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
Famous quotes containing the word descendants:
“Your descendants shall gather your fruits.”
—Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] (70–19 B.C.)
“We go to great pains to alter life for the happiness of our descendants and our descendants will say as usual: things used to be so much better, life today is worse than it used to be.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“Not only does democracy make every man forget his ancestors, but also clouds their view of their descendants and isolates them from their contemporaries. Each man is for ever thrown back on himself alone, and there is danger that he may be shut up in the solitude of his own heart.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)