Ealhmund (Kent)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kent in Anglo-Saxon times

Ealhmund (also Ealhmundus, Ealmundus, Ealmund ; † 785 ) was King of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent from 779/784 to 784/785 . Ealhmund may be identical to Eanmund , who ruled Kent around 764/765.

Life

family

According to traditional tradition, Ealhmund came from the Wessex family . His father was called Eafa, his mother is unknown. Ealhmund's son Ecgberht was King of Wessex from 802 to 839. However, there are also some arguments in favor of a Kentish origin. It is possible that the "Versippung" with the House of Wessex only emerged at a later time when Ealhmund's son Ecgberht and his descendants created additional legitimation as kings of Wessex.

Domination

King Ecgberht II. (764 / 765-779 / 784) of Kent won in 776 in the Battle of Otford a victory over Offa (757-796), the King of Mercia , shook off his supremacy and ruled for the next few years as independent king presumably over all of Kent. Ecgberht's sphere of influence likely extended to Surrey and parts of Essex and Sussex . Ealhmund may have been co-king or sub-king Ecgberhts II as early as the 770s, who may have been his brother.

With the last Charter S36, issued in 779 , Ecgberht II disappeared from tradition. In the year 784 Ealhmund is recorded as his successor. In 784 Ealhmund signed the only document he received in an early copy, 12 aratra ( hooves , farmsteads) at Scilduuic (Sheldwich near Faversham ) to Hwitred, the Abbot of Reculver, and granted tax exemption. Around 784/785 Kent came under the control of Offa again, who ruled the country himself until his death in 796. Ealhmund was probably killed in these battles in 785. Ealhmund's son Ecgberht had to flee from Offa in 786 and found asylum at the court of Charlemagne in the Franconian Empire .

See also

swell

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. John Cannon, Anne Hargreaves: The Kings and Queens of Britain , Oxford University Press, 2009 (2nd revised edition), ISBN 978-0-19-955922-0 , p. 22.
  2. Asser : The Life of King Alfred
  3. ^ A b B. AE Yorke: Ecgberht, king of Wessex . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1 , pp. 157-158; see: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 855
  4. ^ Anton Scharer : Rule and Representation: Studies on the court culture of King Alfred the Great , Oldenbourg, Munich 2000, ISBN 978-3-486-64842-3 , pp. 59–60.
  5. a b c 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 978-0-631-22492-1 , pp. 501-502.
  6. DP Kirby: The Earliest English Kings , Routledge, 2000, ISBN 978-0-415-24211-0 , p. 139.
  7. Julia Barrow, Andrew Wareham (eds.): Myth, Rulership, Church and Charters: Essays in Honor of Nicholas Brooks , Ashgate, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7546-5120-8 , p. 79.
  8. Charter S36
  9. Charter S38
  10. Julia Barrow, Andrew Wareham (eds.): Myth, Rulership, Church and Charters: Essays in Honor of Nicholas Brooks , Ashgate, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7546-5120-8 , p. 261.
predecessor Office successor
Ecgberht II. King of Kent
779 / 784–784 / 785
Offa