The name "Æthelwealh" has two elements to it. "Æthel" is theOld English term for a "noble" or a "prince" as in "Ætheling".[2] The second Old English noun "wealh" originally meant "Celt", but later the term was also used for "slave", "foreigner" or "Romano-Britain". Thus, Æthelwealh possibly meant "Noble Romanised-Briton", which is a contradiction to the narrative.[c] Academics such as Michael Shapland have suggested that the king was not a Saxon, as his name meant "Noble King of the Britons."[4][5]
During Æthelwealh's time, the kingdom of the South Saxons was concentrated around the south-west of Sussex in the Selsey area.[6]
Ælle, the first king of the South Saxons, was followed byCissa of Sussex, according to theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle. There is a 150-year gap between Ælle, whose ancestry can not be established, and Æthelwealh, whose ancestry is more secure.[7]
Mercian power was ascending withWulfhere of Mercia advancing intoJutishsouthern Hampshire and theIsle of Wight in about 661.[8] Then, according to Bede, Æthelwealh travelled to Mercia to be baptised, becoming the first Christian king of Sussex, with Wulfhere as his godfather. Bede in hisEcclesiastical History of the English People recorded that Æthelwealh also married Eafe,[d] who was the daughter of Eanfrith,[e] a ruler of the ChristianHwicce people. Bede goes on to say that Wulfhere presented the Isle of Wight and Meonwara to Æthelwealh.[f] This alliance between the South Saxons and the Mercians and their control of southern England and the Isle of Wight was a challenge to the West Saxons, whose power base at the time was in the upper Thames area.[8][10]
In their testimonies,Stephen of Ripon and Bede write thatWilfrid, the exiled bishop ofYork, came to Sussex in 681 and converted[g] the people of Sussex and theIsle of Wight to Christianity. Æthelwealh gave Wilfrid land inSelsey, where he founded the Episcopal See of the South Saxons with its seat atSelsey Abbey.[10][14]
Cædwalla was a West Saxon prince who had apparently been banished byCentwine, king ofWessex.[15][16] Cædwalla had spent his exile in the forests of the Chiltern and theWeald, and at some point had befriended Wilfrid.[15][16] Cædwalla vowed that if Wilfrid would be his spiritual father, then he would be his obedient son.[16]
According to tradition,[h] Cædwalla invaded Sussex in about 686 and was met by Æthelwealh at a point in theSouth Downs just southeast ofStoughton, close to the border withHampshire, and it was here that Æthelwealh was defeated and slain. According to the same tradition, Æthelwealh lies buried in the southernbarrow of the group that marks the spot.[18]
The invasion stalled when Cædwalla was driven out by two of Æthelwealh'sealdormen,Berhthun andAndhun. In 687, Cædwalla became King of the West Saxons, and a new invasion of Sussex began; this time it was successful. Bede describes how brutally Cædwalla suppressed the South Saxons.[19][20][21]
After his victory, Cædwalla immediately summoned Wilfrid and made him supreme counsellor over his whole kingdom.[22] In 686, when Wilfrid returned north, the see of Selsey was absorbed by the Diocese of the West Saxons, at Winchester. In temporal matters, Sussex was subject to the West Saxon kings, and in ecclesiastical matters, it was subject to the bishops of Winchester.[23][24]
In Kent,Hlothhere had been ruler since 673/4. This was until his nephewEadric of Kent revolted against him and went to Sussex, where Æthelwealh helped him to raise a South Saxon army. In about 685, Eadric was able to defeat Hlothhere and become ruler of Kent.[25] On Æthelwealh's death, at the hands of Cædwalla, William of Malmesbury suggests that Eadric[a] became king of the South Saxon kingdom.[1] However, in 686, a West Saxon warband led by Cædwalla and his brotherMul, invaded Kent and removed Eadric from power, making Mul the king of Kent.[25]
^TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle says that Wulfhere gave the Isle of Wight to Æthelwealh; Bede says both the Isle of Wight and Meonwara.[9]
^Some modern academics have suggested that the people of Sussex would have beeninsular Christians before the arrival of Wilfrid, hypothesising that Wilfrid and Stephen had an anti-insular Christian agenda. See Goffart, Kirby and Shapland for discussion on this[11][12][13]
^The tradition is based on someBronze Age barrows atBow Hill, Sussex. The barrows are known as the "Devils Humps" or the "King's graves". However, there is no supporting evidence for the legends.[17]
Shapland, Michael (2023). Kaminski, Jamie (ed.). "Selsey Cathedral and the Early Medieval Kingdoms of Sussex".Sussex Archaeological Collections.161. Lewes: Sussex Archaeological Society.
Simpson, Jacqueline (2013).Folklore Sussex. Stroud: The History Press.ISBN978-0-7524-5100-8.
Stephens, W.R.W. (1876).Memorials of the South Saxon See and Cathedral Church of Chichester. London: Richard Bentley.OCLC504623992.
^Keynes, Simon (2014). "Appendix I: Rulers of the English, c.450–1066". InLapidge, Michael (ed.).The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.ISBN978-0-470-65632-7.
^Kirby, D. P.The Earliest English Kings. London and New York: Routledge.ISBN978-0-4152-4211-0.
s:Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Commissioned in the reign of Alfred the Great
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