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Cynegils () was King of Wessex from c. 611 to c. 642. Cynegils is traditionally considered to have been King of Wessex, even though the kingdoms of the Heptarchy had not yet formed from the patchwork of smaller kingdoms in his lifetime.The Kingdom of Kent may have been the exception. S.E. Kelly, "Kent, Kingdom of", in M. Lapidge et al. (eds), The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England; D.P. Kirby, The Earliest English Kings, p. 30ff.; Ann Williams, Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England, c.500–1066, p. 5ff.; Barbara Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England, p. 25ff. The later kingdom of Wessex was centred on the counties of Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire but the evidence of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is that the kingdom of Cynegils was located on the upper River Thames, extending into northern Wiltshire and Somerset, southern Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, and western Berkshire, with Dorchester-on-Thames as one of the major royal sites. This region, probably connected to the early tribal grouping known as the Gewisse, a term used by Bede for the West Saxons, lay on the frontier between the later kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia.Kirby, p. 48ff.; Yorke, pp. 135–137; Barbara Yorke, "Gewisse", in M. Lapidge et al.; Barbara Yorke, "Wessex", in M. Lapidge et al., in M. Lapidge et al.
As for several other members of the ruling house of Wessex (including Cerdic, Ceawlin and Caedwalla) a Celtic, rather than Germanic, etymology for Cynegils's name has been suggested, with the literal meaning of 'grey dog'.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 611 states: "This year Cynegils succeeded to the government in Wessex, and held it one and thirty winters. Cynegils was the son of Ceol, Ceol of Cutha, Cutha of Cynric."For a prosopography of Cynegils in the sources, see Contradicting this simple account, the entry under 614 states that "This year Cynegils and Cwichelm fought at Beandun,Possibly Bindon near Axmouth in Devon, see Morris, J. (1995) The Age of Arthur p.307. Beandun has also been identified with Bampton, Oxfordshire, but the evidence is lacking. See Victoria County History of Oxfordshire: Bampton and Weald. and slew two thousand and forty-six of the Welsh people." Likewise, Bede writes that the attempted assassination of King Edwin of Northumbria in 626 was ordered by Cwichelm, king of the West Saxons. Whether the King Cwichelm of 614 is the same person as the king of the late 620s, and whether this person is the same as the Cwichelm who was baptism, and died, c. 636, is disputed. Some historians presume Cwichelm to have been a son of Cynegils.Kirby. p. 51.
In 628, Cynegils and Cwichelm fought King Penda at Cirencester. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle could be expected to report a victory, but does not, so Penda was likely the victor.Sarah Zaluckyj, Mercia: The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Central England, pp. 28 and 102. Cynegils and Cwichelm appear to have been subject to Edwin of Northumbria by this time, paying an enormous tribute of a hundred thousand hides if Nick Higham's conception of the Tribal Hidage's origins is correct.N.J. Higham, An English empire: Bede and the early Anglo-Saxon kings, p. 74ff.; but see also John Blair, "Tribal Hidage", in M. Lapidge et al.
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