Kingdom of the East Angles | |||||||||
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| 6th century–918 | |||||||||
 A map of East Angliac. 650 | |||||||||
| Status | Independent (6th century–794; 796–c. 799; 825–869) Client state ofMercia (794–796;c. 799–825) Part of theDanelaw (869–918) | ||||||||
| Official languages |
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| Religion | Anglo-Saxon paganism(before 7th century) Christianity(after 7th century) | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 6th century | ||||||||
• Annexed by the Kingdom of Wessex | 918 | ||||||||
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TheKingdom of the East Angles (Old English:Ēastengla Rīċe;Latin:Regnum Orientalium Anglorum), informally known as theKingdom of East Anglia orEast Anglia, was anearly medievalEnglish kingdom of theAngles during theAnglo-Saxon period, existing from the 6th century to 918 CE. It comprised the territory which now constitutes the English counties ofNorfolk andSuffolk and perhaps the eastern part ofthe Fens;[1] the area is still known asEast Anglia.
The kingdom formed in the 6th century in the wake of theAnglo-Saxon settlement of Britain was one of the kingdoms of the Heptarchy. It was ruled by theWuffingas dynasty in the 7th and 8th centuries, but the territory was taken byOffa of Mercia in 794.Mercian control lapsed briefly following the death of Offa but was re-established. The DanishGreat Heathen Army landed in East Anglia in 865; aftertaking York it returned to East Anglia, killingKing Edmund ("the Martyr") and making it Danish land in 869. AfterAlfred the Great forced atreaty with the Danes, East Anglia was left as part of theDanelaw.
The kingdom was taken back from Danish control byEdward the Elder and incorporated into theKingdom of England in 918.
The Kingdom of East Anglia was organised in the first or second quarter of the 6th century, withWehha listed as the firstking of the East Angles, followed byWuffa.[1] TheAnglo-Saxon genealogy for East Angles gives Wehha as descended fromWoden viaCaesar.[2]
Until 749 the kings of East Anglia were Wuffingas, named after the semi-historical Wuffa.[3] During the early 7th century underRædwald, East Anglia was a more powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom than its immediate neighbours.[4] Rædwald, who was converted to Christianity by his overlordÆthelberht of Kent,[5] is seen by scholars to be the person buried within (or commemorated by) the ship burial atSutton Hoo, nearWoodbridge.[6] During the decades that followed his death in about 624,[7] East Anglia became increasingly dominated by the kingdom ofMercia.[8] Several of Rædwald's successors were killed in battle, such asSigeberht, under whose rule and with the guidance of his bishop,Felix of Burgundy, Christianity was firmly established.[9]
From the death ofÆthelberht II by the Mercians in 794[10] until 825, East Anglia ceased to be an independent kingdom, apart from a brief reassertion underEadwald in 796. It survived until 869, when theVikings defeated the East Anglians in battle and their king,Edmund the Martyr, was killed. After 879, the Vikings settled permanently in East Anglia.[11] In 903 the exiledÆthelwoldætheling induced the East Anglian Danes to wage a disastrous war on his cousinEdward the Elder. By 918, after a succession of Danish defeats, East Anglia submitted to Edward and was incorporated into the Kingdom of England.[12][13]
East Anglia was settled by the Anglo-Saxons earlier than many other regions, possibly at the start of the 5th century.[14] It emerged from the political consolidation of the Angles in the approximate area of the former territory of theIceni and theRomancivitas, with its centre atVenta Icenorum, close toCaistor St Edmund.[3] The region that was to become East Anglia seems to have been depopulated to some extent around the 4th century. Ken Dark writes that "in this area at least, and possibly more widely in eastern Britain, large tracts of land appear to have been deserted in the late 4th century, possibly including whole 'small towns' and villages. This does not seem to be a localised change in settlement location, size or character but genuine desertion."[15]
According to Bede, the East Angles (and the Middle Angles, Mercians andNorthumbrians) were descended from natives ofAngeln (now in modern Germany).[16] The first reference to the East Angles is from about 704–713, in the WhitbyLife of St Gregory.[17] While thearchaeological and linguistic evidence suggests that a large-scale migration and settlement of the region by continental Germanic speakers occurred,[18] with a computer simulation showing that a migration of 250,000 people from Denmark to East Anglia could have been accomplished in 38 years with a reasonably small number of boats,[19] it has been questioned whether all of the migrants self-identified as Angles.[20][21]
The East Angles formed one of seven kingdoms known to post-medieval historians as theHeptarchy, a scheme used byHenry of Huntingdon in the 12th century. Some modern historians have questioned whether the seven ever existed contemporaneously and claim the political situation was far more complicated.[22]
The East Angles were initially ruled by the paganWuffingas dynasty, apparently named after an early king Wuffa, although his name may be a back-creation from the name of the dynasty, which means "descendants of the wolf".[3] An indispensable source on the early history of the kingdom and its rulers is Bede'sEcclesiastical History of the English People,. but he provided little on the chronology of the East Anglian kings or the length of their reigns.[23] Nothing is known of the earliest kings, or how the kingdom was organised, although a possible centre of royal power is the concentration of ship-burials atSnape and Sutton Hoo in eastern Suffolk. The "North Folk" and "South Folk" may have existed before the arrival of the first East Anglian kings.[24]
The most powerful of the Wuffingas kings was Rædwald, "son of Tytil, whose father was Wuffa",[3] according to theEcclesiastical 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: he was described by Bede as the overlord of the kingdoms south of theHumber.[25] and theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle identifies him asBretwalda. In 616, he had been strong enough to defeat and kill the Northumbrian kingÆthelfrith at theBattle of the River Idle and enthroneEdwin of Northumbria.[26] He was probably the individual honoured by the sumptuousship burial at Sutton Hoo.[27] It has been suggested by Blair, on the strength of parallels between some objects found under Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo and those discovered atVendel inSweden, that the Wuffingas may have been descendants of an eastern Swedish royal family. However, the items previously thought to have come from Sweden are now believed to have been made in England, and it seems less likely that the Wuffingas were of Swedish origin.[24]
Anglo-Saxon Christianity became established in the 7th century. The extent to which paganism was displaced is exemplified by a lack of any East Anglian settlement named after theold gods.[28]
In 604, Rædwald became the first East Anglian king to be baptised. He maintained a Christian altar, but at the same time continued to worship pagan gods.[29] From 616, when pagan monarchs briefly returned in Kent and Essex, East Anglia until Rædwald's death was the only Anglo-Saxon kingdom with a reigning baptised king. On his death in around 624, he was succeeded by his sonEorpwald, who was soon afterwards converted from paganism under the influence of Edwin,[3] 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 ofapostasy, Christianity prevailed with the accession of Eorpwald's brother (or step-brother) Sigeberht, who had been baptised during his exile inFrancia.[30] Sigeberht oversaw the establishment of the first East Anglian see for Felix of Burgundy at Dommoc, probablyDunwich.[31] He later abdicated in favour of his brotherEcgric and retired to a monastery.[32]
The eminence of East Anglia under Rædwald fell victim to the rising power ofPenda of Mercia and successors. From the mid-7th to early 9th centuries Mercian power grew, until a vast region from the Thames to the Humber, including East Anglia and the south-east, came under Mercian hegemony.[33] In the early 640s, Penda defeated and killed both Ecgric and Sigeberht,[34] who, having retired to religious life was later venerated as a saint.[35] Both Ecgric's successor Anna and Anna's son Jurmin were killed in 654 at the Battle of Bulcamp, nearBlythburgh.[36] Freed from Anna's challenge, Penda subjected East Anglia to the Mercians.[37] In 655Æthelhere of East Anglia joined Penda in a campaign againstOswiu that ended in a massive Mercian defeat at theBattle of the Winwaed, where Penda and his ally Æthelhere were killed.[38]
The last Wuffingas king wasÆlfwald, who died in 749.[39] 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.[40] A brief revival of East Anglian independence under Eadwald, after Offa's death in 796, was suppressed by the new Mercian king,Coenwulf.[41]
East Anglian independence was restored by a rebellion against Mercia led byÆthelstan in 825.Beornwulf of Mercia's attempt to restore Mercian control resulted in his defeat and death, and his successorLudeca met the same end in 827. The East Angles appealed toEgbert of Wessex for protection against the Mercians and Æthelstan then acknowledged Egbert as his overlord. Whilst Wessex took control of the south-eastern kingdoms absorbed by Mercia in the 8th century, East Anglia could retain its independence.[42]
In 865, East Anglia was invaded by the DanishGreat Heathen Army, which occupied winter quarters and secured horses before departing forNorthumbria.[43] The Danes returned in 869 to winter atThetford, before being attacked by the forces of Edmund of East Anglia, who was defeated and killed atHægelisdun and then buried atBeodericsworth. Following his death Edmund became known as 'the Martyr' and venerated as patron saint and the town ofBury St Edmunds was established there.[44]
From then on East Anglia effectively ceased to be an independent kingdom. Having defeated the East Angles, the Danes installed puppet-kings to govern on their behalf, while they resumed their campaigns against Mercia and Wessex.[45] In 878 the last active portion of the Great Heathen Army was defeated byAlfred the Great and withdrew from Wessex after making peace and agreeing that theDanes would treat the Christians equally. The treaty between Alfred and Guthrum acknowledged the latter's landholdings in East Anglia. In 880 the Vikings returned to East Anglia underGuthrum, who according to the medieval historianPauline Stafford, "swiftly adapted to territorial kingship and its trappings, including the minting of coins."[46]
Along with the traditional territory of East Anglia, Cambridgeshire and parts ofBedfordshire andHertfordshire, Guthrum's kingdom probably included Essex, the one portion of Wessex to come under Danish control.[47] A peace treaty was made between Alfred and Guthrum sometime in the 880s.[48] Under Scandinavian control, there are settlements in East Anglia which have names withOld Norse elements, e.g. '-thorp', '-by'.[49]
In the early 10th century, the East Anglian Danes came under increasing pressure from Edward, King of Wessex. In 901, Edward's cousin Æthelwoldætheling, having 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 Danes in England and induced the East Anglian Danes to wage war on Edward in Mercia and Wessex. This ended in disaster with the death of Æthelwold and ofEohric of East Anglia in battle in December 902.[13]
From 911 to 917, Edward expanded his control over the rest of England south of the Humber, establishing in Essex and Merciaburhs, often designed to control the use of a river by the Danes.[50] 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 rest of Essex: a Danish king, probably from East Anglia, was killed atTempsford. Despite reinforcement from overseas, the Danish counter-attacks were crushed, and after the defection of many of their English subjects as Edward's army advanced, the Danes of East Anglia and of Cambridge capitulated.[51]
East Anglia was absorbed into the Kingdom of England in 918. Norfolk and Suffolk became part of a newearldom of East Anglia in 1017, whenThorkell the Tall was made earl byCnut the Great.[52] The restored ecclesiastical structure saw two former East Anglian bishoprics (Elmham andDunwich) replaced by asingle one at North Elmham.[3]
The East Angles spoke adialect ofOld English.East Anglian English 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".[53]
The evidence for dialects in Old English comes from the study of texts, place-names, personal names and coins.[54] A. H. Smith was the first to recognise the existence of a separate Old East Anglian dialect, in addition to the recognised dialects ofNorthumbrian,Mercian, West Saxon andKentish. He acknowledged that his proposal for such a dialect was tentative, acknowledging that "the linguistic boundaries of the original dialects could not have enjoyed prolonged stability".[55] As no East Anglian manuscripts, Old English inscriptions or literary records such ascharters have survived, there is little evidence to support the existence of an East Anglian dialect. According to a study by Von Feilitzen in the 1930s, the recording of many place-names inDomesday 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.[56] Evidence fromDomesday Book and later sources suggests that a dialect boundary once existed, corresponding with a line that separates from their neighbours the English counties ofCambridgeshire (including the once sparsely-inhabited Fens),Norfolk andSuffolk.[57]
The kingdom of the East Angles bordered theNorth Sea to the north and the east, with theRiver Stour historically dividing it from theEast Saxons to the south,[58] the North Sea providing a "thriving maritime link to Scandinavia and the northern reaches of Germany".[59] Theport of Ipswich (Gipeswic) was established in 7th century.[60]
The kingdom's western boundary varied from the riversOuse,Lark and Kennett to further westwards, as far as theCam. At its greatest extent, the kingdom comprised the modern-day counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of eastern Cambridgeshire.[59]
Erosion on the eastern border anddeposition on the north coast altered the East Anglian coastline inRoman and Anglo-Saxon times (and continues to do so). In the latter, the sea flooded the low-lying Fens. As sea levels fellalluvium was deposited near major river estuaries and the "Great Estuary" (which theSaxon Shore forts atBurgh Castle andCaister had guarded) became closed off by a largespit of land.[61]
No East Angliancharters (and few other documents) have survived, while the medievalchronicles that refer to the East Angles are treated with great caution by scholars. So few records from the Kingdom of the East Angles have survived because of a complete destruction of the kingdom's monasteries and disappearance of the two East Angliansees as a result of Viking raids and settlement.[23] The main documentary source for the early period is Bede's 8th-centuryEcclesiastical History of the English People. East Anglia is first mentioned as a distinct political unit in theTribal Hidage, thought to have been compiled somewhere in England during the 7th century.[62]
Anglo-Saxon sources that include information about the East Angles or events relating to the kingdom:[63]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "East Anglia".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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