Editing Eadbald of Kent (section)

==Ancestry and immediate family==
[[Image:Eadbald ancestry.gif|thumb|300px|left|Eadbald's ancestry and siblings]]

The ancestry of Æthelberht, Eadbald's father, is given by Bede, who states that he was descended from the legendary founder of Kent, [[Hengist and Horsa|Hengist]]. However, historians believe that Hengist and his brother Horsa were probably mythical figures.<ref>[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/57750/?back=,8902 Barbara Yorke, ''Kent, kings of'', Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004]</ref> It is known that Æthelberht married twice as Eadbald married his step-mother after his father's death, to the consternation of the church.<ref>[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8902/?back=,8375 S. E. Kelly, ''Æthelberht I'', Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004]</ref>

Eadbald had a sister, [[Æthelburg of Kent|Æthelburg]], who was probably also the child of Bertha. Æthelburg married [[Edwin of Northumbria|Edwin]], King of Northumbria, one of the dominant Anglo-Saxon kings of the seventh century. It is possible that there was another brother, named Æthelwald:<ref name=Yorke_36/> the evidence for this is a papal letter to [[Justus]], [[archbishop of Canterbury]] from 619 to 625, in which a king named Aduluald is referred to, and who is apparently different from Audubald, which refers to Eadbald. There is no agreement among modern scholars on how to interpret this: "Aduluald" might be intended as a representation of "Æthelwald", and hence this may be an indication of another king, perhaps a subking of west Kent;<ref name=Yorke_32>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', pp. 32–33.</ref> or it may be merely a scribal error which should be read as referring to Eadbald.<ref name=Kirby_37>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp. 37–42.</ref>

Archbishop [[Laurence of Canterbury]] persuaded Eadbald to accept Christianity and give up his wife.<ref name = "DNB"/> He then remarried, and his second wife, according to Kentish tradition recorded in the '[[Kentish Royal Legend]]', was a woman named Ymme of Frankish royal blood, though recently it has been suggested that she may have instead been the daughter of [[Erchinoald]], [[mayor of the palace]] in Neustria, the western part of [[Francia]].<ref name=Yorke_29>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 29.</ref><ref name=Rollason_9>Rollason, ''Mildrith Legend'', p.&nbsp;9.</ref>