Æthelberht, King of Wessex
Æthelberht | |
---|---|
Æthelwulf | |
Mother | Osburh |
Æthelberht (Old English: . Æthelberht may have surrendered his position to his father when he returned from pilgrimage, but resumed (or kept) the south-eastern kingship when his father died in 858.
When Æthelbald died in 860, Æthelberht united both their territories under his rule. He did not appoint a sub-king and Wessex and Kent were fully united for the first time. He appears to have been on good terms with his younger brothers, the future kings Æthelred I and Alfred the Great. The kingdom came under attack from Viking raids during his reign, but these were minor compared with the invasions after his death. Æthelberht died in the autumn of 865 and was buried next to his brother Æthelbald at Sherborne Abbey in Dorset. He was succeeded by Æthelred.
Background
When Æthelberht's grandfather
At the beginning of the ninth century, England was almost wholly under the control of the
Viking raids increased in the early 840s on both sides of the English Channel, and in 843 Æthelwulf was defeated by the companies of 35 Danish ships at Carhampton.[3] In 850 Æthelstan defeated a Danish fleet off Sandwich in the first recorded naval battle in English history.[6] In 851 Æthelwulf and his second son Æthelbald defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Aclea and, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "there made the greatest slaughter of a heathen raiding-army that we have heard tell of up to this present day, and there took the victory".[7]
Sources
Anglo-Saxon charters provide the major source for Æthelberht's life and narrative accounts are very limited. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle only mentions two events in his reign and these are also the only incidents related in Asser's biography of his younger brother Alfred the Great, which is mainly based on the Chronicle for the mid-tenth century.[8]
Family
Æthelberht was the third of five sons of Æthelwulf and his first wife
Early life
Æthelberht was first recorded when he attested charters in 854.
Æthelwulf confirmed that he intended a permanent division of his kingdom as he recommended that on his death Æthelbald should be king of Wessex and Æthelberht king of Kent. This proposal was carried out when Æthelwulf died in 858.[17] According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: "And then Æthelwulf's two sons succeeded to the kingdom: Æthelbald to the kingdom of Wessex, and Æthelberht to the kingdom of the inhabitants of Kent and to the kingdom of Essex and to Surrey and to the kingdom of Sussex".[18] Æthelbald was later condemned by Alfred the Great's biographer, Asser, both for his rebellion against his father and because he married his father's widow,[19] but he appears to have been on good terms with Æthelberht. In 858 Æthelbald issued a charter (S 1274) relating to land in Surrey, and thus in his brother's territory, and a charter he issued in 860 (S 326) was witnessed by Æthelberht and Judith.[20]
Æthelberht appears to have made significant changes in personnel as a Kentish charter of 858 (S 328) was witnessed by twenty-one thegns, out of whom fourteen did not witness a surviving charter of his father. They include Eastmund, who Æthelberht later appointed ealdorman of Kent.[21] The charter is regarded by historians as important because it clarifies the obligations of folkland.[22][c] [16]
Reign
The separation of Wessex and Kent was soon reversed as Æthelbald died childless in 860 and Æthelberht succeeded to the whole kingdom of Wessex and Kent. Æthelred and Alfred may have been intended to succeed in Wessex, but they were too young as the preference was for adults as kings, especially when Wessex was under threat from the Vikings.[23] During Æthelberht's rule over the whole kingdom, Wessex and its recent south-eastern conquests became a united kingdom for the first time. Unlike his father and grandfather, Æthelberht did not appoint another member of his family as under-king of Kent. A Kentish charter issued in the first year of his reign (S 327) was the first to include a full complement both of West Saxon and Kentish attesters, although he then returned to locally attested charters.[24]
The historian Simon Keynes sees this charter as:
a highly significant development. It is exceptional in naming not only the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Rochester (which is all that we might have been led to expect in a Kentish charter), but also the bishops of Sherborne, Winchester, Selsey and (most remarkably) London;[d] it is also exceptional in carrying the attestations of no fewer than ten ealdormen, from both the western and eastern parts of the kingdom. When placed in the context of other ninth-century West Saxon charters, this charter seems to reflect an assembly of a kind not previously seen, and a kind of assembly which itself reflected the new arrangements for the unification of Wessex and the south-east.[25]
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Æthelberht reigned "in good harmony and in great peace" and "in peace, love and honour".[26] He appears to have been on good terms with his younger brothers and in a charter of 861 (S 330) he granted land to St Augustine's, Canterbury, in return for the abbot's continuing loyalty to him, Æthelred, and Alfred. Some historians believe that the three brothers agreed that each would succeed to the throne in turn.[27] In two charters in 862 and 863 (S 335 and S 336) Æthelred makes grants as king of the West Saxons and Æthelberht is not mentioned. In Keynes's view, Æthelberht may have delegated some power in Wessex, perhaps in his own absence. However, a charter of Æthelberht dated December 863 (S 333) is attested by Æthelred and Alfred as filius regis (king's son).[28] Æthelberht granted immunity from royal and judicial services to Sherborne church in honour of the souls of his father Æthelwulf and his brother Æthelbald.[29] Unlike most charters, which were in Latin, this one is in Old English, and historians disagree whether this reflects a trend towards greater use of the vernacular as better suited to recording legal documents or support for Alfred's later claim that knowledge of Latin had declined disastrously when he came to the throne in 871.[30]
Æthelberht's reign began and ended with raids by the Vikings. In 860 a Viking army sailed from the Somme to England and sacked Winchester, but they were then defeated by the men of Hampshire and Berkshire. Probably in the autumn of 864, another Viking army camped on Thanet and were promised money in return for peace, but they broke their promise and ravaged eastern Kent. These attacks were minor compared with events after Æthelberht's death, when the Vikings almost conquered England.[31]
Coinage
In the late eighth and ninth centuries the only denomination of coin produced in southern England was the silver penny.[32] Coins were minted in an unidentified town in Wessex itself, but activity in the mid-ninth century was minimal and no Wessex coins of Æthelberht are known. Kent had mints at Canterbury and Rochester and they produced coins in the name of Æthelwulf until 858 and Æthelberht thereafter. The lack of coins in the name of Æthelbald is evidence that he did not have any status of overlordship over Æthelberht.[33] In the early ninth century the quality of the inscription and the bust of the king on coins declined, but it revived on the Inscribed Cross penny at the end of Æthelwulf's reign and this continued under Æthelberht's, which also saw the introduction of the rare Floreate Cross design in about 862.[34] There was a considerable increase in the number of moneyers: twelve struck Inscribed Cross coins in Æthelwulf's reign and fifty in Æthelberht's. This may have been due to a recoinage starting at the end of Æthelwulf's reign and continuing in Æthelberht's, when old coins were called in and melted down to make new ones. The silver content of his Inscribed Cross issue fell to below 50% and one penny minted in Canterbury has only 30%, but a Floreate Cross coin has 84%, perhaps indicating that it was intended as a recoinage with higher fineness. There was also increasing standardisation of design in the coinage, reflecting greater royal control over currency and minting in the middle of the ninth century.[35]
Death and reputation
Æthelberht died of unknown causes in the autumn of 865. He was buried at
According to Asser, who based his account of events before 887 mainly on the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: "So after governing in peace, love and honour for five years, Æthelberht went the way of all flesh, to the great sorrow of his people; and he lies buried honourably beside his brother, at Sherborne."
Notes
- ^ Most historians describe Osburh as the mother of all Æthelwulf's children, but some scholars have argued that in view of the large age gap between older and younger ones, Osburh may only have been the mother of Æthelred and Alfred, while Æthelberht and his older brothers were born to an unrecorded earlier wife.[9]
- ^ The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that Æthelbald ruled for five years until his death in 860, implying that he was joint or sub-king with his father from 855 until Æthelwulf's death in 858. Historians often date Æthelbald's reign from 855, but some date it from 858.[10]
- ^ Folkland, which was passed on a holder's death by customary rules, was distinguished from bookland which could be left by will. S 328 showed that the king could draw food rents and customary services from folkland.[22]
- ^ Selsey in Sussex was part of greater Wessex, but London was then a Mercian town.
- ^ It is possible that Æthelberht had a son called Oswald or Osweald, who attested two charters in 868 and one in 875 as filius regis (king's son). It is not known who his father was and it could have been Æthelberht.[38]
References
- ^ Abels 2002, p. 85; Dumville 1979, p. 17; Stafford 2001, p. 83.
- ^ Keynes 1995, pp. 28, 39–41.
- ^ a b c Nelson 2004.
- ^ Stenton 1971, pp. 235, 241; Charles-Edwards 2013, p. 431.
- ^ Abels 1998, p. 31.
- ^ Stenton 1971, p. 244.
- ^ Swanton 2000, p. 64.
- ^ Smyth 1995, pp. 192, 377–83, 470–71; Keynes and Lapidge 1983, pp. 55, 73–74.
- ^ Miller 2004b; Smyth 1995, p. 11.
- ^ Swanton 2000, p. 66; Abels 1998, p. 347; Nelson 2004.
- ^ Abels 1998, pp. 55, 71 n. 69, 347.
- ^ Smyth 1995, p. 379.
- ^ Abels 1998, pp. 70–71; Abels 2002, p. 88.
- ^ Stenton 1971, p. 245; Keynes and Lapidge 1983, pp. 70, 235, n. 27; Abels 1998, pp. 85–86.
- ^ Kirby 2000, pp. 166–67; Miller 2004b.
- ^ a b Campbell 1973, pp. 29–30; Keynes 1994, p. 1132, n. 5.
- ^ Abels 2002, p. 89.
- ^ Swanton 2000, p. 66.
- ^ Keynes and Lapidge 1983, pp. 70–73.
- ^ Keynes 1994, pp. 1128–29; Miller 2004a.
- ^ Abels 2002, p. 90, n. 26.
- ^ a b Stenton 1971, p. 311.
- ^ Abels 1998, p. 92; Miller 2004b; Williams 1979, pp. 145–46.
- ^ Abels 1998, pp. 93–94; Miller 2004b.
- ^ Keynes 1993, pp. 128–29.
- ^ Huscroft 2019, p. 24.
- ^ Abels 2002, p. 91.
- ^ Keynes 1994, pp. 1129–30.
- ^ Smyth 1995, pp. 378–79; Robertson 1939, pp. 16–19.
- ^ Smyth 1995, p. 553; Yorke 1995, p. 192.
- ^ Kirby 2000, pp. 172–73; Huscroft 2019, p. 24.
- ^ Naismith 2012, p. 203.
- ^ Naismith 2012, pp. 110, 125–26.
- ^ Naismith 2012, p. 65; Grierson and Blackburn 2005, p. 308.
- ^ Pagan 1986, pp. 58–60; Naismith 2012, pp. 110–12, 164, 182.
- ^ Miller 2004b.
- ^ Page 1908.
- ^ Dumville 1979, p. 11; Foot 2011, p. xv.
- ^ Stenton 1971, p. 245.
- ^ Keynes and Lapidge 1983, pp. 55, 74.
- ^ Darlington, McGurk and Bray 1995, p. 277.
- ^ Mynors, Thomson and Winterbottom 1998, p. 179.
- ^ Smyth 1995, pp. 470–71.
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- Keynes, Simon (November 1994). "The West Saxon Charters of King Æthelwulf and his sons". English Historical Review. 109 (434): 1109–49. ISSN 0013-8266.
- Keynes, Simon (1995). "England, 700–900". In McKitterick, Rosamond (ed.). The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. II. Cambridge University Press. pp. 18–42. ISBN 978-0-521-36292-4.
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- Miller, Sean (2004b). "Æthelberht (d. 865)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. required)
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