[2] The second Old English noun "wealh" originally meant "Celt" but later the term was also used for "slave" , "foreigner" or "Romano-Britain".

[4][5] In Æthelwealh's time the kingdom of the South Saxons seems to have been concentrated in the Selsey area, in the south-west of Sussex.

[7] Mercian power was ascending with Wulfhere of Mercia advancing into Jutish southern Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in about 661.

[8] Then according to Bede, Æthelwealh travelled to Mercia to be baptised, becoming the first Christian king of Sussex, with Wulfhere as his godfather.

According to the same tradition, Æthelwealh lies buried in the southern barrow of the group that marks the spot.

This was until his nephew Eadric of Kent revolted against him and went to Sussex where, with help from Æthelwealh, he raised a South Saxon army.

[25] On Æthelwealh's death, at the hands of Cædwalla, William of Malmesbury suggests that Eadric[a] became king of the South Saxon kingdom.