Æthelred I was a semi-historical eighth-century
king of East Anglia
The kingdom of East Anglia (also known as the kingdom of the East Angles), was a small independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom that comprised what are now the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and perhaps the eastern part of the Fens. The kingdom ...
, an
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. He may have ruled between 760 and 790, holding the
kingdom of the East Angles
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 ...
during the overlordship of
Offa of Mercia.
There is no coinage known for Æthelred and the only historical sources that name him date from after the
Norman conquest of England, including the ''Lives of St Æthelberht'' and the regnal lists of
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as " ...
. The legendary narratives of Æthelberht relate that Æthelred and his queen Leofruna dwelt at ''Beodricesworth'', now the Suffolk town of
Bury St. Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A ...
.
Æthelred was the father of
Æthelberht II of East Anglia
Æthelberht (Old English: ''Æðelbrihte'', ''ÆÞelberhte''), also called Saint Ethelbert the King (died 20 May 794 at Sutton Walls, Herefordshire), was an eighth-century saint and a king of East Anglia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today in ...
, who succeeded him in the 770s.
Footnotes
Sources
*
*
Further reading
*
External links
* in ''Medieval Lands Project: England, Anglo-Saxon and Danish Kings''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aethelred 01 Of East Anglia
East Anglian monarchs
8th-century English monarchs