Kingdom of the East Angles
Encyclopedia
The Kingdom of East Anglia, also known as the Kingdom of the East Angles , was a small independent Anglo-Saxon
kingdom that comprised what are now the English
counties of Norfolk
and Suffolk
and perhaps the eastern part of the Fens. The kingdom formed after it was settled by a pagan Germanic-speaking people
known as the Angles
, who arrived after the end of Roman rule in Britain during the fifth century. East Anglia was bounded to the north and east by the North Sea
, and to the west by the Fens, but the precise boundaries between the kingdom and its southern and western neighbours, Essex
and Middle Anglia, have not been defined.
Until 749 the kings of East Anglia were members of the Wuffingas dynasty, named after the semi-historical Wuffa
. During the early 7th century, under Rædwald, East Anglia emerged to become a powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Rædwald, the first of the East Anglian kings to be baptised as a Christian, is considered by many experts to be the person who was buried within (or commemorated by) the ship burial at Sutton Hoo
, near Woodbridge. During the decades that followed his death in around 624, East Anglia became increasingly dominated by the powerful kingdom of Mercia
. Several of Rædwald's successors were killed in battle, such as Sigeberht
(killed circa
641). Under Sigeberht's rule and the guidance of his bishop, Felix of Burgundy
, Christianity was firmly established in East Anglia.
After Æthelberht was killed by the Mercians in 794, and until 825, East Anglia ceased to be an independent kingdom, although it briefly reasserted its independence under Eadwald
in 796. It survived until 869, when the Vikings defeated the East Anglians in battle and their king, Edmund of East Anglia, was killed. After 879, the Vikings settled permanently in East Anglia. In 903 the exiled Æthelwold of Wessex
induced the East Anglian Danes to wage a disastrous war on his cousin Edward the Elder
. By 917, after a succession of Danish defeats, East Anglia had submitted to Edward and was incorporated into the kingdom of England
, afterwards becoming an earl
dom.
to the north and the east, with the river Stour
historically dividing it from the East Saxons
to the south. The North Sea provided a "thriving maritime link to Scandinavia and the northern reaches of Germany", according to Richard Hoggett. The kingdom's western boundary varied from the rivers Ouse
, Lark
and Kennett to further westwards, as far as the Cam
in what is now Cambridgeshire
. At its greatest extent, the kingdom comprised the modern-day counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of eastern Cambridgeshire.
Erosion
along the eastern border and deposition
along the north coast altered the shape of the East Anglian coastline during Roman
and Anglo-Saxon times (and continues to do so today). During Saxon times the sea inundated the naturally low-lying Fens. As sea levels fell alluvium
was deposited near major river estuaries and the 'Great Estuary' near Burgh Castle
became slowed closed off by a large spit
.
(and few other documents) have survived to modern times and the mediaeval chronicle
s that refer to the East Angles are treated with great caution by scholars. Very few records from the Kingdom of the East Angles have survived, because of the complete destruction of the kingdom's monasteries and the disappearance of the two East Anglian sees
as the result of Viking
raids and settlement. The principal documentary source for the early period of the kingdom's history is Ecclesiatical History of the English People, written by Bede
in the eighth century. East Anglia is first mentioned as a distinct political unit in the Tribal Hidage
, which is thought to have been compiled somewhere in England during the seventh century.
Anglo-Saxon sources that include information about the East Angles or events relating to the kingdom:
Post-Norman sources (of variable historical validity):
as early as around 450, earlier than many other regions. It emerged from the settlement and political consolidation of Angles in the approximate area of the former territory of the Iceni
and the Roman
civitas with its centre at Venta Icenorum
, close to Caistor St. Edmund
. According to Bede, the East Angles (as well as the Middle Angles
, the Mercians and the Northumbrians) were descended from natives of Angeln
(now in modern Denmark
). The first reference to the East Angles is from around 704-713, in the Whitby Life of St Gregory.
The East Angles formed one of the seven kingdoms known to post-mediaeval historians as the Heptarchy
, a scheme used by Henry of Huntingdon in the 12th century. Some modern historians have questioned whether seven independent kingdoms ever really existed contemporaneously, and claim that the political situation was much more complicated.
, although his name could have been an invention to explain the dynastic name, which means 'descendants of the wolf'. An indispensible main source of information on the early history of the kingdom and its rulers is Bede's Ecclesiatical History, but he provided few facts relating to the chronology of the East Anglian kings or the length of their reigns. Nothing is known of the earliest kings of East Anglia, or how the kingdom was organised, although an possible indication of the original centre of royal power is the concentration of ship-burials at Snape
and Sutton Hoo in eastern Suffolk. The North Folk and South Folk may have existed before the arrival of the first East Anglian kings.
The most powerful of the Wuffingas kings was Rædwald, 'the son of Tytil, whose father was Wuffa', according to the Ecclesiastical History. For a brief period in the early 7th century, whilst Rædwald ruled, East Anglia was among the most powerful kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon England: Rædwald was described by Bede as the overlord of the kingdoms south of the River Humber. In 616, he had been strong enough to defeat and kill the Northumbrian king Æthelfrith
at the Battle of the River Idle and install Edwin
as king of Northumbria. He was probably the individual honoured by the sumptuous ship burial
at Sutton Hoo. It has been suggested by Blair, on the strength of the parallels between some of the objects found under Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo and those discovered at Vendel
in Sweden
, that the Wuffingas may have been the descendants of an eastern Swedish royal family. However as those items previously thought to have come from Sweden are now believed to have been made in England, it seems less likely that the Wuffingas were of Swedish origin.
Rædwald was the first king to be receptive to the overtures of Christian
missionaries and was baptised and maintained a Christian altar, but at the same time continued to worship pagan gods
. On his death in around 624, he was succeeded by his son Eorpwald
, who was soon afterwards converted from paganism as a result of the influence of Edwin, but his new religion was evidently opposed in East Anglia and Eorpwald met his death at the hands of a pagan, Ricberht. After three years of apostasy
, Christianity prevailed with the accession of Eorpwald's brother (or step-brother) Sigeberht
, who had been baptised during his exile in Francia. Sigeberht oversaw the establishment of the first East Anglian see
for Felix of Burgundy
at Dommoc, probably at Dunwich
. He later abdicated in favour of his brother Ecgric and retired to a monastery.
and his successors. Throughout the mid-seventh to early ninth centuries, Mercian power grew until a vast region from the Thames to the Humber
, including East Anglia and the south-east, became a zone of Mercian hegemony. In the early 640s Penda defeated and killed both Ecgric and Sigeberht, who was later venerated as a saint. Ecgric's successor Anna
and Anna's son Jurmin were killed together in 654 at the Battle of Bulcamp, near Blythburgh
. Having eliminated Anna's challenge to his rising power, Penda then subjected the East Anglians to Mercian overlordship. In 655 Æthelhere of East Anglia joined Penda in a campaign against Oswy of Northumbria, which ended in a disastrous Mercian defeat at the Battle of the Winwaed
, in which both Penda and his ally Æthelhere were killed.
The last Wuffingas king was Ælfwald, who died in 749. During the late 7th and 8th centuries East Anglia continued to be overshadowed by Mercian hegemony until, in 794, Offa of Mercia
had the East Anglian king Æthelberht executed and then took control of the kingdom for himself. A brief revival of East Anglian independence under Eadwald
after Offa's death in 796 was soon suppressed by the new Mercian king, Coenwulf
.
The independence of the East Anglians was restored by a successful rebellion against Mercia led by Æthelstan in 825. Beornwulf of Mercia
's attempt to restore Mercian control over East Anglia resulted in his defeat and death, and his successor Ludeca
met the same end in 827. The East Angles appealed to Egbert of Wessex
for protection against the Mercians and Æthelstan then acknowledged Egbert as his overlord. Whilst Wessex took control of the south-eastern kingdoms which had been absorbed by Mercia during the 8th century, East Anglia could maintain its independence.
', which occupied winter quarters and secured horses before departing for Northumbria. The Danes returned to East Anglia in 869, wintering at Thetford
before being attacked by the forces of Edmund of East Anglia, who was defeated and killed at Hægelisdun (recently identified with Bradfield St Clare, which is nearby to his final resting place at Bury St. Edmunds
). From this point onwards, East Anglia effectively ceased to be an independent kingdom. Having defeated the East Angles, the Danes then installed puppet-kings to govern on their behalf, while they resumed their campaigns against Mercia and Wessex. In 878 the last portion of the Great Heathen Army to remain active was defeated by Alfred the Great
and withdrew from Wessex after making a peace treaty. In 880 the Vikings returned to East Anglia under the leadership of Guthrum
, who, according to Pauline Stafford
, "swiftly adapted to territorial kingship and its trappings, including the minting of coins".
In addition to the traditional territory of East Anglia, Cambridgeshire
and parts of Bedfordshire
and Hertfordshire
, Guthrum's kingdom probably included Essex, the only portion of Wessex which had come under Danish control. A peace treaty made between Alfred and Guthrum sometime in the 880s.
, king of Wessex. In 902 Edward's cousin Æthelwold
, who had been driven into exile after an unsuccessful bid for the throne, arrived in Essex after a stay in Northumbria. He was apparently accepted as king by some or all of the Danes in England and in 903 he induced the East Anglian Danes to wage war on Edward. This ended in disaster, with the death of Æthelwold and of Eohric of East Anglia
in a battle in the Fens.
Between 911 and 919, Edward expanded his control over the rest of England south of the Humber, establishing in Essex and Mercia burh
s, often designed to control the use of a river by the Danes. In 917, the Danish position in the area suddenly collapsed. A rapid succession of defeats culminated in the loss of the territories of Northampton and Huntingdon, along with the remainder of Essex: a Danish king, probably from East Anglia, was killed at Tempsford
. Despite reinforcement from overseas, the Danish counter-attacks were crushed, and following the defection of many of their English subjects as Edward's army advanced, the Danes of East Anglia and Cambridge both capitulated.
The territory of East Anglia was absorbed into the kingdom of England. Norfolk and Suffolk became part of the new earldom of East Anglia
, when in 1017, Thorkell the Tall was made earl of East Anglia by Cnut. The restoration of the ecclesiastical structure in the region saw the two former East Anglian bishoprics replaced by a single one based at North Elmham
.
The evidence for dialects
in Old English comes from the study of texts, place-names, personal names and coins. A. H. Smith was the first to recognise the existence of a separate Old East Anglian dialect, in addition to the previously recognised dialects of Northumbrian, Mercian, Saxon and Kentish. He acknowledged that his proposal of such a dialect was tentative, acknowledging that "the linguistic boundaries of the original dialects could not have have enjoyed prolonged stability". As no East Anglian manuscripts, Old English inscriptions or literary records such as charters have survived to modern times, there is little evidence to support the existence of an Old East Anglian dialect. According to a study made by Von Feilitzen in the 1930s, the recording of many place-names in Domesday Book
was "ultimately based on the evidence of local juries" and so the spoken form of Anglo-Saxon places and people was partly preserved in this way. Evidence from Domesday Book and later sources does suggest that a dialect boundary once existed, corresponding with a line that separates from their neighbours the English counties of Cambridgeshire (including the once sparsely inhabited Fens), Norfolk and Suffolk.
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
kingdom that comprised what are now the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
counties of Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
and Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
and perhaps the eastern part of the Fens. The kingdom formed after it was settled by a pagan Germanic-speaking people
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
known as the Angles
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
, who arrived after the end of Roman rule in Britain during the fifth century. East Anglia was bounded to the north and east by the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, and to the west by the Fens, but the precise boundaries between the kingdom and its southern and western neighbours, Essex
Kingdom of Essex
The Kingdom of Essex or Kingdom of the East Saxons was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the so-called Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Kent. Kings of Essex were...
and Middle Anglia, have not been defined.
Until 749 the kings of East Anglia were members of the Wuffingas dynasty, named after the semi-historical Wuffa
Wuffa of East Anglia
Wuffa is supposed to have ruled the East Angles from c. 571 to c. 578. East Anglia was a long-lived Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk....
. During the early 7th century, under Rædwald, East Anglia emerged to become a powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Rædwald, the first of the East Anglian kings to be baptised as a Christian, is considered by many experts to be the person who was buried within (or commemorated by) the ship burial at Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo, near to Woodbridge, in the English county of Suffolk, is the site of two 6th and early 7th century cemeteries. One contained an undisturbed ship burial including a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts of outstanding art-historical and archaeological significance, now held in the British...
, near Woodbridge. During the decades that followed his death in around 624, East Anglia became increasingly dominated by the powerful kingdom of Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
. Several of Rædwald's successors were killed in battle, such as Sigeberht
Sigeberht of East Anglia
Sigeberht of East Anglia , was a saint and a king of East Anglia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. He was the first English king to receive a Christian baptism and education before his succession and the first to abdicate in order to enter...
(killed circa
Circa
Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...
641). Under Sigeberht's rule and the guidance of his bishop, Felix of Burgundy
Felix of Burgundy
Felix of Burgundy, also known as Felix of Dunwich , was a saint and the first bishop of the East Angles. He is widely credited as the man who introduced Christianity to the kingdom of East Anglia...
, Christianity was firmly established in East Anglia.
After Æthelberht was killed by the Mercians in 794, and until 825, East Anglia ceased to be an independent kingdom, although it briefly reasserted its independence under Eadwald
Eadwald of East Anglia
Eadwald of East Anglia was the king of East Anglia c. 796-798. Eadwald was probably in exile during the oppressive reign of Offa . After the death of Offa of Mercia, who had ruled East Anglia directly since deposing and beheading its king Aethelberht in 796...
in 796. It survived until 869, when the Vikings defeated the East Anglians in battle and their king, Edmund of East Anglia, was killed. After 879, the Vikings settled permanently in East Anglia. In 903 the exiled Æthelwold of Wessex
Æthelwold of Wessex
Æthelwold was the youngest of three known sons of King Æthelred of Wessex. His brother Oswald is recorded between 863 and 875, and Æthelhelm is only recorded as a beneficiary of King Alfred's will in the mid 880s, and probably died soon afterwards...
induced the East Anglian Danes to wage a disastrous war on his cousin Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex...
. By 917, after a succession of Danish defeats, East Anglia had submitted to Edward and was incorporated into the kingdom of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
, afterwards becoming an earl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
dom.
Geography
The kingdom of the East Angles bordered the North SeaNorth Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
to the north and the east, with the river Stour
River Stour, Suffolk
The River Stour is a river in East Anglia, England. It is 76 km long and forms most of the county boundary between Suffolk to the north, and Essex to the south. It rises in eastern Cambridgeshire, passes to the east of Haverhill, through Cavendish, Sudbury and the Dedham Vale, and joins the...
historically dividing it from the East Saxons
Kingdom of Essex
The Kingdom of Essex or Kingdom of the East Saxons was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the so-called Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Kent. Kings of Essex were...
to the south. The North Sea provided a "thriving maritime link to Scandinavia and the northern reaches of Germany", according to Richard Hoggett. The kingdom's western boundary varied from the rivers Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...
, Lark
River Lark
The River Lark is a river in England, which crosses the border between Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. It is a tributary of the River Great Ouse, and was extended when that river was re-routed as part of drainage improvements. It is thought to have been used for navigation since Roman times, and...
and Kennett to further westwards, as far as the Cam
River Cam
The River Cam is a tributary of the River Great Ouse in the east of England. The two rivers join to the south of Ely at Pope's Corner. The Great Ouse connects the Cam to England's canal system and to the North Sea at King's Lynn...
in what is now Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
. At its greatest extent, the kingdom comprised the modern-day counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of eastern Cambridgeshire.
Erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
along the eastern border and deposition
Deposition (geology)
Deposition is the geological process by which material is added to a landform or land mass. Fluids such as wind and water, as well as sediment flowing via gravity, transport previously eroded sediment, which, at the loss of enough kinetic energy in the fluid, is deposited, building up layers of...
along the north coast altered the shape of the East Anglian coastline during Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
and Anglo-Saxon times (and continues to do so today). During Saxon times the sea inundated the naturally low-lying Fens. As sea levels fell alluvium
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
was deposited near major river estuaries and the 'Great Estuary' near Burgh Castle
Burgh Castle
Burgh Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the east bank of the River Waveney, near Great Yarmouth, some 6 km west of Great Yarmouth and within the Broads National Park.-Roman Fort:...
became slowed closed off by a large spit
Spit (landform)
A spit or sandspit is a deposition landform found off coasts. At one end, spits connect to land, and extend into the sea. A spit is a type of bar or beach that develops where a re-entrant occurs, such as at cove's headlands, by the process of longshore drift...
.
Sources
No East Anglian chartersCharters
Charters is a surname and may refer to :* Ann Charters , American professor of English* Charlie Charters , former English rugby union official and sports marketing executive* Frank Charters, , English cricketer...
(and few other documents) have survived to modern times and the mediaeval chronicle
Chronicle
Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the...
s that refer to the East Angles are treated with great caution by scholars. Very few records from the Kingdom of the East Angles have survived, because of the complete destruction of the kingdom's monasteries and the disappearance of the two East Anglian sees
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
as the result of Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
raids and settlement. The principal documentary source for the early period of the kingdom's history is Ecclesiatical History of the English People, written by Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
in the eighth century. East Anglia is first mentioned as a distinct political unit in the Tribal Hidage
Tribal Hidage
Image:Tribal Hidage 2.svg|thumb|400px|alt=insert description of map here|The tribes of the Tribal Hidage. Where an appropriate article exists, it can be found by clicking on the name.rect 275 75 375 100 Elmetrect 375 100 450 150 Hatfield Chase...
, which is thought to have been compiled somewhere in England during the seventh century.
Anglo-Saxon sources that include information about the East Angles or events relating to the kingdom:
- Ecclesiatical History of the English People
- Anglo-Saxon ChronicleAnglo-Saxon ChronicleThe Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
- The Tribal Hidage, where the East Angles are assessed at 30,000 hidesHide (unit)The hide was originally an amount of land sufficient to support a household, but later in Anglo-Saxon England became a unit used in assessing land for liability to "geld", or land tax. The geld would be collected at a stated rate per hide...
, evidently superior in resources to lesser kingdoms such as SussexKingdom of SussexThe Kingdom of Sussex or Kingdom of the South Saxons was a Saxon colony and later independent kingdom of the Saxons, on the south coast of England. Its boundaries coincided in general with those of the earlier kingdom of the Regnenses and the later county of Sussex. A large part of its territory...
and LindseyKingdom of LindseyLindsey or Linnuis is the name of a petty Anglo-Saxon kingdom, absorbed into Northumbria in the 7th century.It lay between the Humber and the Wash, forming its inland boundaries from the course of the Witham and Trent rivers , and the Foss Dyke between...
. - Historia Britonnum
- Life of Foillan, written in the 7th century
Post-Norman sources (of variable historical validity):
- The 12th century Liber EliensisLiber EliensisThe Liber Eliensis is a 12th-century English chronicle and history, written in Latin. Composed in three books, it was written at Ely Abbey on the island of Ely in the fenlands of eastern Cambridgeshire. Ely Abbey became the cathedral of a newly formed bishopric in 1109...
- Florence of WorcesterFlorence of WorcesterFlorence of Worcester , known in Latin as Florentius, was a monk of Worcester, who played some part in the production of the Chronicon ex chronicis, a Latin world chronicle which begins with the creation and ends in 1140....
's Chronicle, written in the 12th century - Henry of HuntingdonHenry of HuntingdonHenry of Huntingdon , the son of a canon in the diocese of Lincoln, was a 12th century English historian, the author of a history of England, Historia anglorum, "the most important Anglo-Norman historian to emerge from the secular clergy". He served as archdeacon of Huntingdon...
's Historia Anglorum, written in the 12th century - Roger of WendoverRoger of WendoverRoger of Wendover , probably a native of Wendover in Buckinghamshire, was an English chronicler of the 13th century.At an uncertain date he became a monk at St Albans Abbey; afterwards he was appointed prior of the cell of Belvoir, but he forfeited this dignity in the early years of Henry III,...
's Flores HistoriarumFlores HistoriarumThe Flores Historiarum is a Latin chronicle dealing with English history from the creation to 1326 . It was compiled by various persons and quickly acquired contemporary popularity, for it was continued by many hands in many manuscript traditions...
, written in the 13th century
Settlement
East Anglia was settled by the Anglo-SaxonsAnglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
as early as around 450, earlier than many other regions. It emerged from the settlement and political consolidation of Angles in the approximate area of the former territory of the Iceni
Iceni
The Iceni or Eceni were a British tribe who inhabited an area of East Anglia corresponding roughly to the modern-day county of Norfolk between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD...
and the Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
civitas with its centre at Venta Icenorum
Venta Icenorum
Venta Icenorum, probably meaning "Market Town of the Iceni", located at modern-day Caistor St Edmund in the English county of Norfolk, was the civitas or capital of the Iceni tribe, who inhabited the flatlands and marshes of that county and earned immortality for their revolt against Roman rule...
, close to Caistor St. Edmund
Caistor St. Edmund
Caistor St Edmund is a village on the River Tas, near Norwich, Norfolk, England. It covers an area of and had a population of 270 in 116 households at the 2001 census....
. According to Bede, the East Angles (as well as the Middle Angles
Middle Angles
The Middle Angles were an important ethnic or cultural group within the larger kingdom of Mercia in England in the Anglo-Saxon period.-Origins and territory:...
, the Mercians and the Northumbrians) were descended from natives of Angeln
Angeln
Modern Angeln, also known as Anglia , is a small peninsula in Southern Schleswig in the northern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, protruding into the Bay of Kiel...
(now in modern Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
). The first reference to the East Angles is from around 704-713, in the Whitby Life of St Gregory.
The East Angles formed one of the seven kingdoms known to post-mediaeval historians as the Heptarchy
Heptarchy
The Heptarchy is a collective name applied to the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of south, east, and central Great Britain during late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, conventionally identified as seven: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex...
, a scheme used by Henry of Huntingdon in the 12th century. Some modern historians have questioned whether seven independent kingdoms ever really existed contemporaneously, and claim that the political situation was much more complicated.
Pagan rule
The East Angles were initially ruled by the pagan Wuffingas dynasty, apparently named after an early king, WuffaWuffa of East Anglia
Wuffa is supposed to have ruled the East Angles from c. 571 to c. 578. East Anglia was a long-lived Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk....
, although his name could have been an invention to explain the dynastic name, which means 'descendants of the wolf'. An indispensible main source of information on the early history of the kingdom and its rulers is Bede's Ecclesiatical History, but he provided few facts relating to the chronology of the East Anglian kings or the length of their reigns. Nothing is known of the earliest kings of East Anglia, or how the kingdom was organised, although an possible indication of the original centre of royal power is the concentration of ship-burials at Snape
Snape, Suffolk
Snape is a small village in the English county of Suffolk, on the River Alde close to Aldeburgh. It has about 600 inhabitants. Snape is now best known for Snape Maltings, no longer in commercial use, but converted into a tourist centre together with a concert hall that hosts the major part of the...
and Sutton Hoo in eastern Suffolk. The North Folk and South Folk may have existed before the arrival of the first East Anglian kings.
The most powerful of the Wuffingas kings was Rædwald, 'the son of Tytil, whose father was Wuffa', according to the Ecclesiastical History. For a brief period in the early 7th century, whilst Rædwald ruled, East Anglia was among the most powerful kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon England: Rædwald was described by Bede as the overlord of the kingdoms south of the River Humber. In 616, he had been strong enough to defeat and kill the Northumbrian king Æthelfrith
Æthelfrith of Northumbria
Æthelfrith was King of Bernicia from c. 593 until c. 616; he was also, beginning c. 604, the first Bernician king to also rule Deira, to the south of Bernicia. Since Deira and Bernicia were the two basic components of what would later be defined as Northumbria, Æthelfrith can be considered, in...
at the Battle of the River Idle and install Edwin
Edwin of Northumbria
Edwin , also known as Eadwine or Æduini, was the King of Deira and Bernicia – which later became known as Northumbria – from about 616 until his death. He converted to Christianity and was baptised in 627; after he fell at the Battle of Hatfield Chase, he was venerated as a saint.Edwin was the son...
as king of Northumbria. He was probably the individual honoured by the sumptuous ship burial
Ship burial
A ship burial or boat grave is a burial in which a ship or boat is used either as a container for the dead and the grave goods, or as a part of the grave goods itself. If the ship is very small, it is called a boat grave...
at Sutton Hoo. It has been suggested by Blair, on the strength of the parallels between some of the objects found under Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo and those discovered at Vendel
Vendel
Vendel is a parish in the Swedish province of Uppland.The village overlooks a long inland stretch of water, Vendelsjön, near which the Vendel river has its confluence with the river Fyris. The church was established in 1310...
in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, that the Wuffingas may have been the descendants of an eastern Swedish royal family. However as those items previously thought to have come from Sweden are now believed to have been made in England, it seems less likely that the Wuffingas were of Swedish origin.
Establishment of Christianity
During the 7th century, Christianity became successfully established in East Anglia and replaced the pagan beliefs of the Wuffingas dynasty and the East Anglian population. The extent to which the kingdom's paganism vanished is exemplified by a lack of any East Anglian settlements that are named after the old heathen gods.Rædwald was the first king to be receptive to the overtures of Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
missionaries and was baptised and maintained a Christian altar, but at the same time continued to worship pagan gods
Anglo-Saxon deities
Anglo-Saxon deities refers to the gods and goddesses worshipped in the religion of Anglo-Saxon paganism, by the Anglo-Saxons, a group of Germanic tribes who settled in modern day England in the 5th century....
. On his death in around 624, he was succeeded by his son Eorpwald
Eorpwald of East Anglia
Eorpwald; also Erpenwald or Earpwald, , succeeded his father Rædwald as ruler of the independent Kingdom of the East Angles...
, who was soon afterwards converted from paganism as a result of the influence of Edwin, but his new religion was evidently opposed in East Anglia and Eorpwald met his death at the hands of a pagan, Ricberht. After three years of apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
, Christianity prevailed with the accession of Eorpwald's brother (or step-brother) Sigeberht
Sigeberht of East Anglia
Sigeberht of East Anglia , was a saint and a king of East Anglia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. He was the first English king to receive a Christian baptism and education before his succession and the first to abdicate in order to enter...
, who had been baptised during his exile in Francia. Sigeberht oversaw the establishment of the first East Anglian see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
for Felix of Burgundy
Felix of Burgundy
Felix of Burgundy, also known as Felix of Dunwich , was a saint and the first bishop of the East Angles. He is widely credited as the man who introduced Christianity to the kingdom of East Anglia...
at Dommoc, probably at Dunwich
Dunwich
Dunwich is a small town in Suffolk, England, within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB.Dunwich was the capital of East Anglia 1500 years ago but the harbour and most of the town have since disappeared due to coastal erosion. Its decline began in 1286 when a sea surge hit the East Anglian coast, and...
. He later abdicated in favour of his brother Ecgric and retired to a monastery.
Mercian aggression
The eminence achieved by East Anglia under Rædwald did not last long, as his dynasty fell victim to the rising power of Penda of MerciaPenda of Mercia
Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the...
and his successors. Throughout the mid-seventh to early ninth centuries, Mercian power grew until a vast region from the Thames to the Humber
Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal River Ouse and the tidal River Trent. From here to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire on the north bank...
, including East Anglia and the south-east, became a zone of Mercian hegemony. In the early 640s Penda defeated and killed both Ecgric and Sigeberht, who was later venerated as a saint. Ecgric's successor Anna
Anna of East Anglia
Anna was King of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. Anna was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles. He was one of the three sons of Eni who ruled East Anglia, succeeding some time after Ecgric was killed in battle by Penda of Mercia...
and Anna's son Jurmin were killed together in 654 at the Battle of Bulcamp, near Blythburgh
Blythburgh
Blythburgh is a small English village in an area known as the Sandlings, part of the Suffolk heritage coast. Located close to an area of flooded marshland and mud-flats, in 2007 its population was estimated to be 300. Blythburgh is best known for its church, Holy Trinity, internationally known as...
. Having eliminated Anna's challenge to his rising power, Penda then subjected the East Anglians to Mercian overlordship. In 655 Æthelhere of East Anglia joined Penda in a campaign against Oswy of Northumbria, which ended in a disastrous Mercian defeat at the Battle of the Winwaed
Battle of the Winwaed
The Battle of the Winwaed was fought on 15 November 655 , between King Penda of Mercia and Oswiu of Bernicia, ending in the Mercians' defeat and Penda's death.-History:Although the battle is said to be the most important between the early northern and southern divisions of...
, in which both Penda and his ally Æthelhere were killed.
The last Wuffingas king was Ælfwald, who died in 749. During the late 7th and 8th centuries East Anglia continued to be overshadowed by Mercian hegemony until, in 794, Offa of Mercia
Offa of Mercia
Offa was the King of Mercia from 757 until his death in July 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æthelbald after defeating the other claimant Beornred. In the early years of Offa's reign it is likely...
had the East Anglian king Æthelberht executed and then took control of the kingdom for himself. A brief revival of East Anglian independence under Eadwald
Eadwald of East Anglia
Eadwald of East Anglia was the king of East Anglia c. 796-798. Eadwald was probably in exile during the oppressive reign of Offa . After the death of Offa of Mercia, who had ruled East Anglia directly since deposing and beheading its king Aethelberht in 796...
after Offa's death in 796 was soon suppressed by the new Mercian king, Coenwulf
Coenwulf of Mercia
Coenwulf was King of Mercia from December 796 to 821. He was a descendant of a brother of King Penda, who had ruled Mercia in the middle of the 7th century. He succeeded Ecgfrith, the son of Offa; Ecgfrith only reigned for five months, with Coenwulf coming to the throne in the same year that Offa...
.
The independence of the East Anglians was restored by a successful rebellion against Mercia led by Æthelstan in 825. Beornwulf of Mercia
Beornwulf of Mercia
Beornwulf was King of Mercia from 823 to 825. His short reign saw the collapse of the Mercia's supremacy over the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy....
's attempt to restore Mercian control over East Anglia resulted in his defeat and death, and his successor Ludeca
Ludeca of Mercia
Ludeca was King of Mercia, from 826 to 827. He became king after the death of Beornwulf in battle against the rebellious East Angles, but he too was killed in another failed attempt to subjugate them in the next year....
met the same end in 827. The East Angles appealed to Egbert of Wessex
Egbert of Wessex
Egbert was King of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839. His father was Ealhmund of Kent...
for protection against the Mercians and Æthelstan then acknowledged Egbert as his overlord. Whilst Wessex took control of the south-eastern kingdoms which had been absorbed by Mercia during the 8th century, East Anglia could maintain its independence.
Viking attacks and eventual settlement
In 865, East Anglia was invaded by the Danish 'Great Heathen ArmyGreat Heathen Army
The Great Heathen Army, also known as the Great Army or the Great Danish Army, was a Viking army originating in Denmark which pillaged and conquered much of England in the late 9th century...
', which occupied winter quarters and secured horses before departing for Northumbria. The Danes returned to East Anglia in 869, wintering at Thetford
Thetford
Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just south of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , has a population of 21,588.-History:...
before being attacked by the forces of Edmund of East Anglia, who was defeated and killed at Hægelisdun (recently identified with Bradfield St Clare, which is nearby to his final resting place at Bury St. Edmunds
Bury St. Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds is a market town in the county of Suffolk, England, and formerly the county town of West Suffolk. It is the main town in the borough of St Edmundsbury and known for the ruined abbey near the town centre...
). From this point onwards, East Anglia effectively ceased to be an independent kingdom. Having defeated the East Angles, the Danes then installed puppet-kings to govern on their behalf, while they resumed their campaigns against Mercia and Wessex. In 878 the last portion of the Great Heathen Army to remain active was defeated by Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
and withdrew from Wessex after making a peace treaty. In 880 the Vikings returned to East Anglia under the leadership of Guthrum
Guthrum the Old
Guthrum , christened Æthelstan, was King of the Danish Vikings in the Danelaw. He is mainly known for his conflict with Alfred the Great.-Guthrum, founder of the Danelaw:...
, who, according to Pauline Stafford
Pauline Stafford
Pauline Stafford is Professor Emerita of Early Medieval History at Liverpool University in England. Her work focuses on the history of women and gender in England from the eighth to the early twelfth centuries, and on the same topics in Frankish history during the eighth and ninth centuries...
, "swiftly adapted to territorial kingship and its trappings, including the minting of coins".
In addition to the traditional territory of East Anglia, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
and parts of Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
and Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, Guthrum's kingdom probably included Essex, the only portion of Wessex which had come under Danish control. A peace treaty made between Alfred and Guthrum sometime in the 880s.
Absorption into the kingdom of England
In the early 10th century, the East Anglian Danes came under increasing pressure from Edward the ElderEdward the Elder
Edward the Elder was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex...
, king of Wessex. In 902 Edward's cousin Æthelwold
Æthelwold of Wessex
Æthelwold was the youngest of three known sons of King Æthelred of Wessex. His brother Oswald is recorded between 863 and 875, and Æthelhelm is only recorded as a beneficiary of King Alfred's will in the mid 880s, and probably died soon afterwards...
, who had been driven into exile after an unsuccessful bid for the throne, arrived in Essex after a stay in Northumbria. He was apparently accepted as king by some or all of the Danes in England and in 903 he induced the East Anglian Danes to wage war on Edward. This ended in disaster, with the death of Æthelwold and of Eohric of East Anglia
Eohric of East Anglia
Eohric was king of East Anglia. Seemingly of Scandinavian origin, his name is the Old English form of the Old Norse Eiríkr, little is known of Eohric or of East Anglia in his time....
in a battle in the Fens.
Between 911 and 919, Edward expanded his control over the rest of England south of the Humber, establishing in Essex and Mercia burh
Burh
A Burh is an Old English name for a fortified town or other defended site, sometimes centred upon a hill fort though always intended as a place of permanent settlement, its origin was in military defence; "it represented only a stage, though a vitally important one, in the evolution of the...
s, often designed to control the use of a river by the Danes. In 917, the Danish position in the area suddenly collapsed. A rapid succession of defeats culminated in the loss of the territories of Northampton and Huntingdon, along with the remainder of Essex: a Danish king, probably from East Anglia, was killed at Tempsford
Tempsford
Tempsford is a village and civil parish in the English county of Bedfordshire.The village is split by the A1 Great North Road and is located just before the junction with the A428 at the Black Cat Roundabout...
. Despite reinforcement from overseas, the Danish counter-attacks were crushed, and following the defection of many of their English subjects as Edward's army advanced, the Danes of East Anglia and Cambridge both capitulated.
The territory of East Anglia was absorbed into the kingdom of England. Norfolk and Suffolk became part of the new earldom of East Anglia
Earl of East Anglia
The Earls of East Anglia were governors of East Anglia during the 11th century. The post was established by Cnut in 1017 and disappeared following Ralph Guader's participation in the failed Revolt of the Earls in 1075.-Ealdormen of East Anglia:...
, when in 1017, Thorkell the Tall was made earl of East Anglia by Cnut. The restoration of the ecclesiastical structure in the region saw the two former East Anglian bishoprics replaced by a single one based at North Elmham
North Elmham
North Elmham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 1,428 in 624 households as of the 2001 census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of Breckland....
.
The Old East Anglian dialect
The East Angles spoke Old English. Their language is historically important, as they were among the first Germanic settlers to arrive in Britain during the 5th century: according to Kortmann and Schneider, East Anglia "can seriously claim to be the first place in the world where English was spoken".The evidence for dialects
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
in Old English comes from the study of texts, place-names, personal names and coins. A. H. Smith was the first to recognise the existence of a separate Old East Anglian dialect, in addition to the previously recognised dialects of Northumbrian, Mercian, Saxon and Kentish. He acknowledged that his proposal of such a dialect was tentative, acknowledging that "the linguistic boundaries of the original dialects could not have have enjoyed prolonged stability". As no East Anglian manuscripts, Old English inscriptions or literary records such as charters have survived to modern times, there is little evidence to support the existence of an Old East Anglian dialect. According to a study made by Von Feilitzen in the 1930s, the recording of many place-names in Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
was "ultimately based on the evidence of local juries" and so the spoken form of Anglo-Saxon places and people was partly preserved in this way. Evidence from Domesday Book and later sources does suggest that a dialect boundary once existed, corresponding with a line that separates from their neighbours the English counties of Cambridgeshire (including the once sparsely inhabited Fens), Norfolk and Suffolk.