Ealhere (also referred to as Ealhhere or Alhere) (d. 853) was a Kentish

thegn In Anglo-Saxon England, thegns were aristocratic landowners of the second rank, below the ealdormen who governed large areas of England. The term was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers. In medieval Scotland, there w ...

. In 851, he and

Æthelstan Æthelstan or Athelstan (; ang, Æðelstān ; on, Aðalsteinn; ; – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first ...

, the under-king of Kent defeated an army of pagans in

Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

. Nine ships were captured from the pagan fleet while the remainder fled. Ealhere, titled "Ealhere princeps", was subsequently rewarded with grants of lands in

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

and

Lenham Lenham is a market village and civil parish in Kent situated on the southern edge of the North Downs, east of Maidstone. The picturesque square in the village has two public houses (one of which is a hotel), a couple of restaurants, and a tea ...

where chapels to

St. Edmund Edmund the Martyr (also known as St Edmund or Edmund of East Anglia, died 20 November 869) was king of Kingdom of East Anglia, East Anglia from about 855 until his death. Few historical facts about Edmund are known, as the kingdom of East An ...

were later built. From 851 to 853, the

Isle of Thanet The Isle of Thanet () is a peninsula forming the easternmost part of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it is no longer an island. Archaeological remains testify to its settlement in anc ...

, the most easterly point of Kent, had been targeted by pagans for its small but fruitful cornfields. As such, in 853, Ealhere and the men of Kent alongside Huda and the men of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

engaged in a naval battle with the pagans on Thanet, where both earls were slain.

References

853 deaths Anglo-Saxon thegns Anglo-Saxon warriors {{England-bio-stub