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the kings of Anglo-Saxon England |
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This is a list of the kings of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent .
The regnal dates for the earlier kings are known only from Bede. Some kings are known mainly from charters, of which several are forgeries, while others have been subjected to tampering in order to reconcile them with the erroneous king lists of chroniclers, baffled by blanks, and confused by concurrent reigns and kings with similar or identical names. It is commonplace for the later kings to be referred to as subkings, but the actual rank used is always rex, never regulus (except for a late legend concerning Eormenred). The usual style was simply King of Kent (rex Cantiae) or King of the Kentish Men (rex Cantuariorum). Territorial division within Kent is not alluded to, except by Eadberht I (rex Cantuariorum terram dimidii) and Sigered (rex dimidie partis prouincie Cantuariorum).
Reign | Incumbent | Style | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
455-488 | Hengest | no charters | father of Oisc or Octa |
455 | Horsa | no charters | brother of Hengest |
488-512/516 | Oisc (Œsc, Æsc, Ash, Oeric) | no charters | son of Hengest or Octa |
512/516-534/540 | Octa (Octha) | no charters | son of Hengest |
534/540-c.590 | Eormenric | no charters | father of Æðelberht I |
c.590 - 24 February 616 (Bede) | Æðelberht I | no genuine charters | first Christian King of Kent |
February 616 to 20 January 640 (Bede) | Eadbald | no genuine charters | son of Æðelberht I |
unknown | Æðelwald | no charters | contemporary with Pope Boniface V (619-625) |
January 640 to 14 July 664 (Bede) | Eorcenberht | no charters | son of Eadbald |
unknown | Eormenred | Irminredus | brother of Eorcenberht |
July 664 to 4 July 673 (Bede) | Ecgberht I | no charters | son of Eorcenberht |
acceded 674 or 675, died 685 | Hlothhere | Lotharius rex Cantuariorum Lotharius rex Cancie Clotharius Hlotharius | son of Eorcenberht; reigning jointly with Eadric |
685 to 686 (Bede) | Eadric | Eadricus rex Cantuariorum Ædricus rex Edricus | son of Ecgberht I; reigning jointly with Hlothhere |
killed 687 | Mul | Mulo rege regnum Cantie | brother of Cædwalla, King of Wessex |
acceded 687 or 688, still reigning 692 | Swæfheard | Suebhardus rex Cantuariorum Sueaberdus rex Cantie | son of Sæbbi, King of Essex, reigning jointly in Kent with Oswine and Withred |
fl. 689 | Swæfberht | Gabertus Suebertus rex Cantuariorum | jointly with Oswine |
fl. 689 to 690 | Oswine | Oswynus rex Cantie Oswinus rex Cantuariorum | jointly with Swæfberht and Swæfheard |
acceded c. 693, seven years after Edric's disposition (Malmesbury 1.15), died 23 April 725 | Wihtred | Wihtredus rex Cantie Wythredus rex Cantuariorum Wihtredus rex Cantuariorum | son of Ecgberht I; reigned jointly with Swæfheard |
succeeded 725 | Alric | no charters | son of Wihtred; succeeded jointly with his brothers Æðelberht II and Eadberht I |
725 to 748 | Eadberht I | Eadbertus rex Cantuariorum terram dimidii Ædbeortus rex Cantie | son of Wihtred; reigned jointly with his brothers Æðelberht II and Ælfric |
Subject to Mercian overlordship | |||
725 to 762 | Æðelberht II | Æthilberhctus rex Cantie Athelbertus rex | son of Wihtred; reigned jointly with his brothers Eadberht I and Ælfric, and nephew Eardwulf |
unknown | Eardwulf | Earduulfus rex Cantuariorum Eardulfus rex Cantiae | son of Eadberht I; reigned jointly with Æðelberht II; contemporary with Archbishop Cuðbert (740-760) |
fl. 762 | Eadberht II | Eadberht rex Cantiae Ædbertus rex Eadbertus rex Cantie | jointly with Sigered |
fl. 762 | Sigered | Sigiraed rex Cantiae Sigeredus rex dimidie partis prouincie Cantuariorum | jointly with Eadberht II |
762-764 | Eanmund | Eanmundus rex | contemporary with Archbishop Bregowine (761-764) |
fl. 764 to 765 | Heaberht | Heaberhtus rex Cantie Heaberhtus rex | jointly with Ecgberht II |
fl. 765 to 779 | Ecgberht II | Ecgberhtus rex Cantie Egcberhtus rex Cantiae Egcberht rex Cantie Egcberth rex Cantie Egcberhtus rex | jointly with Heaberht |
fl. 784 | Ealhmund | Ealmundus rex Canciæ | father of Ecgberht III |
Under the direct rule of Offa of Mercia (785–796). | |||
796 to 798, deposed | Eadberht III Præn | no charters; coins: EADBEARHT REX | Deposed and mutilated by Cœnwulf |
acceded 797 or 798, died 807 | Cuðred | Cuthredus Rex Cantiae Cuðred rex Cantiae Cuðredus rex cantwariorum | brother of Cœnwulf and Ceolwulf |
fl. 809 | Cœnwulf | Ceonulfus Christi gracia rex Merciorum atque provincie Cancie | brother of Cuðred and Ceolwulf; also King of Mercia (796-821) |
fl. 822 to 823 | Ceolwulf | Ceolwulf rex Merciorum vel etiam Contwariorum Ceolwulf rex Merciorum seu etiam Cantwariorum | brother of Cuðred and Cœnwulf; also King of Mercia (821-823) |
deposed in 825 | Baldred | no charters; coins: BALDRED REX CANT | expelled by Æðelwulf in 825 |
825 to 839 | Ecgberht III | Ecgberht rex occidentalium Saxonum necnon et Cantuariorum | son of Ealhmund; reigned in Kent jointly with his son Æðelwulf; also King of Wessex (802-839) |
825 to 858 | Æðelwulf | Aetheluulf rex Æðeluulf rex Cantrariorum Æthelwolf gratia Dei rex Kanciae Ætheluulf rex Cancie Aeðeluulf Rex Cancie Aetheluulf gratia Dei rex occidentalium Saxonum seu etiam Cantuuariorum Aeðeluulf gratia Dei rex occidentalium Saxonum nec non 7 Cantuariorum Eðelwulf rex occidentalium Saxonum nec non et Cantuariorum Eðeluulfus rex Occidentalium Saxonum necnon et Cantuariorum Æðelulf rex misericordia Dei occidentalium Saxonum; necnon & Cantuuariorum | jointly with his father Ecgberht III and son Æðelstan; also King of Wessex (839-856) |
fl. 839 to 851 | Æðelstan I | Edelstan rex Kancie Ethelstan Rex Aeðelstan rex Aedelstan rex | jointly with his father Æðelwulf |
fl. 855 to 866 | Æðelberht III | Aeðelberht rex Eþelbearht rex Eðelbearht rex Æthelbertus occidentalium Saxonum necnon et Cantuariorum rex Aeðelbearht rex Occidentalium Saxonum seu Cantuuariorum Aeðælberht rex Occidentalium Saxonum seu Cantuariorum Eðelbearht rex occidentalium Saxonum nec non et Cantuariorum | jointly with his father Æðelwulf; also King of Wessex (860-866) |
866 to 871 | Æðelred I | Eðelred rex occidentalium Saxonum . non et Cantwariorum Aeðered rex Occidentalium Saxonum necnon et Cantuariorum | son of Æðelwulf; also King of Wessex (866-871) |
The Kingdom of the East Saxons, referred to as the Kingdom of Essex, was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex, Middlesex, much of Hertfordshire and west Kent. The last king of Essex was Sigered of Essex, who in 825 ceded the kingdom to Ecgberht, King of Wessex.
Æthelberht was King of Kent from about 589 until his death. The eighth-century monk Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, lists him as the third king to hold imperium over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In the late ninth century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he is referred to as a bretwalda, or "Britain-ruler". He was the first English king to convert to Christianity.
Justus was the fourth Archbishop of Canterbury. Pope Gregory the Great, sent Justus from Italy to England on a mission to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism, probably arriving with the second group of missionaries despatched in 601. Justus became the first Bishop of Rochester in 604 and attended a church council in Paris in 614.
Mellitus was the first bishop of London in the Saxon period, the third Archbishop of Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Christianity. He arrived in 601 AD with a group of clergy sent to augment the mission, and was consecrated as Bishop of London in 604. Mellitus was the recipient of a famous letter from Pope Gregory I known as the Epistola ad Mellitum, preserved in a later work by the medieval chronicler Bede, which suggested the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons be undertaken gradually, integrating pagan rituals and customs. In 610, Mellitus returned to Italy to attend a council of bishops, and returned to England bearing papal letters to some of the missionaries.
Offa was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æthelbald. Offa defeated the other claimant, Beornred. In the early years of Offa's reign, it is likely that he consolidated his control of Midland peoples such as the Hwicce and the Magonsæte. Taking advantage of instability in the kingdom of Kent to establish himself as overlord, Offa also controlled Sussex by 771, though his authority did not remain unchallenged in either territory. In the 780s he extended Mercian Supremacy over most of southern England, allying with Beorhtric of Wessex, who married Offa's daughter Eadburh, and regained complete control of the southeast. He also became the overlord of East Anglia and had King Æthelberht II of East Anglia beheaded in 794, perhaps for rebelling against him.
Ecgberht, also spelled Egbert, Ecgbert, Ecgbriht, Ecgbeorht, and Ecbert, was King of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839. His father was King Ealhmund of Kent. In the 780s, Ecgberht was forced into exile to Charlemagne's court in the Frankish Empire by the kings Offa of Mercia and Beorhtric of Wessex, but on Beorhtric's death in 802, Ecgberht returned and took the throne.
Æthelberht was the King of Wessex from 860 until his death in 865. He was the third son of King Æthelwulf by his first wife, Osburh. Æthelberht was first recorded as a witness to a charter in 854. The following year Æthelwulf went on pilgrimage to Rome and appointed his oldest surviving son, Æthelbald, as king of Wessex while Æthelberht became king of the recently conquered territory of Kent. Æthelberht may have surrendered his position to his father when he returned from pilgrimage, but resumed the south-eastern kingship when his father died in 858.
Hlothhere was a King of Kent who ruled from 673 to 685.
Æthelbald was the King of Mercia, in what is now the English Midlands from 716 until he was killed in 757. Æthelbald was the son of Alweo and thus a grandson of King Eowa. Æthelbald came to the throne after the death of his cousin, King Ceolred, who had driven him into exile. During his long reign, Mercia became the dominant kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons, and recovered the position of pre-eminence it had enjoyed during the strong reigns of Mercian kings Penda and Wulfhere between about 628 and 675.
Æthelred was king of Mercia from 675 until 704. He was the son of Penda of Mercia and came to the throne in 675, when his brother, Wulfhere of Mercia, died from an illness. Within a year of his accession he invaded Kent, where his armies destroyed the city of Rochester. In 679 he defeated his brother-in-law, Ecgfrith of Northumbria, at the Battle of the Trent: the battle was a major setback for the Northumbrians, and effectively ended their military involvement in English affairs south of the Humber. It also permanently returned the kingdom of Lindsey to Mercia's possession. However, Æthelred was unable to re-establish his predecessors' domination of southern Britain.
Coenwulf was the King of Mercia from December 796 until his death in 821. He was a descendant of King Pybba, who ruled Mercia in the early 7th century. He succeeded Ecgfrith, the son of Offa; Ecgfrith only reigned for five months, and Coenwulf ascended the throne in the same year that Offa died. In the early years of Coenwulf's reign he had to deal with a revolt in Kent, which had been under Offa's control. Eadberht Præn returned from exile in Francia to claim the Kentish throne, and Coenwulf was forced to wait for papal support before he could intervene. When Pope Leo III agreed to anathematise Eadberht, Coenwulf invaded and retook the kingdom; Eadberht was taken prisoner, was blinded, and had his hands cut off. Coenwulf also appears to have lost control of the kingdom of East Anglia during the early part of his reign, as an independent coinage appears under King Eadwald. Coenwulf's coinage reappears in 805, indicating that the kingdom was again under Mercian control. Several campaigns of Coenwulf's against the Welsh are recorded, but only one conflict with Northumbria, in 801, though it is likely that Coenwulf continued to support the opponents of the Northumbrian king Eardwulf.
Ine, also rendered Ini or Ina, was King of Wessex from 689 to 726. At Ine's accession, his kingdom dominated much of southern England. However, he was unable to retain the territorial gains of his predecessor, Cædwalla, who had expanded West Saxon territory substantially. By the end of Ine's reign, the kingdoms of Kent, Sussex, and Essex were no longer under West Saxon sway; however, Ine maintained control of what is now Hampshire, and consolidated and extended Wessex's territory in the western peninsula.
The Kingdom of the Kentish, today referred to as the Kingdom of Kent, was an early medieval kingdom in what is now South East England. It existed from either the fifth or the sixth century AD until it was fully absorbed into the Kingdom of Wessex in the late 9th century and later into the Kingdom of England in the early 10th century.
Eadbald was King of Kent from 616 until his death in 640. He was the son of King Æthelberht and his wife Bertha, a daughter of the Merovingian king Charibert. Æthelberht made Kent the dominant force in England during his reign and became the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to Christianity from Anglo-Saxon paganism. Eadbald's accession was a significant setback for the growth of the church, since he retained his people's paganism and did not convert to Christianity for at least a year, and perhaps for as much as eight years. He was ultimately converted by either Laurentius or Justus, and separated from his first wife, who had been his stepmother, at the insistence of the church. Eadbald's second wife was Emma, who may have been a Frankish princess. They had two sons, Eormenred and Eorcenberht, and a daughter, Eanswith.
Eorcenberht of Kent was king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent from 640 until his death, succeeding his father Eadbald.
Wiglaf was King of Mercia from 827 to 829 and again from 830 until his death. His ancestry is uncertain: the 820s were a period of dynastic conflict within Mercia and the genealogy of several of the kings of this time is unknown. Wigstan, his grandson, was later recorded as a descendant of Penda of Mercia, so it is possible that Wiglaf was descended from Penda, one of the most powerful seventh-century kings of Mercia.
Wihtred was king of Kent from about 690 or 691 until his death. He was a son of Ecgberht I and a brother of Eadric. Wihtred ascended to the throne after a confused period in the 680s, which included a brief conquest of Kent by Cædwalla of Wessex, and subsequent dynastic conflicts. His immediate predecessor was Oswine, who was probably descended from Eadbald, though not through the same line as Wihtred. Shortly after the start of his reign, Wihtred issued a code of laws—the Law of Wihtred—that has been preserved in a manuscript known as the Textus Roffensis. The laws pay a great deal of attention to the rights of the Church, including punishment for irregular marriages and for pagan worship. Wihtred's long reign had few incidents recorded in the annals of the day. He was succeeded in 725 by his sons, Æthelberht II, Eadberht I, and Alric.
Jænberht was a medieval monk, and later the abbot, of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, who was named Archbishop of Canterbury in 765. As archbishop, he had a difficult relationship with King Offa of Mercia, who at one point confiscated lands from the archbishopric. By 787, some of the bishoprics under Canterbury's supervision were transferred to the control of the newly created Archbishopric of Lichfield, although it is not clear if Jænberht ever recognised its legitimacy. Besides the issue with Lichfield, Jænberht also presided over church councils in England. He died in 792 and was considered a saint after his death.
Seaxburh, also Saint Sexburga of Ely, was a Queen as well as an abbess, and is a saint of the Christian Church. She was married to King Eorcenberht of Kent.
Domne Eafe, also Domneva, Domne Éue, Æbbe, Ebba, was, according to the Kentish royal legend, a granddaughter of King Eadbald of Kent and the foundress of the double monastery of Minster in Thanet Priory at Minster-in-Thanet during the reign of her cousin King Ecgberht of Kent. A 1000-year-old confusion with her sister Eormenburg means she is often now known by that name. Married to Merewalh of Mercia, she had at least four children. When her two brothers, Æthelred and Æthelberht, were murdered she obtained the land in Thanet to build an abbey, from a repentant King Ecgberht. Her three daughters all went on to become abbesses and saints, the most famous of which, Mildrith, ended up with a shrine in St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury.