Everything about Aethelberht Of Kent totally explained
Æthelberht (also
Æthelbert,
Aethelberht,
Aethelbert, or
Ethelbert) (c. 560 –
February 24,
616) was
King of
Kent from about 580 or 590 until his death. In his
Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the monk
Bede lists Aethelberht as the third king to hold
imperium over other
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In the late 9th century
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Æthelberht is referred to as a
bretwalda, or "Britain-ruler". He was the first English king to convert to Christianity.
He was the son of
Eormenric, whom he succeeded as king, according to the Chronicle. He married
Bertha, daughter of
Charibert, king of the
Franks, thus building an alliance with the most powerful state in
Western Europe at that time; the marriage probably took place before Æthelberht came to the throne. The influence of Bertha may have led to
Pope Gregory I’s decision to send
Augustine as a
missionary from
Rome. Augustine landed on the
Isle of Thanet in east Kent in 597. Shortly thereafter, Æthelberht was converted to Christianity, churches were established and wider-scale conversion to
Christianity began. Æthelberht provided the new church with land in Canterbury, at what came to be known as
St Augustine's Abbey, thus establishing one of the foundation-stones of what ultimately became the Anglican church.
Æthelberht’s code of laws for Kent, the earliest written code in any
Germanic language, instituted a complex system of fines. Kent was rich, with strong trade ties to the continent, and it may be that Æthelberht instituted royal control of trade. Coinage began circulating in Kent during his reign for the first time since the Anglo-Saxon invasion.
Æthelberht was later
canonised for his role in establishing
Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons. His
feast day was originally February 24, but was changed to February 25.
Historical context
In the fifth century, raids on Britain by continental peoples had developed into full-scale migrations. The newcomers are known to have included
Angles,
Saxons,
Jutes and
Frisians, and there's evidence of other groups as well. These groups captured territory in the east and south of England, but at about the end of the fifth century, a British victory at the battle of
Mons Badonicus halted the Anglo-Saxon advance for fifty years. Beginning in about 550, however, the British began to lose ground once more, and within 25 years it appears that control of almost all of southern England was in the hands of the invaders.
Kent appears to have been conquered by the Anglo-Saxons prior to Mons Badonicus. There is both documentary and archaeological evidence that Kent was primarily colonized by Jutes, from the southern part of the
Jutland peninsula. According to a well-known legend,
Hengist and Horsa, two brothers, landed in 449 as mercenaries for a British king,
Vortigern. After a rebellion over pay, and the death of Horsa in battle, Hengist established the kingdom of Kent. This account is now thought by some historians to be mostly legendary, though the underlying story of a rebelling mercenary force may be essentially accurate, and the date for the founding of the kingdom of Kent is thought to be about the middle of the fifth-century, in agreement with the legend. This early date, only a few decades after the departure of the Romans, also suggests that more of Roman civilization may have survived into Anglo-Saxon rule in Kent than in other areas.
The Anglo-Saxon invasion may have involved military coordination of different groups within the invaders, with a leader who had authority over many different groups:
Ælle of Sussex may have been such a leader. Once the new states began to form, conflicts between them began, and dominance of the other nations could lead to wealth in the form of tribute. A weaker state might also ask for the protection of a stronger neighbour against a warlike third state. Overlordship, for either reason, was a central feature of Anglo-Saxon politics; it's known to have begun before Æthelberht's time, though the details are unknown, and kings were being described as overlords in this sense as late as the ninth century.
Sources for this period in Kentish history include
The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written in 731 by
Bede, a
Northumbrian
monk. Bede was primarily interested in the Christianization of England, but since Æthelberht was the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to
Christianity, Bede provides more substantial information about him than about any earlier king. One of Bede’s correspondents was Albinus, who was abbot of the monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul (subsequently renamed
St. Augustine's) in Canterbury. Also of importance is the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals assembled in about 890 in the kingdom of
Wessex, which mentions several events in Kent during Æthelberht’s reign.
In addition to these, there's a history of the
Franks written in the late sixth century by
Gregory of Tours which mentions Kentish events. This is the earliest surviving source to mention any Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Some of Pope
Gregory the Great’s letters survive that relate to the mission of
St. Augustine to Kent in 597; these provide information about the mission specifically, but can also be used to draw conclusions about the state of Kent and its relationships with its neighbours. Other sources include regnal lists of the kings of Kent, and early charters. Charters were documents drawn up to record grants of land by kings to their followers or to the church, and provide some of the earliest documentary sources in England. None survive in original form from Æthelberht’s reign, but some later copies exist. There is also a surviving lawcode of Æthelberht’s. An alternative form of this genealogy, found in the
Historia Brittonum among other places, reverses the position of Octa and Oisc in the lineage.
One other member of Æthelberht’s family is known: his sister, Ricole, who is recorded by both Bede and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the mother of Sæberht, king of the East Saxons.
The dates of Æthelberht’s birth and accession to the throne of Kent are alike a matter of debate. Bede, the earliest source to give dates, is thought to have drawn his information from correspondence with Albinus. Bede states that when Æthelberht died in 616 he'd reigned for fifty-six years, placing his accession in 560. Bede also says that Æthelberht died twenty-one years after his baptism. Augustine’s mission from Rome is known to have arrived in 597, and according to Bede it was this mission that converted Æthelberht. Hence Bede’s dates are inconsistent. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an important source for early dates, is inconsistent with Bede and also has inconsistencies between different manuscript versions. Putting together the different dates in the Chronicle for birth, death, and length of reign, it appears that Æthelberht’s reign was thought to have been either 560–616, or 565–618, but that the surviving sources have confused the two traditions.
It is possible that Æthelberht was converted to Christianity before Augustine’s arrival. Æthelberht’s wife was a Christian, and had a Frankish bishop attend her at court, so Æthelberht would have had knowledge of Christianity before the mission reached Kent. It is also possible that Bede had the date of Æthelberht’s death wrong; if Æthelberht in fact died in 618, this would be consistent with baptism in 597, which is in accord with the tradition that Augustine converted the king within a year of his arrival.
The above contradictions can't all be reconciled, but the most probable dates that can be drawn from the data place Æthelberht’s birth at around 560, and his marriage to Bertha at around 580. His reign is most likely to have started in about 589 or 590.
The division into two kingdoms is most likely to date back to the sixth century; east Kent may have conquered west Kent and preserved the institutions of kingship as a subkingdom. This was a common pattern in Anglo-Saxon England as the more powerful kingdoms absorbed their weaker neighbours. An unusual feature of the Kentish system was that only sons of kings appeared to be legitimate claimants to the throne, though this didn't eliminate all strife over the succession.
Relations with the Franks
There are many indications of close relations between Kent and the Franks. Æthelberht’s marriage to Bertha certainly connected the two courts, though not as equals: the Franks would have thought of Æthelberht as an under-king. There is no record that Æthelberht ever accepted a continental king as his overlord, and as a result historians are divided on the true nature of the relationship. Evidence for an explicit Frankish overlordship of Kent comes from a letter written by Pope Gregory the Great to
Theuderic, king of
Orléans, and
Theudebert, king of
Metz. The letter concerned Augustine’s mission to Kent in 597, and in it Gregory says that he believes “that you wish your subjects in every respect to be converted to that faith in which you, their kings and lords, stand”. It may be that this is a papal compliment, rather than a description of the actual relationship between the kingdoms. It has also been suggested that Liudhard, Bertha’s chaplain, was intended as a representative of the Frankish church in Kent, which could also be interpreted as evidence of overlordship.
A possible reason for the willingness of the Franks to connect themselves with the Kentish court is the fact that a Frankish king,
Chilperic I, is recorded as having conquered a people known as the Euthiones in the mid-sixth century. If, as seems likely from the name, these people were the continental remnants of the Jutish invaders of Kent, then it may be that the marriage was intended as a unifying political move, reconnecting different branches of the same people. The anonymous annalist who composed one of the Anglo-Saxon chronicles repeated Bede’s list of seven kings in a famous entry under the year 827, adding one further king, Egbert of Wessex. The Chronicle also adds the information that these kings held the title "
bretwalda", or “Britain-ruler”. Just what it meant to be a
bretwalda has been the subject of much debate; it has been described as a term “of encomiastic poetry”, but there's also evidence that it implied a definite role of military leadership.
The prior
bretwalda, Ceawlin, is recorded by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as having fought Æthelberht in 568. The entry states that Æthelberht lost the battle, and was driven back to Kent. The dating of the entries concerning the West Saxons in this section of the Chronicle is thought to be unreliable, and a recent analysis suggests that Ceawlin’s reign is more likely to have been about 581–588, rather than the dates of 560–592 that are given in the Chronicle. The battle was at “Wibbandun”, which can be translated as Wibba’s Mount; it isn't known where this was. If the battle of Wibbandun was fought in about 590, as has been suggested, then Æthelberht must have gained his position as overlord some time in the 590s. This dating for Wibbandun is slightly inconsistent with the proposed dates of 581–588 for Ceawlin’s reign, but those dates are not thought to be precise, merely the most plausible given the available data.
Bede describes Æthelberht’s relationship with
Rædwald, king of
East Anglia, in a passage that isn't completely clear in meaning. It appears to say that Rædwald retained ducatus, or military command of his people, even while Æthelberht held imperium. However, an alternative interpretation is that the passage in Bede should be translated as "Rædwald, king of the East Angles, who while Æthelberht lived, even conceded to him the military leadership of his people"; if this is Bede's intent, then East Anglia was firmly under Æthelberht's overlordship.
There is no evidence that Æthelberht’s influence in other kingdoms was enough for him to convert any other kings to Christianity, though this is partly due to the lack of sources—nothing is known of
Sussex’s history, for example, for almost all of the seventh and eighth centuries. Æthelberht was able to arrange a meeting in 602 in the
Severn valley, on the northwestern borders of
Wessex, however, and this may be an indication of the extent of his influence in the west.
Augustine’s mission and early Christianization
The native Britons had converted to Christianity under Roman rule. The Anglo-Saxon invasions separated the British church from European Christianity for centuries, so the church in Rome had no presence or authority in Britain, and in fact Rome knew so little about the British church it was unaware of any schism in customs. However, Æthelberht would have known something about the church from his Frankish wife, Bertha, who had brought a bishop, Liudhard, with her across the Channel, and who had a chapel built for her.
In 596, Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine, prior of the monastery of St. Andrew in Rome, to England as a missionary, and in 597, a group of nearly forty monks, led by Augustine, landed on the Isle of Thanet in Kent. It has also been argued that Augustine’s hesitation—he turned back to Rome, asking to be released from the mission—is an indication that Æthelberht was a pagan at the time Augustine was sent. Through Æthelberht’s influence Sæberht, king of Essex, was also converted, These laws are much the earliest surviving code composed in any of the Germanic countries, The only surviving early manuscript, the Textus Roffensis, dates from the twelfth century, and now resides in the Kent Archives Office in
Maidstone. Æthelberht’s code makes reference to the church in the very first item, which enumerates the compensation required for the property of a bishop, a deacon, a priest, and so on; Æthelberht’s laws are mentioned by Alfred the Great, who compiled his own laws, making use of the prior codes created by Æthelberht, as well as those of
Offa of Mercia and
Ine of Wessex.
One of Æthelberht’s laws seems to preserve a trace of a very old custom: the third item in the code states that “If the king is drinking at a man’s home, and anyone commits any evil deed there, he's to pay twofold compensation.”
Items 77–81 in the code have been interpreted as a description of a woman’s financial rights after a divorce or legal separation. These clauses define how much of the household goods a woman could keep in different circumstances, depending on whether she keeps custody of the children, for example. However, it has recently been suggested that it would be more correct to interpret these clauses as referring to women who are widowed, rather than divorced.
Kentish manufacture before 600 included glass beakers, and also jewelry; Kentish jewellers were highly skilled, and before the end of the sixth century they gained access to gold. Goods from Kent are found in cemeteries across the channel, and further away, at the mouth of the
Loire. It isn't known what Kent traded for all this wealth, though it seems likely that there was a flourishing slave trade. It may well be that this wealth was the foundation of Æthelberht’s strength, though his overlordship, and the associated right to demand tribute, would have brought wealth in its turn.
Death and succession
Æthelberht died on February 24th, 616, and was succeeded by his son, Eadbald, who wasn't a Christian—Bede says he'd been converted but went back to his pagan faith, Eadbald outraged the church by marrying his stepmother, which was contrary to Church law, and by refusing to accept baptism.
In addition to Eadbald, it's possible that Æthelberht had another son, Æthelwald. The evidence for this is a papal letter to Justus, archbishop of Canterbury from 619 to 625, in which a king named Aduluald is referred to, and who is apparently different from Audubald, which refers to Eadbald. There is no agreement among modern scholars on how to interpret this: "Aduluald" might be intended as a representation of "Æthelwald", and hence this may be an indication of another king, perhaps a subking of west Kent; or it may be merely a scribal error which should be read as referring to Eadbald.
Æthelberht was later
canonised for his role in establishing
Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons. His
feast day was originally February 24, but was changed to February 25.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Aethelberht Of Kent'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://__thelberht_of_kent.totallyexplained.com">Æthelberht of Kent Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
