Editing Rædwald of East Anglia (section)

== Sources ==
The kingdom of East Anglia ({{langx|ang|Ēastengla rīċe}}) was a small independent [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] kingdom that comprised what are now the [[England|English]] counties of [[Norfolk]] and [[Suffolk]] and perhaps the eastern part of the Cambridgeshire [[The Fens|Fens]].<ref name=eb11>{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=East Anglia}}</ref> Much less documentary evidence survives from East Anglia than from other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The historian [[Barbara Yorke]] argues that East Anglia almost certainly produced a similar range of written materials, but they were destroyed during the Viking conquest  in the 9th century.<ref name="Yorke58">Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 58</ref>

Rædwald is the first king of the East Angles of whom more than a name is known, though no details of his life before his accession are known.<ref name="Hoggett">Hoggett, ''The Archaeology of the East Anglian Conversion'', pp. 28–30</ref> The earliest and most substantial source for Rædwald is the ''[[Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum]]'' (''Ecclesiastical History of the English People''), completed in 731 by [[Bede]], a Northumbrian monk. Bede placed Rædwald's reign between the advent of the [[Gregorian mission]] to [[Kingdom of Kent|Kent]] in 597 and the marriage and conversion of [[Edwin of Northumbria]] during 625–626.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Ecclesiastical History of the English People|author=Bede|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2008|editor-last=McClure|editor-first=Judith|location=Oxford|pages=78 and 98–9|translator-last=Colgrave|translator-first=Bertram|chapter=Books II.5 and II.15|editor-last2=Collins|editor-first2=Roger}}</ref>

Later medieval [[chronicle]]rs, such as [[Roger of Wendover]], gave some information about East Anglian events, but Yorke suggests that the [[annal]]istic format used forced these writers to guess the dates of the key events they recorded. Such later sources are therefore treated with caution.<ref name=Yorke58 /> The ''[[Anglian collection]]'', which dates from the late 8th century, contains an East Anglian genealogical tally, but Rædwald is not included.<ref name=Plunkett_70>Plunkett, ''Suffolk in Anglo-Saxon Times'', p. 70</ref><ref name=Blackwell_388>'' 'Regnal lists' '', by David E. Thornton, in {{cite book |last= Lapidge|first=Michael|title= The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England|page=388}}</ref> Rædwald is however referred to in the 8th century ''Vita'' of [[Pope Gregory I|St Gregory the Great]], written by a member of the religious community at [[Whitby Abbey|Whitby]].<ref name="BEASE">Lapidge, ''The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 385</ref> The Battle of the [[River Idle]], in which Rædwald and his forces defeated the Northumbrians, is described in the 12th century ''Historia Anglorum'', written by [[Henry of Huntingdon]].<ref>''The chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon, comprising the history of England, from the invasion of Julius Cæsar to the accession of Henry II. Also, The acts of Stephen, king of England and duke of Normandy'', translated by Thomas Forrester, is available to read [https://archive.org/details/chroniclehenryh01foregoog online]</ref>