Editing Rædwald of East Anglia (section)

== The context of Rædwald's kingdom ==
[[File:Britain peoples circa 600.svg|thumb|right|upright|200px|alt=Map of Anglo-Saxon Britain|The main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms]]
The Anglo-Saxons, who are known to have included [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]], [[Saxons]], [[Jutes]] and [[Frisii|Frisians]], began to arrive in Britain in the 5th century. By 600, a number of kingdoms had begun to form in the conquered territories.<ref>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 1</ref> By the beginning of the 7th century, the southern part of what became England was almost entirely under their control.<ref name=Blair_RBaEE_204>Hunter Blair, ''Roman Britain and Early England: 55 B.C. – A.D. 871'', p. 204. Peter Hunter Blair gives the twenty-five years from 550 to 575 as the dates of the final conquest.</ref>

During Rædwald's youth, the establishment of other ruling houses was accomplished. Sometime before 588, [[Æthelberht of Kent]] married [[Bertha of Kent|Bercta]], the Christian daughter of the [[Franks|Frankish]] ruler [[Charibert I]]. As early as 568, [[Ceawlin of Wessex]], the most powerful ruler south of the Humber estuary, repulsed Æthelberht.<ref>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 105</ref> According to later sources, [[Mercia]] was founded by [[Creoda of Mercia|Creoda]] in 585, although a paucity of sources makes it difficult to know how the Mercian royal line became established.<ref>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 102</ref>

North of the Humber, the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Deira|Deira]] and [[Kingdom of Bernicia|Bernicia]] possessed rival royal dynasties. [[Ælla of Deira|Ælla]] ruled Deira until his death in 588, leaving his daughter Acha, his son Edwin, and another unknown sibling.<ref>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 74–77</ref><ref name=Bede_152>Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', iii, pp. 152–153</ref> The Bernician dynasty, allied by kinship to the kingdom of [[Wessex]], gained ascendancy over Deira, forcing Edwin to live in exile in the court of [[Cadfan ap Iago]] of [[Kingdom of Gwynedd|Gwynedd]]. In various wars, [[Æthelfrith of Northumbria|Æthelfrith of Bernicia]] consolidated the [[Kingdom of Northumbria|Northumbrian]] state, and in around 604 he was able to bring Deira under his dominion.