After him, the sons of Celric, Cynegils and Cuichelm, jointly put on the ensigns of royalty; both active, both contending with each other only in mutual offices of kindness; insomuch, that to their contemporaries they were a miracle of concord very unusual amongst princes, and to posterity a proper example. It is difficult to say whether their courage or their moderation exceeded in the numberless contests in which they engaged either against the Britons, or against Penda, king of the Mercians: a man, as will be related in its place, wonderfully expert in the subtleties of war; and who, overpassing the limits of his own territory, in an attempt to add Cirencester to his possessions, being unable to withstand the power of these united kings, escaped with only a few followers. A considerable degree of guilt indeed attaches to Cuichelm, for attempting to take off, by the hands of an assassin, Edwin king of the Northumbrians, a man of acknowledged prudence. Yet, if the heathen maxim, Who asks if fraud or force availed the foe?[35] be considered, he will be readily excused, as having done nothing uncommon, in wishing to get rid, by whatever means, of a rival encroaching on his power. For he had formerly lopped off much from the West Saxon empire, and now receiving fresh ground of offence, and his ancient enmity reviving, he inflicted heavy calamities on that people. The kings, however, escaped, and were, not long after, enlightened with the heavenly doctrine, by the means of St. Birinus the bishop, in the twenty-fifth year of their reign, and the fortieth after the coming of the blessed Augustine, the apostle of the Angles. Cynegils, veiling his princely pride, condescended to receive immediately the holy rite of baptism: Cuichelm resisted for a time, but warned, by the sickness of his body, not to endanger the salvation of his soul, he became a sharer in his brother’s piety, and died the same year. Cynegils departed six years afterwards, in the thirty-first year of his reign, enjoying the happiness of a long-extended peace.