Æthelwealh Of Sussex
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Æthelwealh ( or ) ( ''fl.'' – ) was the ruler of the ancient South Saxon kingdom from before 674 till his death between 680 and 685. According to the
Venerable Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most fa ...
, Æthelwealh was baptised in
Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...
, becoming the first Christian king of
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
. He was killed by a West Saxon prince,
Cædwalla Cædwalla (; 659 – 20 April 689) was the King of Wessex from approximately 685 until he abdicated in 688. His name is derived from the Welsh Cadwallon. He was exiled from Wessex as a youth and during this period gathered forces and attac ...
, who eventually became king of
Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...
.


Name

The name "Æthelwealh" has two elements to it. "''Æthel''" is the
Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
term for a "noble" or a "prince" as in "'' Ætheling''". The second Old English noun "''wealh''" originally meant "Celt", but later the term was also used for "slave", "foreigner" or " Romano-Britain". Thus, Æthelwealh possibly meant "Noble Romanised-Briton", which is a contradiction to the narrative. Academics such as Michael Shapland have suggested that the king was not a Saxon, as his name meant "Noble King of the Britons."


Background

During Æthelwealh's time, the kingdom of the South Saxons was concentrated around the south-west of Sussex in the Selsey area. Ælle, the first king of the South Saxons, was followed by Cissa of Sussex, according to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''. There is a 150-year gap between Ælle, whose ancestry can not be established, and Æthelwealh, whose ancestry is more secure.


Alliance with the Mercians

Mercian power was ascending with
Wulfhere of Mercia Wulfhere or Wulfar (died 675) was King of Mercia from 658 until 675 AD. He was the first Christian king of all of Mercia, though it is not known when or how he converted from Anglo-Saxon paganism. His accession marked the end of Oswiu of North ...
advancing into Jutish southern Hampshire and the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
in about 661. Then, according to Bede, Æthelwealh travelled to Mercia to be baptised, becoming the first Christian king of Sussex, with Wulfhere as his godfather. Bede in his '' Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' recorded that Æthelwealh also married Eafe, who was the daughter of Eanfrith, a ruler of the Christian
Hwicce Hwicce () was a kingdom in Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon England. According to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', the kingdom was established in 577, after the Battle of Deorham. After 628, the kingdom became a client or sub-kingdom of Mercia as a result ...
people. Bede goes on to say that Wulfhere presented the Isle of Wight and Meonwara to Æthelwealh. This alliance between the South Saxons and the Mercians and their control of southern England and the Isle of Wight was a challenge to the West Saxons, whose power base at the time was in the upper Thames area. In their testimonies, Stephen of Ripon and Bede write that Wilfrid, the exiled bishop of
York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
, came to Sussex in 681 and converted the people of Sussex and the Isle of Wight to Christianity. Æthelwealh gave Wilfrid land in Selsey, where he founded the Episcopal See of the South Saxons with its seat at Selsey Abbey.


West Saxon takeover

Cædwalla Cædwalla (; 659 – 20 April 689) was the King of Wessex from approximately 685 until he abdicated in 688. His name is derived from the Welsh Cadwallon. He was exiled from Wessex as a youth and during this period gathered forces and attac ...
was a West Saxon prince who had apparently been banished by Centwine, king of
Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...
. Cædwalla had spent his exile in the forests of the Chiltern and the Weald, and at some point had befriended Wilfrid. Cædwalla vowed that if Wilfrid would be his spiritual father, then he would be his obedient son. According to tradition, Cædwalla invaded Sussex in about 686 and was met by Æthelwealh at a point in the
South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills in the south-eastern coastal counties of England that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the ...
just southeast of Stoughton, close to the border with
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, and it was here that Æthelwealh was defeated and slain. According to the same tradition, Æthelwealh lies buried in the southern barrow of the group that marks the spot. The invasion stalled when Cædwalla was driven out by two of Æthelwealh's ealdormen, Berhthun and Andhun. In 687, Cædwalla became King of the West Saxons, and a new invasion of Sussex began; this time it was successful. Bede describes how brutally Cædwalla suppressed the South Saxons. After his victory, Cædwalla immediately summoned Wilfrid and made him supreme counsellor over his whole kingdom. In 686, when Wilfrid returned north, the see of Selsey was absorbed by the Diocese of the West Saxons, at Winchester. In temporal matters, Sussex was subject to the West Saxon kings, and in ecclesiastical matters, it was subject to the bishops of Winchester.


Relationship with Kent

In Kent, Hlothhere had been ruler since 673/4. This was until his nephew Eadric of Kent revolted against him and went to Sussex, where Æthelwealh helped him to raise a South Saxon army. In about 685, Eadric was able to defeat Hlothhere and become ruler of Kent. On Æthelwealh's death, at the hands of Cædwalla, William of Malmesbury suggests that Eadric became king of the South Saxon kingdom. However, in 686, a West Saxon warband led by Cædwalla and his brother Mul, invaded Kent and removed Eadric from power, making made Mul the king of Kent.


See also

* History of Sussex


References


Notes


Citations


Bibliography

* Commissioned in the reign of Alfred the Great * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

*, , and . Retrieved 2 May 2025. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aethelwealh Of Sussex 680s deaths South Saxon monarchs Anglo-Saxons killed in battle 7th-century English monarchs Year of birth unknown Monarchs killed in action Converts to Christianity from Anglo-Saxon paganism