames valley. It is thought that the first West Saxon coinage was minted during Ine's reign, though no coins bearing his name have been found—sceattas typically gave no hint of the reigning king.


Laws

The earliest Anglo-Saxon law code to survive, which may date from 602 or 603, is that of
Æthelberht of Kent Æthelberht (; also Æthelbert, Aethelberht, Aethelbert or Ethelbert; ; 550 â€“ 24 February 616) was Kings of Kent, King of Kingdom of Kent, Kent from about 589 until his death. The eighth-century monk Bede, in his ''Ecclesiastical Hist ...
, whose reign ended in 616.Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', p. 357.Attenborough
The laws of the earliest English kings, pp. 4–17
/ref> In the 670s or 680s, a code was issued in the names of Hlothhere and Eadric of Kent.Attenborough
The laws of the earliest English kings, pp. 18–23
/ref> The next kings to issue laws were
Wihtred of Kent Wihtred () ( â€“ 23 April 725) was king of Kent from about 690 or 691 until his death. He was a son of Ecgberht I and a brother of Eadric. Wihtred ascended to the throne after a confused period in the 680s, which included a brief conque ...
and Ine.Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', pp. 327–337.Attenborough
The laws of the earliest English kings. pp. 24–61
/ref> The dates of Wihtred's and Ine's laws are somewhat uncertain, but there is reason to believe that Wihtred's laws were issued on 6 September 695,Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', p. 361. while Ine's laws were written in 694 or shortly before. Ine had recently agreed to peaceful terms with Wihtred over compensation for the death of Mul, and there are indications that the two rulers collaborated to some degree in producing their laws. In addition to the coincidence of timing, there is one clause that appears in almost identical form in both codes. Another sign of collaboration is that Wihtred's laws use ''gesith'', a West Saxon term for noble, in place of the Kentish term ''eorlcund''. It is possible that Ine and Wihtred issued the law codes as an act of prestige, to re-establish authority after periods of disruption in both kingdoms. Ine's laws survive only because Alfred the Great appended them to his own code of laws.Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', pp. 364–372. The oldest surviving manuscript, and only complete copy, is in
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...
MS 173, which contains both Alfred's and Ine's law codes and the oldest extant text of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''. Two more partial texts survive. One was originally a complete copy of Ine's laws, part of British Library MS Cotton Otho B xi, but that manuscript was largely destroyed in 1731 by a fire at Ashburnham House in which only Chapters 66 to 76.2 of Ine's laws escaped destruction. A fragment of Ine's laws can also be found in
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
Burney MS 277. It is possible that we do not have Ine's laws in their seventh-century form. Alfred mentions in the prologue to his laws that he rejected earlier laws which he disliked. He did not specify what laws he omitted, but if they were the ones no longer relevant in his own time, it cannot be assumed that the surviving version of Ine's laws is complete. Ingrid Ivarsen suggests that the laws were originally composed in Latin and translated into Old English. The prologue to Ine's laws lists his advisors. Three people are named: bishops Eorcenwald and Hædde, and Ine's father, King Cenred. Ine was a Christian king, whose intent to encourage Christianity is clear from the laws. The oath of a communicant, for example, is declared to carry more weight than that of a non-Christian, and baptism and religious observance are also addressed. Significant attention is also paid to civil issues—more than in the contemporary Kentish laws.Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p. 124. One of the laws states that
common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...
might be enclosed by several ceorls (the contemporary name for Saxon freemen). Any ceorl who fails to fence his share, however, and allows his cattle to stray into someone else's field is to be held liable for any damage caused. This does not mean that the land was held in common: each ceorl had his own strip of land that supported him. It is notable that a king's law is required to settle a relatively minor issue; the laws do not mention the role of local lords in obtaining compliance from the ceorls.Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 279–280. It is clear from this and other laws that tenants held the land in tenure from a lord; the king's close involvement indicates that the relationship between lord and tenant was under the king's control.Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 312–314. The laws that deal with straying cattle provide the earliest documentary evidence for an open-field farming system. They show that open-field agriculture was practiced in Wessex in Ine's time, and it is probable that this was also the prevalent agricultural method throughout the English midlands, and as far north and east as Lindsey and
Deira Deira ( ; Old Welsh/ or ; or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom. Etymology The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic , meaning 'oak' ( in modern Welsh), in which case ...
. Not all of Wessex used this system, however: it was not used in Devon, for example. The law which mentions a "yard" of land is the first documented mention of that unit. A yard was a unit of land equal to a quarter of a hide; a hide was variable from place to place but could be as much as . The yard in this sense later became the standard holding of the medieval
villein A villein is a class of serfdom, serf tied to the land under the feudal system. As part of the contract with the lord of the manor, they were expected to spend some of their time working on the lord's fields in return for land. Villeins existe ...
, and was known as the
virgate The virgate, yardland, or yard of land ( was an English unit of land. Primarily a measure of tax assessment rather than area, the virgate was usually (but not always) reckoned as   hide and notionally (but seldom exactly) equal to 30 acr ...
. One historian has commented that "the beginnings of a manorial economy are clearly visible in Ine's laws." The fine for neglecting
fyrd A fyrd was a type of early Anglo-Saxon army that was mobilised from freemen or paid men to defend their Shire's lords estate, or from selected representatives to join a royal expedition. Service in the fyrd was usually of short duration and part ...
, the obligation to do military service for the king, is set at 120 shillings for a nobleman, and 30 shillings for a ceorl, incidentally revealing that ceorls were required to serve in the army. Scholars have disagreed on the military value of the ceorl, but it is not surprising that all free men would fight, since defeat might have meant slavery.Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 290. Another law specified that anyone accused of murder required at least one high-ranking person among his "oath-helpers". An oath-helper would swear an oath on behalf of an accused man, to clear him from the suspicion of the crime. Ine's requirement implies that he did not trust an oath sworn only by peasants. It may represent a significant change from an earlier time when a man's kin were expected to support him with oaths.Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 316–317. The laws made separate provision for Ine's English and British subjects, favouring the former over the latter; the
weregild Weregild (also spelled wergild, wergeld (in archaic/historical usage of English), weregeld, etc.), also known as man price ( blood money), was a precept in some historical legal codes whereby a monetary value was established for a person's life, ...
s paid for Britons were half of those paid for Saxons of the same social class, and their oaths also counted for less. The evidence they provide for the incomplete integration of the two populations is supported by research into placename history, the history of religious houses, and local archaeology, which indicates that the western part of Wessex was thinly settled by the Germanic newcomers at the time the laws were issued. It is notable that, although issued by the Saxon king of a Saxon kingdom, the term used in the laws to define Ine's Germanic subjects is ''Englisc''. This reflects the existence, even at this early date, of a common English identity encompassing all the Germanic peoples of Britain.


Christianity

Ine was a
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
king, who ruled as a patron and protector of the church. The introduction to his laws names his advisors, among whom are Eorcenwald,
Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...
and Hædde,
Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' the offic ...
; Ine says that the laws were also made with the advice and instruction of "all my ealdormen, and chief councillors of my people, and also a great assembly of the servants of God".Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p. 2. The laws themselves demonstrate Ine's Christian convictions, specifying fines for failing to baptize infants or to tithe. Ine supported the church by patronising religious houses, especially in the new diocese of Sherborne, which had been divided from the diocese of Winchester in 705. Ine had opposed this division, ignoring threats of excommunication from Canterbury, but he agreed to it when Bishop Haedde died. The first West Saxon nunneries were founded in Ine's reign by Ine's kinswoman, Bugga, the daughter of King Centwine, and by Ine's sister
Cuthburh Saint Cuthburh or Cuthburg, Cuthburga (; died 31 August 725) was the first Abbess of Wimborne Minster. She was the sister of Ine, King of Wessex and was married to the Northumbrian king Aldfrith. Life Cuthburh was the daughter of Cenred of W ...
, who founded the abbey of
Wimborne Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Pool ...
at some point after she separated from her husband, King Aldfrith of Northumbria.Lapidge, Michael (ed.), "Cuthburg", in ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 133. At the bishop Aldhelm's suggestion in 705, Ine built the church which later became
Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Bath and Wells and the mother church of the diocese of Bath and Wells. There are daily Church of England services in ...
, and the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' also records that Ine built a minster at
Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...
. This must refer to additional building or re-building since there was already a British monastery at Glastonbury.Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', p. 40, note 1. Ine has been credited with supporting the establishment of an organized church in Wessex, though it is not clear that this was his initiative. He is also connected with the oldest known West Saxon
synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...
s, presiding at one himself and apparently addressing the assembled clerics.Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 71. There is a tradition that Ine was a saint, and was the dedicatee of St Ina's Church in Llanina near
New Quay New Quay () is a seaside town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales; it had a resident population of 1,045 at the 2021 census. Located south-west of Aberystwyth, on Cardigan Bay with a harbour and large sandy beaches, the town ...
, Wales. However, a more likely dedicatee for this church is the fifth-century Welsh Saint Ina.


Abdication, succession and life in Rome

In 726, Ine abdicated, with no obvious heir and, according to
Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...
, left his kingdom to "younger men" in order to travel, with his wife Æthelburg, to
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
where they both died; his predecessor, Cædwalla, had also abdicated to go to Rome and was baptized there by the pope. A pilgrimage to Rome was thought to aid one's chance of a welcome in heaven, and according to Bede, many people went to Rome at this time for this reason: "... both noble and simple, layfolk and clergy, men and women alike". Either Ine or
Offa of Mercia Offa ( 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death in 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of ...
is traditionally supposed to have founded the Schola Saxonum there, in what is today the Roman
rione A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the title of (). Formed a ...
, or district, of Borgo. The Schola Saxonum took its name from the militias of Saxons who served in Rome, but it eventually developed into a hostelry for English visitors to the city.Keynes & Lapidge, ''Alfred the Great'', p. 244. According to Roger of Wendover, Ine founded the Schola Saxonum in 727. Ine's successor was King Æthelheard; it is not known whether Æthelheard was related to Ine, though some later sources state that Æthelheard was Ine's brother-in-law.Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 147. The relationship is recorded in a forged charter: Æthelheard's succession to the throne was disputed by an ætheling, Oswald, and it may be that Mercian support for Æthelheard in the unsettled aftermath of Ine's abdication both helped establish Æthelheard as king and also brought him into the sphere of influence of Æthelbald, the king of Mercia.


See also

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Notes


References


Primary sources

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Secondary sources

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ine of Wessex West Saxon monarchs Year of birth unknown 7th-century English monarchs 8th-century English monarchs 8th-century deaths Year of death unknown Anglo-Saxon warriors Monarchs who abdicated House of Wessex