162 THE GENEALOGY OF THE April for King iEscwine more than two hundred years after his death. Again, the annal of 728 contains a genealogy of the Atheling Oswald, of whom the ninth century knew no more than that he fought against King iEthelheard in 728 and died in 730. 1 If the ninth -century compiler thought it worth his while to invent a genealogy for the atheling Oswald, why should he have neglected to invent genealogies for King iEthelheard himself and for iEthelheard's successors, Cuthred, Sigebryht, Cynewulf, and Beorhtric ? These kings must have been far more interesting to a ninth-century writer than the atheling Oswald can have been. It is hardly necessary for me to pursue this argument. It will be sufficient to cite Professor Chadwick : Many of the seventh-century [West Saxon] annals have all the appear- ance of being genuine records. Moreover, we may note that down to Ine we find the genealogy of almost, every king, whereas those of all the succeeding kings are omitted — a fact which seems to point to a change of authorship. 2 Mr. Plummer himself admits the probability that the ninth - century chronicler had written sources of the seventh and eighth centuries for his West Saxon annals. 3 If then the annals of 648 to 728 are contemporary, while the other three classes of evidence furnished by the Chronicle date from the ninth century, is it possible that the early West Saxon writers had information respecting the genealogy of their kings which had been forgotten when the ninth-century Chronicle was compiled ? Our answer will be that this is not only possible, but certain, if once we recognize that the annals of 648 to 728 were contemporary. For example, the ninth-century Chronicle assigns no less than five different fathers to the first Christian king, Cynegils. 4 According to the preface, Cynegils was Ceolwulf's brother's son, and as a brother of Ceolwulf named Ceol had just been mentioned, this has been interpreted as meaning that Cynegils was the son of Ceol. 5 According to the annal of 611, however, Cynegils was the son of Ceola, and although Ceola may be another form of Ceol, it is more accordant to analogy to regard Ceola as a hypocoristic form of a longer name, of which Ceol was only the first syllable. The annal of 676 makes Cynegils 1 The date 728 is a mistake for 726 (p. 164, note 1 below). It is uncertain, there- fore, whether Oswald lived two or four years after the accession of King iEthelheard. 2 Origin of the English Nation, p. 27. 3 Plummer, ii, introd., par. 107, especially p. cxii, n. 4. 4 Perhaps six different fathers, if we distinguish Cuthwulf of the preface from Cutha of the annal of 855. 5 On this interpretation, however, it is not clear why the chronicler, if he meant ' son of Ceol ', did not write ' Ceoling ' instead of ' Ceolwulf es brothur sunu '. If, however, Ceolwulf was a brother of Cuthwine, the statement could be harmonized with the annal of 688.
