Descendants
No later kings of the West Saxons are known to be descended from Cenwealh, indeed no descendants of his are known. King Centwine is said to have been his brother, but Kirby notes the circumstantial evidence which makes this unlikely.
However, if no descendants of Cenwealh held the throne in Wessex, it may be that his descendants held power in Mercia and Kent in the ninth century. The Mercia kings Coenwulf and Ceolwulf, and their brother Cuthred, King of Kent, claimed descent from an otherwise unknown brother of Penda and Eowa called Coenwalh. It has been suggested that Coenwalh was in fact this Cenwealh, brother-in-law, rather than brother, of Penda and Eowa.
Read more about this topic: Cenwalh Of Wessex
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—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
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