{{Infobox Monarch | name=Æthelwealh | image=Ethelwolfe - John Speed.JPG | caption=Imaginary depiction of Æthelwealh from John Speed's 1611 "Saxon Heptarchy" | succession=King of Sussex | rank= | reign=fl. – | predecessor=Cissa| successor=?Eadric | death_date=685 | spouse=Eafe | issue= }} Æthelwealh (fl. – ) was ruler of the ancient South Saxon kingdom from before 674 till his death between 680 and 685. He was baptised in Mercia, becoming the first Christian king of Sussex. He was killed by a West Saxon prince, Cædwalla, who eventually became king of Wessex. Background The legendary foundation of the kingdom of Sussex, was in 477, when according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ælle of Sussex and three of his sons are said to have landed at a place called Cymenshore and fought against the local Britons. The foundation story is regarded with some skepticism by most academics. The archaeological evidence, based on the cemeteries of the 5th century, shows that the main area of settlement was between the lower Ouse and Cuckmere rivers in East Sussex. However, by Æthelwealh's time the kingdom of the South Saxons seems to have been concentrated in the Selsey area, in the south-west of Sussex. Ælle, the first king of the South Saxons was followed by Cissa of Sussex, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. There is a 150-year gap between Ælle, whose ancestry can not be established, and Æthelwealh, whose ancestry is more secure. Alliance with the Mercians Mercian power was ascending with Wulfhere of Mercia advancing into Jutish southern Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in about 681. Then according to Bede, Æthelwealh travelled to Mercia to be baptised, becoming the first Christian king of Sussex, with Wulfhere as his godfather. Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' recorded that Æthelwealh, also married Eafe, who was the daughter of Eanfrith, a ruler of the Christian Hwicce people. Bede goes on to say that Wulfhere presented the Isle of Wight and Meonwara to Æthelwealh. This alliance between the South Saxons and the Mercians and their control of southern England and the Isle of Wight was a challenge to the West Saxons, whose power base at the time was in the upper Thames area. Wilfrid, the exiled bishop of York, came to Sussex in 681 and converted the people of Sussex and the Isle of Wight to Christianity. Æthelwealh gave Wilfrid land in Selsey where he founded the Episcopal See