Eormenric of Kent was

King of Kent This is a list of the kings of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent. The regnal dates for the earlier kings are known only from Bede. Some kings are known mainly from charters, of which several are forgeries, while others have been subjected to tampe ...

from c. 534/540 to 564/580. His father may have been

Octa of Kent Octa (or Octha) (c. 500 – 543) was an Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon List of monarchs of Kent, King of Kingdom of Kent, Kent during the 6th century. Sources disagree on his relationship to the other kings in his line; he may have been the son of Heng ...

, whom Eormenric succeeded. His son,

Æthelberht of Kent Æthelberht (; also Æthelbert, Aethelberht, Aethelbert or Ethelbert; ang, Æðelberht ; 550 – 24 February 616) was King of Kent from about 589 until his death. The eighth-century monk Bede, in his ''Ecclesiastical History of the Engli ...

, in turn succeeded him around 580/590, according to the '' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''. Gregory of Tours records that the marriage of Æthelberht to a

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

princess,

Bertha Bertha is a female Germanic name, from Old High German ''berhta'' meaning "bright one". It was usually a short form of Anglo Saxon names ''Beorhtgifu'' meaning "bright gift" or ''Beorhtwynn'' meaning "bright joy". The name occurs as a theonym, s ...

, took place while he was ''filius regis'' (the son of the king), most likely during the reign of his father, whom the genealogies name Eormenric. Therefore, Eormenric can be regarded as the first historical King of Kent. As the date of the marriage is not known, Eormenric's reign cannot be dated. Bede placed his death in 560, but since his son's wife was not even born at that time, it seems unlikely. Rather, Gregory implies that Æthelberht's father was still reigning as of his writing (589). Eormenric's Frankish connection goes deeper than his daughter-in-law. The first component of his name ''Eormen-'' was uncommon in England at the time, but common in

Francia Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks dur ...

. Both ''Eormen-'' and ''-ric'' were used repeatedly in naming by the Oiscingas thereafter.

References

*Yorke, Barbara (2004)
"Kent, kings of (act. c.450–c.590)".
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford: Oxford University Press

External links

* {{Kentish Monarchs Kentish monarchs 6th-century English monarchs Jutish people

See also

References

External links