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Sæberht, Saberht or Sæbert (d. 616) was an
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
King of Essex The Kingdom of the East Saxons ( ang, Ēastseaxna rīce; la, Regnum Orientalium Saxonum), referred to as the Kingdom of Essex , was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century ...
(r. 604 – 616), in succession of his father King Sledd. He is known as the first East Saxon king to have been converted to
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
. The principal source for his reign is the early 8th-century ''
Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ( la, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict be ...
'' 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 o ...
(d. 735), who claims to have derived his information about the missionary work of
Mellitus Saint Mellitus (died 24 April 624) was the first bishop of London in the Saxon period, the third Archbishop of Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Chris ...
among the East Saxons from Abbot Albinus of Canterbury through the London priest
Nothhelm Nothhelm (sometimes Nothelm;Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 69 died 739) was a medieval Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury. A correspondent of both Bede and Boniface, it was Nothhelm who gathered materials from Canterbury for Bede' ...
, later Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 739). Other sources include 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 Alf ...
'', an East Saxon genealogy possibly of the late 9th century (
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
Add MS 23211), and a handful of genealogies and regnal lists written down by Anglo-Norman historians.


Family

The genealogies and regnal lists are unanimous in describing Sæberht as the son of Sledd, who may have been regarded as the founder of the East Saxon dynasty. According to Bede, Sæberht's mother was Ricula, a sister of King
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 ...
. Bede omits the names of Sæberht's three sons, who succeeded himBede, ''Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum''. but two,
Sexred Sexred, or Sexræd (d. 626?), was a king of the East Saxons. Sexred was the son of Sæberht (d. 616?) the first Christian king of the East Saxons, whom he succeeded, reigning jointly with his two brothers, Saeward and another, said on no good ...
and Sæward, are named in the genealogy of Add MS 23211.


Conversion and succession

In 604, the churchman
Mellitus Saint Mellitus (died 24 April 624) was the first bishop of London in the Saxon period, the third Archbishop of Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Chris ...
was consecrated by
Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...
Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 219. as bishop in the province of the
East Saxon la, Regnum Orientalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the East Saxons , common_name = Essex , era = Heptarchy , status = , status_text = , government_type = Monarch ...
s, which had a capital at London, making him the first Saxon
Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
.Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' p. 11–13a Bede tells that Sæberht converted to Christianity in 604Hindley, Geoffrey ''A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The beginnings of the English nation'' New York: Carrol & Graf Publishers 2006 p. 33-36 and was baptised by Mellitus, while his sons remained pagan. Sæberht then allowed the bishopric to be established. The episcopal church which was built in London was probably founded by Æthelberht, rather than Sæberht, though a charter which claims to be a grant of lands from Æthelberht to Mellitus is a forgery.


Death and burial

Both Æthelberht and Sæberht died in 616, leaving the
Gregorian mission The Gregorian missionJones "Gregorian Mission" ''Speculum'' p. 335 or Augustinian missionMcGowan "Introduction to the Corpus" ''Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature'' p. 17 was a Christian mission sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 596 to conver ...
without strong patrons. Sæberht's pagan sons drove Mellitus from London.Hindley ''A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' p. 36 According to Bede's explanation, this happened because Mellitus refused the brothers' request for a taste of the
sacramental bread Sacramental bread, also called Communion bread, Eucharistic bread, the Lamb or simply the host ( la, hostia, lit=sacrificial victim), is the bread used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist. Along with sacramental wine, it is one of two elemen ...
.Brooks "Mellitus (d. 624)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''


Westminster Abbey

Later medieval legend claimed that Sæberht and his wife Ethelgoda had founded a monastery in London dedicated to St Peter at the site of the present
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
, and that they had been buried in the church there. In the reign of Henry III, during rebuilding work in 1245-1272, their supposed remains were transferred into a tomb which the king had especially erected for them in the Chapter House, close to the entrance of the Royal Chapels. The King's remains were reportedly still clothed in royal robes and a ruby thumb ring was seen. In 1308, the bones were said to have been relocated once again to a marble tomb which still stands today in the south
ambulatory The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...
. There is no genuine evidence to support this tradition however, and modern scholars cast doubt on the claim that Sæberht's bones were ever genuinely entombed here.


Great Burstead

There is a local tradition that Sæberht lived, and was buried at
Great Burstead Great Burstead is an urban settlement in Essex, England - it is contiguous with the town of Billericay. History By tradition, the origins of the church, St Mary Magdalene, at Great Burstead are linked to Saint Cedd (d.664). Cedd, a missionary m ...
in Essex.


Prittlewell burial

In 2003 a high-status Anglo-Saxon tomb was discovered at
Prittlewell Prittlewell is an inner city area of Southend-on-Sea in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. Historically, Prittlewell is the original settlement of the city, Southend being the ''south end'' of Prittlewell. T ...
, just north of
Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...
in Essex. The artefacts found were of such a quality that archaeologists surmised that Prittlewell was a tomb of one of the Kings of Essex, and the discovery of golden foil crosses indicates that the inhabitant was an early Christian. As the initial evidence pointed to an early seventh-century date, Sæberht was considered the most likely candidate for the burial, although other possibilities such as his Christian grandson
Sigeberht the Good Sigeberht II, nicknamed the Good (''Bonus'') or the Blessed (''Sanctus''), was King of the East Saxons (r. ''c''. 653 to ? 660 x 661), in succession to his relative Sigeberht I the Little. Although a bishopric in Essex had been created under Mel ...
, or an unknown individual of high status, were not ruled out. However,
carbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...
techniques later indicated a revised date in the late 6th century. In May 2019, it was reported that a team of 40 specialists from the
Museum of London Archaeology MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) is an archaeology and built heritage practice and independent charitable company registered with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA), providing a wide range of professional archaeological servic ...
(MOLA) now believe the tomb could have belonged to Seaxa, Sæberht's brother. Carbon dating had indicated that the tomb was built between 575 and 605, at least 11 years before Sæberht's death. Further details of the latest research have been published on the MOLA website.


References


Sources

* III.22, pp. 280–5. *Higham, N.J. ''The Convert Kings. Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England''. Manchester, 1997. *Kirby, D.P. ''The Earliest English Kings''. London, 1991. *Yorke, Barbara. "The Kingdom of the East Saxons." ''Anglo-Saxon England'' 14 (1985): 1-36. *Yorke, Barbara. ''Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England''. London, 1990. *Thornbury, Walter. ''Westminster Abbey: Chapels and royal tombs', Old and New London: Volume 3 (1878), pp. 431–450.


Further reading

*Hirst, S. and S. Lamb. ''The Prittlewell Prince: The Discovery of a Rich Anglo-Saxon Burial in Essex''. London, 2004.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saeberht Of Essex 616 deaths East Saxon monarchs Converts to Christianity from pagan religions 7th-century English monarchs Year of birth unknown Christian monarchs