Aethelbert ( ang, Æðelberht; fl. 8th century) was
King of Sussex, but is known only from charters. The dates of Æðelberht's reign are unknown beyond the fact that it overlapped at least in part with the bishopric of
Sigeferth of Selsey, as Sigeferth witnessed an undated charter of Æðelberht
[
] in which Æðelberht is styled ''Ethelbertus rex Sussaxonum''.
Sigeferth, called Sicgga for short, was the 3rd
Bishop of Selsey
The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's sea ...
, consecrated in 733 by Archbishop
Tatwine
Tatwine ( – 30 July 734) was the tenth Archbishop of Canterbury from 731 to 734. Prior to becoming archbishop, he was a monk and abbot of a Benedictine monastery. Besides his ecclesiastical career, Tatwine was a writer, and riddles he compo ...
, and was still bishop in 747, when he attended the
Synod of Clofesho. His date of death is unknown.
Another undated charter, in which Æðelberht is called ''Adelbertus rex Australium Saxonum'' (Æðelberht, King of the South Saxons), is believed to be a forgery.
Barker (1947) commented "This pair of charters have certain peculiar phrases, especially the ''firmiter ... præsumat'' which takes the place of a form introduced by ''Si quis'' in most charters. Both state that they were written by the king, and in No. X ''confixi'' is a very unusual word for this; it means literally 'pinned together', hence here 'put together' or 'compiled'. The early eighth century was age of enlightened kings: Ealdfrið and Eadberht of
Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
and
Ine of Wessex
Ine, also rendered Ini or Ina, ( la, Inus; c. AD 670 – after 726) was King of Wessex from 689 to 726. At Ine's accession, his kingdom dominated much of southern England. However, he was unable to retain the territorial gains of his predecesso ...
are examples. It is, therefore, not impossible that these two charters were in fact personally drawn up by the king." However, "confixi" is only in the forged charter.
Æðelberht is also mentioned in an undated endorsement to a charter of Noðhelm as ''Ethilberchto rege''.
See also
*
Selsey Abbey
Selsey Abbey was founded by St Wilfrid in AD 681 on land donated at Selsey by the local Anglo-Saxon ruler, King Æðelwealh of Sussex, Sussex's first Christian king. The Kingdom of Sussex was the last area of Anglo-Saxon England to be evangeli ...
Notes
References
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aethelbert Of Sussex
South Saxon monarchs
8th-century English monarchs