Ine of Wessex - Abdication and Succession

Abdication and Succession

In 726, Ine abdicated, with no obvious heir and, according to Bede, left his kingdom to "younger men" in order to travel to Rome, where he died; his predecessor, Cædwalla, had also abdicated to go to Rome. A trip to Rome was thought to aid one's chance of a welcome in heaven, and according to Bede, many people went to Rome for these reasons: ". . . both noble and simple, layfolk and clergy, men and women alike." Either Ine or Offa of Mercia is traditionally supposed to have founded the Schola Saxonum there, in what is today the Roman rione, 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. 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. 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. His brother Ingild, who died 718, is given as ancestor of king Egbert of Wessex and the subsequent kings of England.