Eorcenberht of Kent (also Ærconberht, Earconberht, or Earconbert) (died 14 July 664) was king of the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

kingdom of Kent la, Regnum Cantuariorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the Kentish , common_name = Kent , era = Heptarchy , status = vassal , status_text = , government_type = Monarchy ...

from 640 until his death, succeeding his father Eadbald. The

Kentish Royal Legend The Kentish Royal Legend is a diverse group of Medieval texts which describe a wide circle of members of the royal family of Kent from the 7th to 8th centuries AD. Key elements include the descendants of Æthelberht of Kent over the next four ge ...

(also known as the

Mildrith Saint Mildrith, also Mildthryth, Mildryth and Mildred, ( ang, Mildþrȳð) (born c. 660, died after 732), was a 7th and 8th-century Anglo-Saxon abbess of the Abbey at Minster-in-Thanet, Kent. She was declared a saint after her death, and later he ...

legend) suggests that he was the younger son of Eadbald and

Emma of Austrasia Emma ( fl. early seventh century) was a member of the Austrasian royal family. She is sometimes identified with the Emma (or Ymma) who married Eadbald of Kent. Emma was a daughter of Theudebert II, King of Austrasia from 595 to 612. He had previo ...

, and that his older brother Eormenred was deliberately passed over, although another possibility is that they ruled jointly. According to

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

(''HE'' III.8), Eorcenberht was the first king in Britain to command that

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

" idols" (

cult image In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents. In several traditions, including the ancient religions of Egypt, Greece and Rome ...

s) be destroyed and that

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

be observed. It has been suggested that these orders may have been officially committed to writing, in the tradition of Kentish law-codes initiated by Æthelberht, but no such text survives. After the death of Honorius,

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, Eorcenberht appointed the first

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

archbishop, Deusdedit, in 655. Eorcenberht married

Seaxburh of Ely Seaxburh, also Saint Sexburga of Ely (died about 699) was a Queen as well as an abbess, and is a saint of the Christian Church. She was married to King Eorcenberht of Kent. After her husband's death in 664, Seaxburh remained in Kent to bring ...

, daughter of king

Anna of East Anglia Anna (or Onna; killed 653 or 654) was king of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. He was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles, and one of the three sons of Eni who ruled the kingdom of East Angli ...

. They had two sons, Ecgberht and

Hlothhere Hlothhere ( ang, Hloþhere; died 6 February 685) was a King of Kent who ruled from 673 to 685. Hlothhere succeeded his brother Ecgberht I in 673. His parents were Eorcenberht of Kent and Seaxburh of Ely, the daughter of Anna of East Anglia. In ...

, who each consecutively became king of Kent, and two daughters who both were eventually canonized: Saint Eorcengota became a nun at

Faremoutiers Abbey Faremoutiers Abbey (french: Abbaye Notre-Dame de Faremoutiers) was an important Merovingian Benedictine nunnery (re-established in the 20th century) in the present Seine-et-Marne department of France. It formed an important link between the Merovin ...

on the continent, and Saint Ermenilda became abbess at Ely. Eorcenberht was probably buried alongside his parents in the Church of St Mary, which his father had built in the precincts of the monastery of St Peter and St Paul in Canterbury, a church later incorporated within the Norman edifice of St Augustine's.S. E. Kelly, ''Eorcenberht'', Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004
/ref> At that time, his relics were translated for reburial in the south transept ca. A.D. 1087.See, e.g., the guide booklet to ''St. Augustine's Abbey'' (London: English Heritage, 1997), 20, 25.

Notes

References

* Bede, ''

The Ecclesiastical History of the English People The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ( la, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict be ...

'' *

External links

* {{Use dmy dates, date=January 2012 Kentish monarchs 664 deaths 7th-century English monarchs Year of birth unknown House of Kent