Æthelred I was a semi-historical eighth-century king of East Anglia, an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

kingdom which today includes the English counties of

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. He may have ruled between 760 and 790, holding the

kingdom of the East Angles The Kingdom of the East Angles (; ), informally known as the Kingdom of East Anglia, was a small independent kingdom of the Angles during the Anglo-Saxon period comprising what are now the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and perhaps ...

during the overlordship of

Offa of Mercia Offa ( 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death in 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of ...

. There is no coinage known for Æthelred and the only historical sources that name him date from after the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

, including the ''Lives of St Æthelberht'' and the regnal lists of

William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury (; ) 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 "a gifted historical scholar and a ...

. 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 cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: . P ...

. Æthelred was the father of

Æthelberht II of East Anglia Æthelberht (Old English: ''Æðelbrihte'', ''Æþelberhte''), also called Saint Ethelbert the King ( – 20 May 794) was an 8th-century saint and a king of Kingdom of East Anglia, East Anglia, the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon kingdom which tod ...

, who succeeded him in the 770s.

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