Concerning the conversion of the remaining kingdoms, we know comparatively little. Mercia became Christian on the death of Penda, who was overthrown by Oswy of Northumbria, in 655, at the battle of Winwood. Wessex was converted by a bishop called Birinus, who was sent from Rome by Pope Honorius; and though the first bishopric was fixed at Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, the episcopal seat of Wessex was eventually fixed at Winchester, and Dorchester became that of the Mercians. The last part of England to become Christian was East Anglia, which was converted by Wilfrith, who had been driven from Northumberland by King Egfrith, Oswy's son and successor.
In less than a hundred years after the arrival of St. Augustine, England became Christian, and the conversion had been in many cases accomplished by missionaries from Rome. But many of the kingdoms also had been brought to the new faith by bishops from Scotland; Mercia, for instance, and Northumbria finally. These bishops came in many cases from the island of Iona, and they did not acknowledge or follow the customs of the Church of Rome. The great question as to which of the two rituals should prevail was settled at a synod held at Whitby, when Northumbria adopted the Roman use, and from that time ecclesiastical unity prevailed.
The organisation of the Church of England was effected by Theodore of Tarsus, who was sent over to England as Archbishop of Canterbury in 668. He proceeded to organise the various sees, usually following the limits of the old English kingdoms; and though changes were occasionally made, much of his work was permanent, and exists at the present day. So England was one kingdom as far as its religious constitution was concerned, and this unity led in turn, as we shall see, to a civil unity under the kings of Wessex.
By the beginning of the eighth century it had become evident that the struggle for supremacy would eventually be between Wessex and Mercia, for Northumbria, a turbulent state, harassed by succession questions, had already ceased to hold the pride of place. At first Mercia appeared to have the advantage of the struggle. It soon recovered from the overthrow of Penda, and from the years 716 to 819, with one or two intervals of temporary prostration, it was extremely powerful. Ethelbald, the nephew of Penda, reigned from 716 to 755, and built up a great power. Taking advantage of the anarchy in Northumbria, and of the abdication of Ina of Wessex, he subdued his neighbours in a series of successful wars, and claimed to be king "not only of the Mercians, but of all the people who are called by the common name of South-Angles." He was, however, in 754, confronted by a general rebellion, and utterly defeated in a battle at Burford.
In the following year Ethelbald died, and after a year's anarchy was succeeded by Offa. He was not only a great warrior, but a great statesman, and combined a series of conquests with a series of judicious marriage alliances, until he had almost succeeded in making himself king over all England. His most glorious wars were those against the Welsh, whom he drove back from the Severn to the Wye. He built a large dyke from the mouth of the Wye to the mouth of the Dee to keep them back, called Offa's dyke. Offa was reverenced on the Continent almost as much as in England, and we even find him corresponding on terms of equality with the Emperor Charles the Great, known to romance as Charlemagne. Offa was a warm friend of the Church; he created a temporary archbishopric at Lichfield as a rival to York and Canterbury, and founded the Abbey of St. Albans. The power of Mercia, however, depended almost entirely on the personal abilities of her kings, and ended with Cenwulf, who reigned from 796 to 815. After his death it speedily collapsed, partly owing to the failure of the royal line, partly owing to the rising power of Wessex, and partly also owing to devastating raids of the Danes, who had already begun to make their appearance in Britain.
CHAPTER IV.
RISE OF WESSEX AND OF THE SOCIAL SYSTEM OF ENGLAND.
Ceawlin and his Successors—Cedwalla—Ina—Subjection to Mercia—Accession of Egbert—He subdues his Rivals—His Wars with the Welsh and Danes—Land-owning System—Local Assemblies—The Hundred Moot—The Shire Moot and its Business—Methods of Trial and Punishments—The Wergild—The Witena-gemot—Its Powers—The King—Class Distinctions—The Church.