Wehha of East Anglia is listed by Anglo-Saxon records as a king of the East Angles. If he existed, Wehha ruled the East Angles as a pagan king during the 6th century, at the time the region was being established as a kingdom by migrants arriving from what is now Frisia and the southern Jutland peninsula. Early sources identify him as a member of the Wuffingas dynasty, which was established around the east coast of Suffolk. Nothing of his reign is known.
According to the East Anglian tally from the Textus Roffensis, Wehha was the son of Wilhelm. The 9th century History of the Britons lists Wehha, named as 'Guillem Guercha', as the first king of the East Angles, as well as his son and heir Wuffa, after whom the dynasty was named. It has been claimed that the name Wehha is a hypocoristic version of Wihstān, from the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. This claim, along with evidence from finds discovered at Sutton Hoo since 1939, suggests a connection between the Wuffingas and a Swedish dynasty, the Scylfings.
Wehha is thought to have been the earliest ruler of East Anglia, an independent and long-lived Anglo-Saxon kingdom established in the 6th century, which includes the modern English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk.
According to the historian R. Rainbird Clarke, migrants from southern Jutland "speedily dominated" the Sandlings, an area of southeast Suffolk, and then, by around 550, "lost no time in conquering the whole of East Anglia". Rainbird Clarke identified Wehha, the founder of the dynasty, as one of the leaders of the new arrivals: the East Angles are tentatively identified with the Geats of the Old English poem Beowulf. Rainbird Clarke used the evidence of the finds at Sutton Hoo to conclude that the Wuffingas originated from Sweden, noting that the sword, helmet and shield found in the ship burial at Sutton Hoo may have been family heirlooms, brought across from Sweden in the beginning of the 6th century.[1] As it is now thought these artefacts were made in England, there is less agreement that the Wuffingas dynasty was directly linked with Sweden.[2]
The extent of the kingdom of the East Angles can be determined from a variety of sources. It was isolated to the north and east by the North Sea, with impenetrable forests to the south and the swamps and scattered islands of the Fens on its western border. The main land route from East Anglia would at that time have been a land corridor, following the prehistoric Icknield Way.[3] The southern neighbours of the East Angles were the East Saxons and across the other side of the Fens were the Middle Angles.[4] It has been suggested that the Devil's Dyke (near modern Newmarket) formed part of the kingdom's western boundary, but its construction, which dates from between the 4th and 10th centuries, may not be of Early Anglo-Saxon origin.[5]
Wehha is a semi-historical figure and no evidence has survived to show he actually existed or was ever king of the East Angles. The name Wehha is included in tallies of the ruling Wuffingas dynasty:[6] it appears as Ƿehh Ƿilhelming—Wehha Wilhelming—in the East Anglian tally from the Textus Roffensis, an important collection of Anglo-Saxon laws and Rochester Cathedral registers. The so-called Anglian collection has survived within two books bound together in the 13th century.[7] According to this list, Wehha was the son of Wilhelm, who was the son of Hryþ, who was the son of Hroðmund, the son of Trygil, the son of Tyttman, the son of Casere Odisson, the son of the god Wōden. Wehha's son Wuffa, after whom the Wuffingas dynasty is named, is also listed.
According to the 9th century History of the Britons, Guillem Guercha was the first of his line to rule the East Angles. The History of the Britons lists Guercha's descendants and ancestors: "Woden begat Casser, who begat Titinon, who begat Trigil, who begat Rodmunt, who begat Rippa, who begat Guillem Guercha, who was the first king of the East Angles."[8] According to the 19th century historian Francis Palgrave, Guercha is a distortion of Wuffa.[9] According to Palgrave, "Guercha is a form of the name Uffa, or Wuffa, arising in the first instance, from the pronunciation of the British writer, and in the next place, from the error of the transcriber".[9] D. P. Kirby is among those historians who have concluded from this information that Wuffa's father was the founder of the Wuffingas line.[10]
Despite the Wuffingas' long list of ancestors—that stretch back to their pagan gods—their power in the region can only have been established in the middle third of the 6th century, if Wehha is taken as the dynastic founder.[11] The historian Martin Carver has warned against using the scant material that exists to draw detailed inferences about the earliest Wuffingas kings.[4]
The name Wehha has been linked as a hypocoristic (shortened) version of Wihstān, the father of Wiglaf in Beowulf, strengthening the evidence for a connection between the Wuffingas dynasty and a Swedish royal dynasty, the Scylfings.[13] It has also been suggested that Wehha is a regular hypocoristic form of Old English names beginning with Wē(o)h-, for instance in the unattested name *Weohha.[11]
Nothing is known of Wehha or of his rule, as no written records—if they ever existed— have survived from this period in East Anglian history. At an unknown date Wehha was succeeded by Wuffa, who was ruling the kingdom in 571, according to the mediaeval chroniclerRoger of Wendover.[15] The date given by Roger of Wendover cannot be corroborated.[4]
Hoops, Johannes (2003). "Rædwald". Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde (in English and German). Vol.24. Walter de Gruyter. p.66. ISBN978-3-11-017575-2. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
Kirby, D.P. (2000). The Earliest English Kings. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN978-0-415-24211-0.
Rædwald, also written as Raedwald or Redwald, was a king of East Anglia, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom which included the present-day English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. He was the son of Tytila of East Anglia and a member of the Wuffingas dynasty, who were the first kings of the East Angles. Details about Rædwald's reign are scarce, primarily because the Viking invasions of the 9th century destroyed the monasteries in East Anglia where many documents would have been kept. Rædwald reigned from about 599 until his death around 624, initially under the overlordship of Æthelberht of Kent. In 616, as a result of fighting the Battle of the River Idle and defeating Æthelfrith of Northumbria, he was able to install Edwin, who was acquiescent to his authority, as the new king of Northumbria. During the battle, both Æthelfrith and Rædwald's son, Rægenhere, were killed.
Sutton Hoo is the site of two early medieval cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near the English town of Woodbridge. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when a previously undisturbed ship burial containing a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts was discovered. The site is important in establishing the history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia as well as illuminating the Anglo-Saxons during a period which lacks historical documentation.
Æthelhere was King of East Anglia from 653 or 654 until his death. He was a member of the ruling Wuffingas dynasty and one of three sons of Eni to rule East Anglia as Christian kings. He was a nephew of Rædwald, who was the first of the Wuffingas of which more than a name is known.
Tytila was a semi-historical pagan king of East Anglia, a small Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Early sources, including Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, identify him as an early member of the Wuffingas dynasty who succeeded his father Wuffa. A later chronicle dates his reign from 578, but he is not known to have definitely ruled as king and nothing of his life is known. He is listed in a number of genealogical lists.
In Swedish prehistory, the Vendel Period appears between the Migration Period and the Viking Age. The name is taken from the rich boat inhumation cemetery at Vendel parish church, Uppland. This is a period with very little precious metal and few runic inscriptions, crammed between periods with abundant precious metal and inscriptions. Instead, the Vendel Period is extremely rich in animal art on copper-alloy objects. It is also known for guldgubbar, tiny embossed gold foil images, and elaborate helmets with embossed decoration similar to the one found at Sutton Hoo in England.
Ecgric was a king of East Anglia, the independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom that today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. He was a member of the ruling Wuffingas dynasty, but his relationship with other known members of the dynasty is not known with any certainty. Anna of East Anglia may have been his brother, or his cousin. It has also been suggested that he was identical with Æthelric, who married the Northumbrian princess Hereswith and was the father of Ealdwulf of East Anglia. The primary source for the little that is known about Ecgric's life is Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, written by the English Benedictine monk Bede in around 731 AD.
The Wuffingas, Uffingas or Wiffings were the ruling dynasty of East Anglia, the long-lived Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Wuffingas took their name from Wuffa, an early East Anglian king. Nothing is known of the members of the dynasty before Rædwald, who ruled from about 599 to c.624. The Viking invasions of the ninth century or dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century may have led to the destruction of the documents relating to the rule of the Wuffingas.
Ælfwald was an 8th-century king of East Anglia, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom that today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. The last king of the Wuffingas dynasty, Ælfwald succeeded his father Ealdwulf, who had ruled for 49 years. Ælfwald himself ruled for 36 years. Their combined reigns, with barely any record of external military action or internal dynastic strife, represent a long period of peaceful stability for the East Angles. In Ælfwald's time, this was probably owing to a number of factors, including the settled nature of East Anglian ecclesiastical affairs and the prosperity brought through Rhineland commerce with the East Anglian port of Gipeswic. The coinage of Anglo-Saxon sceattas expanded in Ælfwald's time: evidence of East Anglian mints, markets, and industry are suggested where concentrations of such coins have been discovered.
Eadwald of East Anglia was an obscure king of the small Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia, from around 796 to 798 or later. He lived at a time when East Anglia was eclipsed by its more powerful neighbour, Mercia; after his deposition or death, Mercian control was restored under Coenwulf and the East Anglians lost their independence for a quarter of a century. Knowledge of Eadwald's short reign comes almost solely from the few surviving coins that were minted under his name. No details of his life, or rule as king, are known.
Æthelberht, also called Saint Ethelbert the King, was an eighth-century saint and a king of East Anglia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Little is known of his reign, which may have begun in 779, according to later sources, and very few of the coins he issued have been discovered. It is known from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that he was killed on the orders of Offa of Mercia in 794.
Ealdwulf was king of East Anglia from c. 664 to 713. He was the son of Hereswitha, a Northumbrian princess, and of Æthilric, whose brothers all ruled East Anglia during the 7th century. Ealdwulf recalled that when he was very young, he saw the Christian/pagan temple belonging to his ancestor Rædwald.
Eorpwald; also Erpenwald or Earpwald,, succeeded his father Rædwald as ruler of the independent Kingdom of the East Angles. Eorpwald was a member of the East Anglian dynasty known as the Wuffingas, named after the semi-historical king Wuffa.
Ricberht, may have briefly ruled East Anglia, a small independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today forms the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Little is known of his life or his reign.
Æthelwold, also known as Æthelwald or Æþelwald, was a 7th-century king of East Anglia, the long-lived Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. He was a member of the Wuffingas dynasty, which ruled East Anglia from their regio at Rendlesham. The two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries at Sutton Hoo, the monastery at Iken, the East Anglian see at Dommoc and the emerging port of Ipswich were all in the vicinity of Rendlesham.
Wuffa is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon genealogies as an early king of East Anglia. If historical, he would have flourished in the 6th century.
Alberht was an eighth-century ruler of the kingdom of East Anglia. He shared the kingdom with Beonna and possibly Hun, who may not have existed. He may still have been king in around 760. He is recorded by the Fitzwilliam Museum and the historian Simon Keynes as Æthelberht I.
The Kingdom of the East Angles, today known as the Kingdom of East Anglia, was a small independent kingdom of the Angles comprising what are now the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and perhaps the eastern part of the Fens. The kingdom formed in the 6th century in the wake of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. It was ruled by the Wuffingas dynasty in the 7th and 8th centuries, but fell to Mercia in 794, and was conquered by the Danes in 869, to form part of the Danelaw. It was conquered by Edward the Elder and incorporated into the Kingdom of England in 918.
The Sutton Hoo purse-lid is one of the major objects excavated from the Anglo-Saxon royal burial-ground at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England. The site contains a collection of burial mounds, of which much the most significant is the undisturbed ship burial in Mound 1 containing very rich grave goods including the purse-lid. The person buried in Mound 1 is usually thought to have been Rædwald, King of East Anglia, who died around 624. The purse-lid is considered to be "one of the most remarkable creations of the early medieval period." About seven and a half inches long, it is decorated with beautiful ornament in gold and garnet cloisonné enamel, and was undoubtedly a symbol of great wealth and status. In 2017 the purse-lid was on display at the British Museum.
A number of royal genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, collectively referred to as the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies, have been preserved in a manuscript tradition based in the 8th to 10th centuries.
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