Eadberht I.

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Kent in Anglo-Saxon times

Eadberht I (also: Eadbert, Eadbertus, Eadberctus, Eadbriht, Eadbryht, Ædbeortus ; † 748 ) was from 725 to 748 together with his brothers Æthelberht II. And initially also with Ealric co-king of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent .

Life

Eadberht came from the Kentish dynasty of the Oiscingas . He was a son of King Wihtred (690 / 691-725). His mother was either Cynegyth, Æthelburg or Wærburg, one of Wihtred's three wives.

Wihtred died on April 23, 725. Heirs of the kingdom were his three sons Æthelberht II. , Eadberht I and Ealric . As the eldest of the brothers, Æthelberht received East Kent and the supremacy, Eadberht ruled West Kent, while Ealric, who then disappeared from the sources, was probably a subordinate co-king. Presumably Ealric died soon after. In contrast to this representation, which is widely accepted today, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle names Eadberht as the sole heir to the throne. From the period between 699/716 and 748 several charters or copies thereof have been preserved that bear Eadberht's mark. Eadberht was illiterate and signed with a cross, which he put propria manu ("with your own hand"). The documents deal with donations of land and privileges for monasteries. Before 731 Kent came under the rule of Mercias, whose king dessenthelbald finally dominated the whole of southern England. Eadberht died in 748 and his son Eardwulf succeeded Kent as king in the west. Æthelberht survived Eadberht and ruled as Oberkönig until 762 in the east of Kent.

The sources of Eadberht are sparse and contradicting: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that his brother Æthelberht II. Was his successor. John of Worcester , a 12th century historian, wrote in Chronicon ex chronicis that Eadberht III. Præn (796–798) was the brother of Æthelberht II. And equated him with Eadberht I. and Eadberht II. Some modern historians consider Eadberht I and Eadberht II (762– around 764) to be identical people.

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literature

  • Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 .
  • John Cannon, Anne Hargreaves: The Kings and Queens of Britain , Oxford University Press, 2009 (2nd revised edition), ISBN 978-0-19-955922-0

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Bede: HE 5.23
  2. ^ John Cannon, Anne Hargreaves: The Kings and Queens of Britain , Oxford University Press, 2009 (2nd revised edition), ISBN 978-0-19-955922-0 , p. 21.
  3. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 725
  4. p27
  5. Simon Keynes: Æthelbald . 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. 11-13.
  6. p31
  7. Simon Keynes: Kings of Kent . 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. 501-502.
  8. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 748
  9. EB Fryde et al. (Ed.): Handbook of British Chronology (Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 978-0-521-56350-5 .
predecessor Office successor
Wihtred King of West Kent
725–748
Eardwulf