Pybba (570?–606/615) (also Pibba, Wibba, or Wybba) was an early

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

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= , y ...

. He was the son of Creoda and father of Penda and

Eowa Eowa (or Eawa) (d. 642) was a son of the Mercian king Pybba and a brother of the Mercian king Penda; he was possibly King of Northern Mercia, as the 8th-century '' Historia Brittonum'' reports that he was co-ruler with his brother Penda. Battle ...

. Unusually, the names Pybba and Penda are likely of British Celtic, rather than Germanic, origin. His dates are sometimes given in genealogies as birth in 570, the beginning of his reign in 593, and death in either 606 or 615, but with no apparent evidence; the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of A ...

'' just mentions him as father of Penda, with no further detail. Pybba is said by the ''

Historia Brittonum ''The History of the Britons'' ( la, Historia Brittonum) is a purported history of the indigenous British ( Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century. The ''Historia B ...

'' to have had 12 sons.''Historia Brittonum''
Chapter 65.

Cearl Cearl (or Ceorl) was an early king of Mercia who ruled during the early part of the 7th century, until about 626. He is the first Mercian king mentioned by Bede in his ''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum''. Bede was a Northumbrian who was host ...

, a Mercian king, is mentioned by

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 ...

, and may have been Pybba's successor, but his relationship to Pybba, if any, is unknown. Pybba's son Penda eventually became king; the ''Chronicle'' gives the date of this as 626, although Bede suggests it was not until after the

battle of Hatfield Chase The Battle of Hatfield Chase ( ang, Hæðfeld; owl, Meigen) was fought on 12 October 633 at Hatfield Chase near Doncaster (today part of South Yorkshire, England). It pitted the Northumbrians against an alliance of Gwynedd and Mercia. The Nort ...

in 633. Besides Penda and Eowa (who the author of the ''Historia Brittonum'' said were the sons of Pybba who were the best known to him), Pybba also apparently had a son named Coenwalh. Every king from Penda until Ceolwulf, who was deposed in 823, was said to be a descendant of Pybba, either through Penda, Eowa, or Coenwalh (perhaps excluding Beornrad, who ruled briefly and whose background is unknown). Pybba also is said to have had a daughter. Though unnamed, she was possibly the first wife of

Cenwalh Cenwalh, also Cenwealh or Coenwalh, was King of Wessex from c. 642 to c. 645 and from c. 648 until his death, according to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', in c. 672. Penda and Anna Bede states that Cenwalh was the son of the King Cynegils baptis ...

, King of Wessex (648–674).Beda: ''HE 3,7''

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* 570 births Anglo-Saxon warriors Mercian monarchs 6th-century English monarchs 7th-century English monarchs 7th-century deaths House of Icel {{UK-royal-stub

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