Wulfhere of Mercia - West Saxons, South Saxons and Hwicce

West Saxons, South Saxons and Hwicce

In 661, Wulfhere is recorded in the Chronicle as harrying Ashdown, in West Saxon territory. The Gewisse, thought to be the original group from which the West Saxons came, appear to have originally settled in the upper Thames valley, and what records survive of the 6th century show them active in that region. The Mercian resurgence under Wulfhere placed them under severe pressure. Also in the early 660s, the West Saxon see of Dorchester, in the same area, was divided, and a new bishopric set up at Winchester. This decision was probably a reaction to the advance of the Mercians into the traditional heartland of the West Saxons, leaving Dorchester dangerously close to the border. Within a few years, the Dorchester see was abandoned; the exact date is not known, but it was probably in the mid 660s.

In addition to the attack on Ashdown, Wulfhere raided the Isle of Wight in 661. He subsequently gave both the island and the territory of the Meonware, which lay along the river Meon, on the mainland north of the Isle of Wight, to his godson King Æthelwealh of the South Saxons. It seems likely that the ruling dynasty on the island found these arrangements acceptable to some degree, since the West Saxons, under Cædwalla, exterminated the whole family when they launched their own attack on the island in 686. After the conquest of the Isle of Wight, Wulfhere ordered the priest Eoppa to provide baptism to the inhabitants. According to the Chronicle, this was the first time Christian baptism had reached the island.

In the early 670s, Cenwealh of Wessex died, and perhaps as a result of the stress caused by Wulfhere's military activity the West Saxon kingdom fragmented and came to be ruled by underkings, according to Bede. Eventually these underkings were defeated and the kingdom reunited, probably by Cædwalla but possibly by Centwine. A decade after Wulfhere's death, the West Saxons under Cædwalla began an aggressive expansion to the east, reversing much of the Mercian advance.

In addition to being Wulfhere's godson, King Æthelwealh of the South Saxons had a connection to the Mercians via marriage. His wife was Queen Eafe, the daughter of Eanfrith of the Hwicce, a tribe whose territory lay to the southwest of Mercia. The Hwicce had their own royal family, but it appears that at this date they were already subordinate to Wulfhere: the marriage between Æthelwealh and Eafe may well have taken place at Wulfhere's court, since it is known Æthelwealh was converted there. The kingdom of the Hwicce is sometimes regarded as a creation of Penda's, but it is equally likely that the kingdom existed independently of Mercia, and that Penda and Wulfhere's increasing influence in the area represented an extension of Mercian power rather than the creation of a separate entity.