The Wuffingas, Uffingas or Wiffings were the ruling dynasty of
East Anglia, the long-lived
Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
and
Suffolk. The Wuffingas took their name from
Wuffa, an early
East Anglian king. Nothing is known of the members of the dynasty before
Rædwald, who ruled from about 599 to 624. The
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
invasions of the ninth century or
dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century may have led to the destruction of the documents relating to the rule of the Wuffingas.
The last of the Wuffingas kings was
Ælfwald, who died in 749: he was succeeded by kings whose lineage is unknown.
Family tree
The following family tree includes the Wuffingas kings from
Wehha to Ælfwald. They are numbered in order of ruling.
Ecgric of East Anglia
Ecgric (killed 636) was a king of East Anglia, the independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom that today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. He was a member of the ruling Wuffingas dynasty, but his relationship with other known members o ...
was also a member of the Wuffingas house, but his exact descent is not decided. He may have been
Sigeberht's brother, or his step-brother.
The
kingdom of East Anglia
la, Regnum Orientalium Anglorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the East Angles
, common_name = East Anglia
, era =
, status = Great Kingdom
, status_text = Independent (6th centu ...
was invaded by peoples from northern Europe during the 5th and 6th centuries. Historical sources relating to the genealogy of the
East Anglian kings include the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' and
Bede's ''
Ecclesiastical History
__NOTOC__
Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception.
Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritua ...
'', both compiled many years after the kingdom was formed, as well as a pedigree of Ælfwald contained in the
Anglian collection
''The Anglian collection'' is a collection of Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies and regnal lists. These survive in four manuscripts; two of which now reside in the British Library. The remaining two belong to the libraries of Corpus Christi College, ...
that dates from the 9th century. In the pedigree, Ælfwald is claimed to descend from the god
Wōden
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory ...
.
After 749, East Anglia was ruled either by the rulers of
Mercia
la, Merciorum regnum
, conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia
, common_name=Mercia
, status=Kingdom
, status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex ()
, life_span=527–918
, era= Heptarchy
, event_start=
, date_start=
, ...
, or by kings whose genealogy is not known.
Cultural associations
The author Sam Newton has claimed that the poem ''
Beowulf'' may have been composed during the reign of Ælfwald. Before the end of his rule, East Anglia contained a group of ecclesiastical centres, all of which had strong associations with the Wuffingas dynasty. These included the
sees at
Dommoc
''Dommoc'' (or ''Domnoc''), a place not certainly identified but probably within the modern county of Suffolk, was the original seat of the Anglo-Saxon bishops of the Kingdom of East Anglia. It was established by Sigeberht of East Anglia for S ...
and
Helmham,
St. Botulph's monastery at Icanho, the religious foundations at
Ely and
Dereham
Dereham (), also known as East Dereham, is a town and civil parish in the Breckland District of the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the A47 road, about 15 miles (25 km) west of the city of Norwich and 25 miles (40& ...
founded by daughters of
Anna
Anna may refer to:
People Surname and given name
* Anna (name)
Mononym
* Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke
* Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773)
* Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century)
* Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...
, the minster at
Blythburgh
Blythburgh is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is west of Southwold and south-east of Halesworth and lies on the River Blyth. The A12 road runs through the village which is split ...
and the monastery founded by Sigeberht prior to his abdication and subsequent death in battle.
After comparing
Sutton Hoo with
archaeological sites in
Sweden, the archaeologist
Sune Lindqvist suggested in 1948 that the Wuffingas may have been related to the
Royal House of
Uppsala
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019.
Located north of the c ...
, and so descended from
Wiglaf
Wiglaf (Proto-Norse: *'' Wīga laibaz'', meaning "battle remainder"; ang, Wīġlāf ) is a character in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem ''Beowulf''. He is the son of Weohstan, a Swede of the Wægmunding clan who had entered the service of Beowulf, kin ...
.
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
External links
Dr Sam Newton's Wuffing Website*
William of Malmesbury's ''Chronicle of the Kings of England from the earliest period to the reign of King Stephen'', Book 1, "Of the kings of the East Angles" i
English and i
Latin
{{Royal houses of Britain and Ireland
East Anglian monarchs