CEAWLIN (d. 593)  , king of the West Saxons, first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the date 556 as fighting with his father Cynric against the Britons at the battle of Beranbyrig or Barbury Hill . Becoming king in 56o, he began a career of conquest . Silchester was taken, and moving eastwards Ceawlin and his brother Cutha defeated the forces of 2Ethelberht, king of Kent, at the battle of Wibbandun in 568 . In 577 he led the West Saxons from Winchester towards the Severn valley; gained an important victory over some British kings at Deorham, and added the district round ,Gloucester, Bath and Cirencester to his kingdom . A further advance was begun in 583 . Uriconium, a town near the Wrekin, and Pengwyrn, the modern Shrewsbury, were destroyed; but soon Ceawlin was defeated by the Britonsat Fethanleag or Faddiley, near Nantwich, and his progress wag effectually checked . Intestine strife among the West Saxons followed . In 591 Ceawlin lost the western part of his kingdom, and in 592 was defeated by his nephew, Ceolric, at Wanborough, and driven from Wessex . He was killed in 593, possibly in an attempt to regain his kingdom . Ceawlin is included in the Chronicle among the Bretwaldas . See Two of the Saxon Chronicles, ed. by C . Plummer (Oxford, 1892); Dictionary of National Biography, vol. ix (London, 1887) ; E .

Guest, Origins Celticae, vol. ii . (London, 1883) .