Bede states that after the death of King Cenwalh: "his under-rulers took upon them the kingdom of the people, and dividing it among themselves, held it ten years".
[2] However, if the West Saxon kingdom did fragment following Cenwalh's death, it appears that it was reunited during Centwine's reign.
The Carmina Ecclesiastica of Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne (died 709), written a generation after Centwine's reign, records that he won three great battles.
In addition, it states that he was a pagan for part of his reign, adopting Christianity and becoming a patron of the church.
[5] Chapter 40 of Eddius Stephanus's Life of Wilfrid records that Centwine was married to a sister of Queen Eormenburg, second wife of King Ecgfrith of Northumbria.