Eadberht of Selsey (diedcirca 716) was anabbot ofSelsey Abbey, later promoted to become the firstBishop of Selsey.[1] He was consecrated sometime between 709 and 716, and died between 716 and 731.[2]Wilfrid has occasionally been regarded as a previous bishop of the South Saxons, but this is an insertion of his name into the episcopal lists by later medieval writers, and Wilfrid was not considered the bishop during his lifetime orBede's.[3][4]
As abbot Eadberht received, around 700, a grant of land from Bryni, Ealdorman of Sussex, that was witnessed by KingsNothelm of Sussex andWatt of Sussex.[5]
In acharter dated by Birch about 725, Eadberht was named as the beneficiary of land from King Nothelm, witnessed by King Watt.[6][7][8] But this charter is now believed to be a forgery from the late 10th century or early 11th century.[9][10]
Eadberht also appears as a witness to an undated charter of Nothelm, together withOsric andEolla. The charter can be approximately dated to some point between about 705 and 717.[11] Eadberht last appearance is as a witness to a confirmation, dated 716, of a charter ofWihtred, King of Kent.[12]
^Bede,Ecclesiastical History of the English People Book IV.13. Referring to the land grant at Selsey, Bede wrote: "Wilfrid..having built a monastery there established the regular life, most of the monks being his own companions.."
Bede (1988).Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Translated by Leo Sherley-Price. Revised byR. E. Latham. Penguin Classics.ISBN0-14-044565-X.
Birch, Walter de Gray (1885).Cartularium Saxonicum:a collection of Charters relating to Anglo-Saxon History Volume I. London: Whiting and Company.
Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996).Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-56350-X.
Kelly, S. E. (1998).Charters of Selsey. Anglo-Saxon Charters VI. Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-726175-2.
