Gold mancus of Coenwulf from the London mint. Legend: + coenvvulf rex m
King of Mercia
Reign
796–821
Predecessor
Ecgfrith
Successor
Ceolwulf I
Died
821 Basingwerk, Flintshire
Burial
Winchcombe Abbey
Spouse
Cynegyth (possibly) Ælfthryth
Issue
Cynehelm Cwenthryth
House
C-dynasty
Father
Cuthberht
Religion
Christian
Coenwulf (Old English:[ˈkøːnwuɫf]; also spelled Cenwulf, Kenulf, or Kenwulph; Latin: Coenulfus) was the King of Mercia from December 796 until his death in 821. He was a descendant of King Pybba, who ruled Mercia in the early 7th century. He succeeded Ecgfrith, the son of Offa; Ecgfrith only reigned for five months, and Coenwulf ascended the throne in the same year that Offa died. In the early years of Coenwulf's reign he had to deal with a revolt in Kent, which had been under Offa's control. Eadberht Præn returned from exile in Francia to claim the Kentish throne, and Coenwulf was forced to wait for papal support before he could intervene. When Pope Leo III agreed to anathematise Eadberht, Coenwulf invaded and retook the kingdom; Eadberht was taken prisoner, was blinded, and had his hands cut off. Coenwulf also appears to have lost control of the kingdom of East Anglia during the early part of his reign, as an independent coinage appears under King Eadwald. Coenwulf's coinage reappears in 805, indicating that the kingdom was again under Mercian control. Several campaigns of Coenwulf's against the Welsh are recorded, but only one conflict with Northumbria, in 801, though it is likely that Coenwulf continued to support the opponents of the Northumbrian king Eardwulf.
Coenwulf came into conflict with Archbishop Wulfred of Canterbury over the issue of whether laypeople could control religious houses such as monasteries. The breakdown in the relationship between the two eventually reached the point where the archbishop was unable to exercise his duties for at least four years. A partial resolution was reached in 822 with Coenwulf's successor, King Ceolwulf, but it was not until about 826 that a final settlement was reached between Wulfred and Coenwulf's daughter, Cwoenthryth, who had been the main beneficiary of Coenwulf's grants of religious property.
Coenwulf was succeeded by his brother, Ceolwulf; a post-Conquest legend claims that his son Cynehelm was murdered to gain the succession. Within two years Ceolwulf had been deposed, and the kingship passed permanently out of Coenwulf's family. Coenwulf was the last king of Mercia to exercise substantial dominance over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Within a decade of his death, the rise of Wessex had begun under King Egbert, and Mercia never recovered its former position of power.
and 21 Related for: Coenwulf of Mercia information
Coenwulf (Old English: [ˈkøːnwuɫf]; also spelled Cenwulf, Kenulf, or Kenwulph; Latin: Coenulfus) was the King ofMercia from December 796 until his death...
Ceolwulf I was the King ofMercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 821 until his deposition in 823. He was the brother ofCoenwulf, his predecessor,...
months before CoenwulfofMercia became king. In the first half of the 8th century, the dominant Anglo-Saxon ruler was King Æthelbald ofMercia, who by 731...
into the early 820s under CoenwulfofMercia. However, Coenwulf's death in 821 marked the beginning of a period in which Mercia suffered from dynastic conflicts...
Mercia (/ˈmɜːrʃiə, -ʃə, -siə/, Old English: Miercna rīċe; Latin: Merciorum regnum) was one of the three main Anglic kingdoms founded after Sub-Roman Britain...
in Mercia", pp. 42–43, in Brown & Farr, Mercia. Another Cynethryth was the mother of Ecgfrith ofMercia, Coenwulf's predecessor, and the wife of Offa...
areas of present-day Hamburg. King Charles the Younger, a son of Charlemagne, conquers Corsica and Sardinia (approximate date). King CoenwulfofMercia invades...
descent from Pybba ofMercia. The C dynasty, beginning with Coenwulf, may have had ties to the ruling family of Hwicce in south-west Mercia. Ceolwulf's immediate...
Offa ofMercia or King CoenwulfofMercia. In its time, it was the burial place of two members of the Mercian ruling class, the aforementioned Coenwulf and...
The Kingdom ofMercia was a state in the English Midlands from the 6th century to the 10th century. For some two hundred years from the mid-7th century...
Archbishop Hygeberht of Lichfield retires; he is succeeded by Ealdwulf. King CoenwulfofMercia is on better terms with the archbishopric of Canterbury than...
Ecgfrith was king ofMercia from 29 July to December 796. He was the son of Offa, one of the most powerful kings ofMercia, and Cynethryth, his wife. In...
In AD 819 (or 821?), CoenwulfofMercia died, leaving two daughters, Quendryda (Cwenthryth) and Burgenhilda, and a son, a child of seven years old, named...
into exile. In 801, Eardwulf led an army against CoenwulfofMercia, perhaps because ofCoenwulf's support for other claimants to the Northumbrian throne...
in Mercia, favoured by King CoenwulfofMercia, the others being Lichfield and Tamworth. In the 11th century, the town was briefly the county town of Winchcombeshire...
the throne. CoenwulfofMercia took advantage of Gwynedd's weakness in 817, occupying Rhufoniog (see map) and laying waste to the mountains of Eryri (English:...
821 Wulfred, Archbishop of Canterbury, submits to CoenwulfofMercia in a dispute over Church lands. King CoenwulfofMercia dies at Basingwerk near Holywell...
was the King ofMercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 823 until his death in 826. His short reign saw the collapse ofMercia's supremacy over...
charter (Sawyer 158) records a confirmation of a land grant by Coenwulf, the king ofMercia that was part of the council's proceedings. Rabanus Maurus,...
Global Information