Ælfwald (Sussex)

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Sussex in Anglo-Saxon times

Ælfwald (also Ælbwald ; fl. 765-780) was a ruler of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Sussex in the second half of the 8th century.

Life

The chronology is very uncertain for Sussex because of the weak sources of the 8th century. Three charters are the only source of information on his life data. Its origin is unknown. Since the end of the 7th century, Sussex has been clearly overshadowed by the neighboring kingdom of Wessex .

Ælfwald presumably ruled as king in the 760s together with Ealdwulf , Oslac and Osmund . Ælfwald is first documented as king around 765. A donation of land by Ealdwulf to his comes Hunlaf for the construction of a monastery church was dated to this year , which Ælfwald and Oslac signed as witnesses. The copy of this document is usually regarded as falsified, but seems to go back to an authentic original.

During his reign, Wessex was replaced by Mercia under King Offa (757-796) as the English hegemonic power. Offa gained supremacy over the Kingdom of Kent around the year 764 and set Ecgberht II (around 764-779 / 784) in western Kent and Heahberht (764 / 765-?) In eastern Kent as vassal kings. The pressure continued to increase on Sussex as well. In the early 770s, the political situation in Sussex apparently became unstable, which Offa took advantage of. In 771, Coming from Kent, Offa defeated the Hæstingas in east Sussex and then subjugated the entire Kingdom of Sussex. Offa was free to dispose of Sussex land at its own discretion in 772. The former kings ( Oswald , Osmund, Ælfwald and Oslac) only bore the title Dux or Ealdorman in a charter that they signed as witnesses . In this charter Oswald bears the title dux Suðsaxorum (Ealdorman of the South Saxony). Some historians deduce from this a certain primacy over the other duces . An Oslacs charter from 780 was co-signed by Ælfwald and Ealdwulf as witnesses. With the year 780 Ælfwald's name disappeared from the documents. The year of his death is unknown.

swell

literature

  • Simon Keynes: Kings of the South Saxons . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , pp. 509-510.
  • DP Kirby: The Earliest English Kings , Routledge, 2000, ISBN 978-0415242110 .
  • John Cannon, Anne Hargreaves: The Kings and Queens of Britain , Oxford University Press, 2009 (2nd revised edition), ISBN 978-0-19-955922-0 , p. 25.
  • Barbara Yorke : Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 . PDF (6.2 MB)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ælbwald 1 ( Memento from December 23, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) in Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE)
  2. ↑ a b c d Simon Keynes: Kings of the South Saxons . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , pp. 509-510.
  3. ↑ Charter S50
  4. ↑ Barbara Yorke: Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England , Routledge, 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 , p. 31.
  5. ^ DP Kirby: The Earliest English Kings , Routledge, 2000, ISBN 978-0415242110 , pp. 138-139.
  6. ↑ Charter S108
  7. ↑ Charter S1184
predecessor Office successor
? König / Dux in Sussex
fl. 765–780
together with Osmund , Ealdwulf , Oswald and Oslac 		?
personal data
SURNAME Ælfwald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aelfwald; Ælbwald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King or Duke of Sussex
DATE OF BIRTH before 765
DATE OF DEATH 8th century