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JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
Gafulford. 1 In 710 the whole force of Devon and Cornwall was 
wielded by Gereint; in 823 the men of Devon and the men of 
Cornwall were marshalled as two opposing hosts. But inasmuch 
as there is no reason to suppose that Ine pushed his conquests 
further, and as the chronicles expressly state that in 813 Ecgherht 
harried the West Wealas, whilst William of Malmesbury defines 
Ecgberht's first great military act as the conquest of Cornwall, the 
possible limit of the conquest of Devon is narrowed between the 
years 728 and 800. Of the Saxon kings of Wessex who fill this 
interval, the only one to whom the conquest can be assigned is 
that Cynewulf (755-784) who is recorded to have fought so many 
battles against the Brit-Wealas. Such is a brief outline of the 
admirable argument of Mr. Davidson, assailable only — and not 
successfully there — on the meaning which William of Malmesbury 
may have attached to the term Cornwall. If he used that word 
in the sense in which we use it, all is clear ; if not, then the work 
begun by Cynewulf was completed by Ecgberht. In either case 
Cynewulf would be the first Saxon monarch holding sway in 
Devon. 
The theory of a partial conquest of Devon by the Saxons, in 
which the Exe became the frontier between Welch and English, has 
been held by several distinguished authorities, including the late 
Sir Francis Palgrave, but on inadequate grounds. 2 It is based 
chiefly on an agreement ascribed to the reign of iE^elred between 
certain Deunsettan, or, as Sir Francis puts it, " between the Wylisc 
Devonshire men and the Englisc Devonshire men;" 3 while William 
of Malmesbury states that /E^Selstan in 926 drove the Britons "out 
of Exeter, which up to that time they had inhabited, sharing equal 
rights with the English," and fixed the boundary of his province 
along the Tamar. So far as William of Malmesbury is concerned, 
Mr. T. Karslake has shown that Exeter is really divisible by the 
dedications of the ancient parishes into British and Saxon quarters, 4 
and a certain joint occupancy of that city must be held proven. 
1 J. B. Davidson, "Saxon Conquest of Devonshire," Trails. Devon. Assoc. 
vol. ix. pp. 198-221. 
2 Archdeacon Wilkins, Leges Anglo- Saxonice, p. 125 ; quoted also by Mr. 
Davidson, op. cit. 
3 English Commonwealth, vol. ii. p. cclxiv. 
4 " Celt and Teuton in Exeter," Archaeological Journal, vol. xxx. 
