Æthelberht II. (East Anglia)

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One of the three surviving coins from Æthelberhts

Æthelberht II. (Also Ethelbyrhtus , Æðelberht , Æðelbriht or Æþelbryht ; † 794 ) was a king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia in the late 8th century. He is venerated as a martyr and a saint .

Life

Hardly any historical facts have been passed on about Æthelberht's life. The high and late medieval hagiographies testify to his importance as a saint, but their informative value about the historical person of Æthelberht is little.

Æthelberht had coins minted with his name and portrait in 794. On the reverse of the coins, the Capitoline wolf was depicted under the word "Rex" (king), based on the Roman model or based on the Wuffinger dynasty . This self-confident provocation probably contributed to its end. Æthelberht was beheaded in 794 on the orders of King Offa of Mercia .

Legends and Adoration

The cult of Æthelberht began immediately after his death. The church in Hoxne ( Suffolk ) was consecrated to him as early as 940 and so was Hereford Cathedral around the year 1000. Hereford , whose patron saint is Æthelberht, became the center of veneration for the saint, who was also held in high regard in East Anglia. A total of 14 churches were consecrated to him. His feast day is May 20th. Even after the Welsh plundered Hereford Cathedral in 1055 and stole its relics, his cult continued. Three medieval hagiographies were written about Æthelberht.

The oldest surviving vita comes from Matthäus Paris from the middle of the 13th century. According to Richard von Cirencester, a monk and historian of the late 14th century, Æthelberht was the son of King Æthelred I of East Anglia and his wife Leofrana of Mercia. He is said to have considered living in the monastery before he was pressured "Altrida" (Ælfthryth) to marry the daughter of King Offa. Despite bad omen he traveled to court at Offa's court Villa Australis in Sutton Walls (near Hereford), where he was beheaded by an intrigue of Queen Cynethryth . Initially, Æthelberht's body was buried, but a few days later it was buried in a church in Hereford. The head is said to have been transferred to Westminster Abbey . The legend was further embellished in John Brompton's Chronicon (around 1437).

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literature

  • Paul Antony Hayward: Æthelberht ; In: Michael Lapidge, John Blair, Simon Keynes, Donald Scragg (Eds.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1 , p. 13.

Web links

Commons : Æthelberht II. (East Anglia)  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913): St. Ethelbert  - Sources and full texts (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Anna Gannon: The Iconography of Early Anglo-Saxon Coinage: Sixth to Eighth Centuries (Medieval History and Archeology) , Oxford University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-19-958384-3 , pp. 146-147; see: Richard North: The Origins of Beowulf: From Vergil to Wiglaf , Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-920661-2 , p. 213.
  2. ↑ a b David Rollason: St Æthelberht of Hereford and the Cults of European Royal Saints ( online ( Memento from May 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 148 KB))
  3. ↑ a b Paul Antony Hayward: Æthelberht ; In: Michael Lapidge, John Blair, Simon Keynes, Donald Scragg (eds.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1 , p. 13.
  4. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 792
  5. ↑ a b Patrick Ryan: St. Ethelbert ; In: Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913
predecessor Office successor
Æthelred I. King of East Anglia
around 780–794 		Eadwald
personal data
SURNAME Æthelberht II.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ethelbyrhtus; Æðelberht; Æðelbriht; Æþelbryht
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of East Anglia
DATE OF BIRTH 8th century
DATE OF DEATH 794
Place of death Australis villa