King of Kent: Æthelberht (Also Æthelbert, Aethelberht, Aethelbert, or Ethelbert) (C. 560 - 24

Download as doc, pdf, or txt
Download as doc, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 4

St.

Aethelbert I of Kent, King of Kent

(c.AD 540-616)
thelberht (also thelbert, Aethelberht, Aethelbert, or Ethelbert) (c. 560 24 February 616) was King of Kent from about 580 or 590 until his death. In his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the eighth-century monk Bede lists Aethelberht as the third king to hold imperium over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In the late ninth century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle thelberht is referred to as a bretwalda, or "Britain-ruler". He was the first English king to convert to Christianity. He was the son of Eormenric, succeeding him as king, according to the Chronicle. He married Bertha, the Christian daughter of Charibert, king of the Franks, thus building an alliance with the most powerful state in contemporary Western Europe; the marriage probably took place before thelberht came to the throne. The influence of Bertha may have led to the decision by Pope Gregory I to send Augustine as a missionary from Rome. Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet in east Kent in 597. Shortly thereafter, thelberht was converted to Christianity, churches were established, and wider-scale conversion to Christianity began in the kingdom. thelberht provided the new church with land in Canterbury, at what came to be known as St Augustine's Abbey. thelberhts law for Kent, the earliest written code in any Germanic language, instituted a complex system of fines. These can be found in the Textus Roffensis (circa 1120). Kent was rich, with strong trade ties to the continent and, it may be that thelberht instituted royal control of trade. For the first time following the Anglo-Saxon invasion, coins began circulating in Kent during his reign. thelberht later was canonised for his role in establishing Christianity among the AngloSaxons, as were his wife and daughter. His feast day originally was 24 February, but was changed to 25 February.

___________________________________________________________________
Bede 672/673 26 May 735, 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.

He is well known as an author and scholar, and his most famous work, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People) gained him the title "The Father of English History". In 1899, Bede was moreover a skilled linguist and translator, and his work with the Latin and Greek writings of the early Church Fathers contributed significantly to English Christianity, making the writings much more accessible to his fellow Anglo-Saxons

King Egbert
Egbert (also spelled Ecgberht or Ecgbriht; ca. 769 or 771 839) was King of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839. His father was Ealhmund of Kent. In the 780s Egbert was forced into exile by Offa of Mercia and Beorhtric of Wessex, but on Beorhtric's death in 802 Egbert returned and took the throne. Little is known of the first 20 years of Egbert's reign, but it is thought that he was able to maintain Wessex's independence against the kingdom of Mercia, which at that time dominated the other southern English kingdoms. In 825 Egbert defeated Beornwulf of Mercia and ended Mercia's supremacy at the Battle of Ellandun, and proceeded to take control of the Mercian dependencies in southeastern England. In 829 Egbert defeated Wiglaf of Mercia and drove him out of his kingdom, temporarily ruling Mercia directly. Later that year Egbert received the submission of the Northumbrian king at Dore, near Sheffield. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle subsequently described Egbert as a bretwalda, or "Ruler of Britain." Egbert was unable to maintain this dominant position, and within a year Wiglaf regained the throne of Mercia. However, Wessex did retain control of Kent, Sussex and Surrey; these territories were given to Egbert's son thelwulf to rule as a subking under Egbert. When Egbert died in 839, thelwulf succeeded him; the southeastern kingdoms were finally absorbed into the kingdom of Wessex after thelwulf's death in 858.

St Agustine
Augustine of Hippo (November 13, 354 August 28, 430), also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin,St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed,[5] was Bishop of Hippo Regius (present-day Annaba, Algeria). He was a Latinspeaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province. His writings were very influential in the development of Western Christianity. According to his contemporary, Jerome, Augustine "established anew the ancient Faith".[6] In his early years he was heavily influenced by Manichaeism and afterward by the NeoPlatonism of Plotinus.[7] After his conversion to Christianity and baptism (AD 387), Augustine developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a variety of methods and different perspectives.[8] He believed that the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freedom, and he framed the concepts of original sin and just war.

When the Western Roman Empire was starting to disintegrate, Augustine developed the concept of the Church as a spiritual City of God (in a book of the same name), distinct from the material Earthly City.[9] His thought profoundly influenced the medieval worldview. Augustine's City of God was closely identified with the church, the community that worshipped God.[10] In the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, he is a saint and pre-eminent Doctor of the Church, and the patron of the Augustinian religious order; his memorial is celebrated 28 August, the day of his death. He is the patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians, the alleviation of sore eyes, and a number of cities and dioceses.[11] Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider him to be one of the theological fathers of Reformation due to his teaching on salvation and divine grace. In the Eastern Orthodox Church he is blessed, and his feast day is celebrated on 15 June.[12] Among the Orthodox, he is called "Blessed Augustine", or "St. Augustine the Blessed".[13]

Edward the confessor


Edward the Confessor, son of thelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066. He has traditionally been seen as unworldly and pious, and his reign as notable for the disintegration of royal power in England and the advance in power of the Godwin family. His biographers, Frank Barlow and Peter Rex, dispute this, picturing him as a successful king, who was energetic, resourceful and sometimes ruthless, but whose reputation has been unfairly tarnished by the Norman conquest shortly after his death.[3][4] Other historians regard the picture as partly true, especially in the later part of his reign. In the view of Richard Mortimer, the return of the Godwins from exile in 1052 "meant the effective end of his exercise of power". The difference in his level of activity from the earlier part of his reign "implies a withdrawal from affairs".[5] He had succeeded Cnut the Great's son Harthacnut, restoring the rule of the House of Wessex after the period of Danish rule since Cnut had conquered England in 1016. When Edward died in 1066 he was succeeded by Harold Godwinson, who was defeated and killed in the same year by the Normans under William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. Edward was canonized in 1161 by Pope Alexander III, and is commemorated on 13 October by the Roman Catholic Church of England and Wales and the Church of England. He was regarded as one of the national saints of England until King Edward III adopted Saint George as patron saint in about 1350. 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. The survey was executed for William I of England (William the Conqueror): "While spending the Christmas of 1085 in Gloucester, William had deep

speech with his counsellors and sent men all over England to each shire to find out what or how much each landholder had in land and livestock, and what it was worth" (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).

Battle of Hastings 1066


The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England,[3] between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II.[4] It took place at Senlac Hill, approximately 10 km (614 miles) northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory. Harold II was killed in the battlelegend has it that he was shot through the eye with an arrow. Harold II became the last English king to die in battle on English soil until Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field. The battle marked the last time a foreign invasion of the British Isles had been successful. Although there was further English resistance, this battle is seen as the point at which William gained control of England, becoming its first Norman ruler as King William I. The battle also established the superiority of the combined arms attack over an army predominately composed of infantry, demonstrating the effectiveness of archers, cavalry and infantry working cooperatively together. The dominance of cavalry forces over infantry would continue until the emergence of the longbow, and battles such as Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt in the Hundred Years War. The famous Bayeux Tapestry depicts the events before and during the battle. Battle Abbey in East Sussex was subsequently built on the site of the conflict

You might also like