Editing Coenwulf of Mercia (section)

==Mercia and southern England at Ecgfrith's death==
According to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', Ecgfrith only reigned for 141 days.<ref name=Swanton_50>Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', p.&nbsp;50.</ref> Offa is known to have died in 796, on either 26 July or 29 July, so Ecgfrith's date of death is either 14 December or 17 December of the same year.<ref name = Kirby_177/> Coenwulf succeeded Ecgfrith as king. Coenwulf's father's name was Cuthberht, who may have been the same person as an ealdorman of that name who witnessed charters during the reign of Offa.<ref name=Yorke_118>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;118.</ref> Coenwulf is also recorded as witnessing charters during Offa's reign.<ref name=Yorke_120>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;120.</ref> According to the genealogy of Mercian kings preserved in the [[Anglian collection]] Coenwulf was descended from a brother of [[Penda of Mercia|Penda]] named Cenwealh, of whom there is no other record.<ref name=Yorke_118/> It is possible that this refers to [[Cenwealh of Wessex]], who was married to (and later repudiated) a sister of Penda.<ref name=Williams_29>Williams, ''Kingship and Government'', p.&nbsp;29.</ref>

Coenwulf's kin may have been connected to the royal family of the [[Hwicce]], a subkingdom of Mercia around the lower [[river Severn]].<ref name=Zaluckyj_228>Sarah and John Zaluckyj, "Decline", in Zaluckyj and Zaluckyj, ''Mercia'', p.&nbsp;228.</ref> It appears that Coenwulf's family were powerful, but they were not of recent Mercian royal lineage.<ref name=Kirby_177>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;177.</ref> A letter written by Alcuin to the people of Kent in 797 laments that "scarcely anyone is found now of the old stock of kings".<ref name=Story_145>Story, ''Carolingian Connections'', p.&nbsp;145.</ref> [[Eardwulf of Northumbria]] had, like Coenwulf, gained his throne in 796, so Alcuin's meaning is not clear, but it may be that he intended it as a slur on Eardwulf or Coenwulf or on both.<ref name=Kirby_156>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;156.</ref> Alcuin certainly held negative views of Coenwulf, regarding him as a tyrant and criticising him for putting aside one wife and taking another. Alcuin wrote to a Mercian nobleman to ask him to greet Coenwulf peaceably "if it is possible to do so", implying uncertainty about Coenwulf's policy towards the [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingians]].<ref name=Kirby_177/>

Coenwulf's early reign was marked by a breakdown in Mercian control in southern England. In East Anglia, King Eadwald minted coins at about this time, implying that he was no longer subject to Mercia.<ref name=Kirby_178>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;178.</ref> A charter of 799 seems to show that Wessex and Mercia were estranged for some time before that date, though the charter is not regarded as undoubtedly genuine.<ref>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;179 and n.&nbsp;122, p.&nbsp;184.</ref><ref name=S_154>{{cite web | url = http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+154 | title = Anglo-Saxons.net: S 154 | publisher = Sean Miller|access-date=2 February 2008}}</ref> In Kent, an uprising began, probably starting after Ecgfrith's death,<ref name=Kirby_178/> though it has been suggested that it began much earlier in the year, before Offa's death.<ref name = Stenton_225/><ref>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;183, n. 8, quoting Brooks, ''The Early History of the Church of Canterbury''</ref> The uprising was led by [[Eadberht III Præn|Eadberht Præn]], who had been an exile at Charlemagne's court: Eadberht's cause almost certainly had Carolingian support.<ref name=Kirby_185>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;185.</ref> Eadberht became king of Kent, and [[Æthelhard|Æthelheard]], the archbishop of Canterbury at that time, fled his see; it is likely that [[Christ Church, Canterbury]] was sacked.<ref name=Kirby_178/>