Ina was a king of much ability, and reigned no less than thirty-eight years, _i.e._ from 688 to 726. He was a man of war, a legislator, and a saint. By arms he succeeded in reducing Kent, Sussex, and East Anglia to obedience, and fought many battles against the Welsh, building the fortress of Taunton to protect his new frontier. As a legislator he made a collection of laws seventy-six in number, which is the earliest English code still in existence with the exception of some fragments of a legal system drawn up by the kings of Kent. His holiness was seen in his large benefactions to the Church. Wessex was divided into two dioceses, the new bishop being placed at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire; he founded and endowed, moreover, several monasteries, and rebuilt the abbey of Glastonbury, the burial place of the famous king Arthur. But towards the end of his reign it did not fare well with Ina. In 714 he fought a great battle with the Mercians, in which so many were slain on either side that the issue was held to be doubtful, and this large loss of life perhaps was the cause of his subsequent defeats by the Welsh. Moreover, the members of the royal house proved rebellious, and their leader Aldbert was not defeated by Ina until a wearying contest had been waged between the two parties. In 726, therefore, Ina, tired of the world, and wishing to provide for the safety of his soul, resigned his kingdom, and went to Rome, where he was received by Pope Gregory the Second, and ended his days as a common man. [Illustration: EDWIN OF NORTHUMBRIA AND THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. (_See p._ 29.)] The abdication of Ina was not productive of good consequences to Wessex; and for nineteen years, from 733 to 752, the country was subject, as has already been mentioned, to the yoke of Mercia until, led by their king Cuthred, the second in succession to Ina, the people won freedom at the battle of Burford. This stage of the history of Wessex is not very important, and closes in 802, when the great king Egbert ascended the throne.