It was probably during Ine's reign that the West Saxons began to mint coins, though none have been found that bear his name.

Ine abdicated in 726 to go to Rome, leaving, in the words of the contemporary chronicler Bede, the kingdom to "younger men".

Both the Regnal List and Chronicle were put into their present form in the late ninth century, probably at the court of Alfred the Great, and show scholars at pains both to emphasise that all West-Saxon kings descended from Cerdic and to put Cerdic's foundation of the dynasty earlier than their sources claimed, yet nonetheless are often at variance.

These dates imply that he did not gain the throne until 689, which could indicate an unsettled period between Cædwalla's abdication and Ine's accession.

[14] The West Saxons had since expanded further down the southwestern peninsula, pushing back the boundary with the British kingdom of Dumnonia, which was probably roughly equivalent to modern Devon and Cornwall.

[16] Ine's predecessor, Cædwalla, had made himself overlord of most of these southern kingdoms,[17] though he had not been able to prevent Mercian inroads along the upper Thames.

[15] Control of Surrey, which may never have been an independent kingdom, passed between Kent, Mercia, Essex, and Wessex in the years before Ine's reign.

[15][23] Ine's subsequent relations with the East Saxons are illuminated by a letter written in 704 or 705 by Bishop Wealdhere of London to Brihtwold, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

[27] It has traditionally been thought that Ine's advance brought him control of what is now Devon, the new border with Dumnonia being the river Tamar.

[15][29] Ine fought a battle at Woden's Barrow in 715, either against the Mercians under Ceolred or together with them against an unnamed opponent; the result is not recorded.

[15][31] In 721, the Chronicle records that Ine slew one Cynewulf, of whom nothing else is known, though his name suggests a connection to the Wessex royal line.

A quarrel apparently arose in the royal family soon afterwards: in 722, according to the Chronicle, Ine's queen Æthelburg destroyed Taunton, which her husband had built earlier in his reign,[2] around 710.

The first mention of the office of ealdorman in Wessex, and the first references to the shires they led, occur during Ine's reign.

It may have been Ine who divided Wessex into something approximating the modern counties of Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, and Dorset, though earlier administrative boundaries might also have influenced these borders.

[10] By about 710, in the middle of Ine's reign, the trading settlement of Hamwic had become established on the west bank of the river Itchen; the site is now part of the modern city of Southampton.

It is not known whether Ine took an interest in Hamwic, but some of the goods he favoured, including luxuries, were imported there, and the merchants would probably have needed royal protection.

[32][33] The growth of trade after about 700 was paralleled by an expansion of the area of circulation of the sceat, the common coin of the day, to include the upper Thames valley.

[15] Ine had recently agreed to peaceful terms with Wihtred over compensation for the death of Mul, and there are indications that the two rulers collaborated to some degree in producing their laws.

It is possible that Ine and Wihtred issued the law codes as an act of prestige, to re-establish authority after periods of disruption in both kingdoms.

Any ceorl who fails to fence his share, however, and allows his cattle to stray into someone else's field is to be held liable for any damage caused.

[45] The laws that deal with straying cattle provide the earliest documentary evidence for an open-field farming system.

Scholars have disagreed on the military value of the ceorl, but it is not surprising that all free men would fight, since defeat might have meant slavery.

[48] The evidence they provide for the incomplete integration of the two populations is supported by research into placename history, the history of religious houses, and local archaeology, which indicates that the western part of Wessex was thinly settled by the Germanic newcomers at the time the laws were issued.

This reflects the existence, even at this early date, of a common English identity encompassing all the Germanic peoples of Britain.

Ine had opposed this division, ignoring threats of excommunication from Canterbury, but he agreed to it when Bishop Haedde died.

"[6] Either Ine or Offa of Mercia is traditionally supposed to have founded the Schola Saxonum there, in what is today the Roman rione, or district, of Borgo.

The Schola Saxonum took its name from the militias of Saxons who served in Rome, but it eventually developed into a hostelry for English visitors to the city.