Ealdwulf of East Anglia

Ealdwulf or Aldwulf was King of East Anglia from 663 to "c." 713.

Ealdwulf's reign of forty-nine years was extraordinary in length: only Æthelberht of Kent's (c 560-616), Ethelbald of Mercia's (716-757) and Offa of Mercia's (757-796) are comparable. Far less is known of Ealdwulf than of either of these, and his personal power never rivalled theirs, but its duration reflects the success of the alliances set in train during the foregoing decades. East Anglia experienced a long period of stability and growth, not least in its commercial centre at Gipeswic (Ipswich). Among wider struggles for authority Ealdwulf held a strong position through the patronage of religious houses governed by his extended kin.

Origins

Ealdwulf was the son of Æthilric, son of Eni, son of Tytila, son of Wuffa, of the royal East Anglian Wuffinga dynasty. His father Æthilric may be the same person as King Ecgric of East Anglia, who died in battle in 636. (Æthilric was, in any case, probably dead by 647.) His mother was Hereswith, sister of Saint Hilda of Whitby, daughters of Hereric and Breguswith, of the house of Edwin of Northumbria. He was also first cousin of the saintly daughters and martyred son of King Anna of East Anglia.

Ealdwulf was born into a Christian royal household, since his mother was baptized (probably as a young teenager) with her sister and other members of the Northumbrian royal family, including King Edwin, by Saint Paulinus in 626. Her father Hereric, Edwin's nephew, was murdered in exile in the British kingdom of Elmet: Edwin therefore slew its King Ceretic soon after gaining Northumbria in 616. Her marriage to Æthilric should date between 626 and 632-3 when Edwin was slain by Cadwallon ap Cadfan. This diplomatic marriage must have carried the expectation that Æthilric was to be a Christian husband and probably a ruler in his own kingdom. Like Edwin's conversion of Eorpwald in 627, it sealed in kinship the ties of Edwin to the house of Raedwald of East Anglia (Æthilric's uncle), who had established his rule. Ealdwulf, offspring of that dynastic union, embodied its political meaning.

In Ealdwulf's childhood Saint Felix and Saint Fursey were both active in East Anglia. As a child Ealdwulf saw the temple containing both Christian and pagan altars which Raedwald had maintained: in later years he used to tell of it ("testabatur"). Indeed his testimony may be authority for Bede's account of it. His widowed mother Hereswith left East Anglia in or before 647 to lead a religious life at Chelles in Gaul, at a Frankish royal oratory, there being no religious house for women in East Anglia. It is not known whether Ealdwulf accompanied her, or whether he remained in East Anglia through the eventful reigns of his three uncles, Anna (636-653), Æthelhere (654) and Æthelwold (654-664).

Early reign

Ealdwulf's reign began in the plague mortality of c 664, which left no archbishop at Canterbury until 669. During part of this time Berhtgisl Boniface of Dommoc was the only bishop whose consecration derived from the Canterbury authority. He died in or shortly before 669. Anna's daughter Æthelburg, abbess of Faremoutiers Abbey, died probably in this plague and was succeeded by her half-sister Saethryth. Saint Botolph's monastery at Iken was flourishing. Wilfrid (who sought the bishopric of York but received one based at Ripon) sent his pupil Ceolfrith (afterwards abbot of Jarrow) to study with Botolph, then considered a man of exceptional life, teachings and spiritual grace.

In 669 Pope Vitalian sent Theodore of Tarsus (as Archbishop) and his assistant Hadrian to Canterbury, where Ecgbert (son of Eorcenberht of Kent) was ruling. Theodore established a great school and began to reform the English Church. Bisi was appointed Bishop of Dommoc. At York he created Wilfrid Bishop of Northumbria, removing Chad, who went first to Lastingham as abbot and then as bishop to Lichfield in Mercia. King Oswiu of Northumbria died in 670 and was buried near Edwin at Whitby, whither his widow Eanfled also retired to live under the abbacy of Hild, Ealdwulf's maternal aunt. Oswiu's successor was Ecgfrith, whose wife Etheldreda remained a virgin.

Wuffing monastic patronage and division of the See

In 672 Etheldreda took religious vows with the help of Bishop Wilfrid (to whom she gave the estate at Hexham), and after a year escaped to her East Anglian estate of Ely, where she founded a double monastery, the origin of the great mediaeval abbey. Meanwhile in Kent her nephew Ecgberht established the monastery of Minster-in-Thanet, to be ruled by his cousin Eormenburga (queen of Merewalh). In 673 Ecgbert was succeeded by his brother Hlothhere, and their mother Seaxburga, Etheldreda's sister, became established in her double monastery at Minster-in-Sheppey in the Isle of Sheppey.

The governance of Ely and Sheppey under two queens of East Anglian birth created a very enduring axis of patronage and influence. Theodore notified Ecgfrith that he could not remarry within the Church while Etheldreda was living, denying him a legitimate heir. Soon afterwards, with Bishop Bisi in declining health he divided the bishopric of Dommoc, creating a second East Anglian seat at Helmham. The original site is disputed between North Elmham (Norfolk) and South Elmham (Suffolk), the latter currently preferred. Bishop AEcci was appointed to Dommoc and Baduwine to Helmham. Abbot Botolph died in 674 at Iken and was succeeded by Æthelheah, who later exchanged land-rights with the monastery of Much Wenlock (Shropshire). These entails had perhaps been bestowed by King Anna at the foundation of Iken, through his daughter Seaxburga's kinship to the family of Merewalh and Eormenburga. It is suggested (but unproved) that the revenue of the East Anglian royal estates centred upon Rendlesham (the 'Five-and-a-half Hundreds', or Wicklaw) were bestowed upon Ely at its foundation, since they formed the largest share of Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester's re-endowment of Ely in c970 (later the 'Liberty of St Etheldreda'). Similar doubt surrounds the Papal Privileges later claimed to have been obtained at Rome by Wilfrid in c680 for Ely and Peterborough. If either or both were authentic, they would show a decisive policy of Ealdwulf to reinforce dynastic authority through ecclesiastical structure. Wilfrid retained close contact with Ely and Peterborough from his monastery at Oundle. Etheldreda and Hild both died c 679-80: Seaxburga transferred to Ely, leaving Sheppey to Eormenhilda.

Influence in Lindsey

The name and dynastic house of Ealdwulf's queen is unknown. He had at least two children, Ælfwald (his heir) and Ecgburga, later an abbess. His marital alliance probably coloured East Anglia's dealings with Mercia and Northumbria, which were approaching new confrontations. At the death of Wulfhere of Mercia, c 675, his queen Eormenhilda joined her mother at Minster-in-Sheppey, and his brother Aethelred succeeded, whose wife Osthryth was daughter of Oswald of Northumbria. Since Raedwald's time the rule of Lindsey had been disputed between Mercia and Northumbria, but after a battle in 679 it fell finally to Mercia. East Anglia increasingly acknowledged the superior influence of Mercia.

Coinage and commerce

The issue and use of English coinage during Ealdwulf's reign followed its development in Kent, at first with gold shillings or thrymsas during the 660s-70s, and thereafter (by a debasement linked to the diminishing gold quality of Frankish coin) with silver sceattas or pennies of various types. The distribution of findspots reveals foci of their use and possibly their issue at East Anglian centres of importance, especially in the north-west around Hunstanton and Bawsey (Norfolk), in the Thetford area and the Fen edge around Isleworth (Cambridgeshire) and Exning, in the east around Burgh Castle at the Yare mouth, and south-east near Rendlesham and Ipswich and in the River Gipping valley.

The status of coinage was not yet as a true currency, nor overtly regnal. The pieces attributed to East Anglian production are found alongside others mainly of Kentish, East Saxon, and Frisian or Netherlandish types, reflecting external communications with those centres. In the same period Gipeswic (Ipswich) witnessed the full development of its first major expansion from the quayside north to the Cattlemarket area, and with established production of Frisian-inspired Ipswich Ware pottery in the area north-east of this. Its continental trade partners may primarily have been Domburg in Walcheren (Netherlands) and Dorestad, the large emporium on the Rhine south of Utrecht. This route gained importance as the Christian mission to Frisia developed from the 680s.

Conflict with Wessex

In 685 Kent was plunged into a civil war in which Hlothhere died, and Ecgfrith of Northumbria was killed in an expedition against the Picts, both events which strengthened the power of Mercia. Ealdwulf is one of the three Anglian kings, with Æthelred of Mercia and Aldfrith (Ecgfrith's successor) addressed by Pope Sergius in a letter of 692 urging their acceptance of Berhtwald (of Reculver) as successor to Theodore at Canterbury. Soon afterwards Kent was twice invaded by Caedwalla of Wessex: during the first assault his brother Mul was captured and burnt to death with his bodyguard. Caedwalla made a religious abdication and while Ecgbert's son Wihtred took possession of Kent, Ine began his reign in Wessex. It is possible that Ealdwulf had assisted Kent against Wessex. In 693-4 Ine obliged Kent to pay recompense for Mull, but also (according to William of Malmesbury) banished the East Anglian nobility and then put them to flight in battle. This perhaps occurred in Kent, since Ealdwulf was not overthrown.

Relations with Mercia

East Anglian patrimony was restated at Ely in 696 when Seaxburga translated the uncorrupt remains of Etheldreda into the monastery church. Seaxburga died in 699 and was succeeded at Ely by Eormenhilda. Mercia's power in Lindsey was affirmed at the royal monastery of Bardney, beside Lincoln: Queen Osthryth had her father Oswald's relics enshrined there, but was slain by the Mercian people in 697. Æthelred made a religious abdication to Bardney in 704 and was succeeded by his nephew, Coenred son of Wulfhere and Eormenhilda. Their daughter Werburga united the Mercian lines by marrying Æthelred's son Ceolred. The subsidiarity of the East Saxons to Mercia is shown in charters of Coenred, and found an amicable settlement when Coenred and Offa of Essex abdicated together and went to Rome to lead religious lives in 709. Ealdwulf's position was protected by the complete investment of his kin in the surrounding dynasties and their patronage of leading religious houses.

The closing years of Ealdwulf's reign were coloured by the unsatisfactory rule of Ceolred, who depleted the monastic assets to support his style of kingship. At this time the Mercian royal hermit Saint Guthlac was living in the secluded fenland Isle of Crowland, north of Peterborough. His retreat became a place of refuge for a Mercian royal counter-claimant, Æthelbald, who appears to have received encouragement and protection there from the East Anglian nobility. However this development, extremely important in its outcome, had not fully unfolded when Ealdwulf died in 713, leaving his son Ælfwald as heir to the East Anglian kingdom.

ee also

*Wuffing dynasty family tree

Sources

*Bede, "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum", ed. B. Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors (OUP 1969).
*Blake, E.O. (Ed.), "Liber Eliensis", Camden 3rd Ser. 92 (London 1962).
*J. Campbell (Ed.), "The Anglo-Saxons" (Oxford 1982).
*B. Colgrave (Ed.), "Felix's Life of Guthlac" (Cambridge 1956).
*D.P. Kirby, "The Earliest English Kings" (London 1991).
*D.M. Metcalf, "Thrymsas and Sceattas in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford" (3 Vols.) (London 1993).
*D.M. Metcalf, 2000, 'Determining the mint-attribution of East Anglian Sceattas through regression analysis', "Brit. Numismatic Journal" 70, 1-11.
*T. Pestell, "Landscapes of Monastic Foundation. The Establishment of Religious Houses in East Anglia, c650-1200" (Woodbridge 2004).
*C. Plummer (Ed.), "Venerabilis Bedae Historia Ecclesiastica... una cum Historia Abbatum Auctore Anonymo" , 2 Vols. (Oxford 1896).
*S. Plunkett, "Suffolk in Anglo-Saxon Times" (Tempus 2005).
*D.W. Rollason, "The Mildrith Legend - A Study in Early Mediaeval Hagiography in England" (Leicester 1982)
*N. Scarfe, "Suffolk in the Middle Ages", 2nd Edn. (Woodbridge 2004).
*K. Wade, 2001, 'Gipeswic - East Anglia's first economic capital', in N. Salmon and R. Malster (Eds.), "Ipswich from the first to the third Millennium" (Ipswich), 1-6.
*P. Warner, "The Origins of Suffolk" (Manchester 1996).
*S.E. West, N. Scarfe, and R.J. Cramp, 1984, 'Iken, St Botolph, and the Coming of East Anglian Christianity', "Proc. Suffolk Inst. Archaeol." 35 Pt. 4, 279-301.
*D. Whitelock, 1972, 'The Pre-Viking Age Church in East Anglia', "Anglo-Saxon England" 1, 1-22.

ee also

*List of monarchs of East Anglia
*East Anglia