Cutha Cathwulf - Family and Move To Devon

Family and Move To Devon

In about the year 620 it appears that the upper Thames valley where the household of Cathwulf was based became too small to comfortably hold the three brothers. As the youngest, Cathwulf was the one who was forced to move - at any rate this is a sensible deduction given that he later turns up in what is now east Devon, on the western marches of Wessex and in constant conflict with Dumnonia. This was a Celtic tribe that inhabited Cornwall, although in Cathwulf's time their sphere of influence was much greater, extending over most of what is now Devon as well. The chronology of English dominance over Cornwall is unclear, but inevitably at about this time Cornwall came into conflict with the westerly-expanding kingdom of Wessex. There are no recorded charters or legal agreements showing Cornwall as part of Wessex. Furthermore, there is little economic, military, social, cultural or archaeological evidence that Wessex established control over Cornwall, certainly not in those early days.

The Britons in Dumnonia were cut off from their allies in Wales by Ceawlin of Wessex's victory at Dyrham in 577, but since sea travel was easier than land, the blow may not have been severe. Clemen ap Bledric is thought to have been king when the Britons fought the Battle of Beandun (possibly Bindon near Axmouth in east Devon) in 614. The battle site suggests that the Dumnonian army was invading Wessex using the Roman road eastward from Exeter to Dorchester and was intercepted by a West Saxon garrison marching south. The Flores Historiarum, attributed incorrectly to Matthew of Westminster, states that the Britons were still in possession of Exeter in 632, when it was bravely defended against Penda of Mercia until relieved by Cadwallon, who engaged and defeated the Mercians with "great slaughter to their troops". Geoffrey of Monmouth also details an account of the siege in his pseudo-historic Historia Brittonum, stating that Cadwallon made an alliance with the British nobility.

From this circumstantial evidence comes further consolidation that the boundary between Wessex and Dumnonia ran through east Devon, more or less where Cathwulf was based. A theory can thus be deduced; that Cathwulf, unwelcome in the lands of his brothers or in the land closely controlled by the king Cynegils, was forced to move to the very edges of the kingdom. He and his people may even have been sent there in the hope that they would be killed by the Dumnonians.

The date of the move is unclear, although if it was before 614 then Cathwulf would have been the West Saxon commander at the Battle of Beandun mentioned above. This seems likely.

It is known that Cathwulf married a Dumnonian princess Gwynhafar, almost certainly a daughter of Clemen ap Bledric, as part of a (temporary, at least) alliance - probably the one mentioned above by Geoffrey of Monmouth, or maybe an earlier one. The marriage was perhaps unsuccessful, as he is believed to only have had one son, Ceolwald of Wessex.