Editing Æthelberht of Kent (section)

==Rise to dominance==

===Bretwalda===
[[Image:Entry for 827 in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which lists the eight bretwaldas.gif|thumb|right|The entry for 827 in the [C] ms. (one of the [[Abingdon manuscripts]]) of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', listing the eight ''bretwaldas''; Æthelberht's name, spelled "Æþelbriht", is the second-to-last word on the fifth line]]

In his ''Ecclesiastical History'', Bede includes his list of seven kings who held ''imperium'' over the other kingdoms south of the [[Humber]]. The usual translation for ''imperium'' is "overlordship". Bede names Æthelberht as the third on the list, after Ælle of Sussex and [[Ceawlin of Wessex]].<ref name=Bede_111>Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', Book I, Ch. 25 & 26, from Sherley-Price's translation, p. 111.</ref> The anonymous annalist who composed one of the versions of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' repeated Bede's list of seven kings in a famous entry under the year 827, with one additional king, Egbert of Wessex. The ''Chronicle'' also records that these kings held the title ''bretwalda'', or "Britain-ruler".<ref name=Swanton_60>Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', pp. 60–61.</ref> The exact meaning of ''bretwalda'' has been the subject of much debate; it has been described as a term "of encomiastic poetry",<ref name=Stenton_34>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 34–35.</ref> but there also is evidence that it implied a definite role of military leadership.<ref name=Kirby_17>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p. 17.</ref>

The prior ''bretwalda'', Ceawlin, is recorded by the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' as having fought Æthelberht in 568 at a place called "Wibbandun" ("Wibba's Mount") whose location has not been identified.<ref name=Swanton_18 /> The entry states that Æthelberht lost the battle and was driven back to Kent.<ref name=Swanton_18>Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', pp. 18–19.</ref> Comparison of the entries concerning the West Saxons in this section of the ''Chronicle'' with the [[West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List]] shows that their dating is unreliable: Ceawlin's reign is more likely to have been approximately 581–588, rather 560–592 as claimed in the ''Chronicle''.<ref name=":0">David N. Dumville, 'The West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List and the Chronology of Early Wessex', ''Peritia'', 4 (1985), 21–66.</ref><ref name=Kirby_50>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp. 50–51.</ref><ref name=Yorke_133>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 133.</ref>

At some point Ceawlin lost his overlordship, perhaps after a battle at ''[[Fethan leag]]'', thought to have been in Oxfordshire, which the ''Chronicle'' dates to 584, some eight years before he was deposed in 592 (again using the ''Chronicle's'' unreliable dating).<ref name=Stenton_59 /> Æthelberht certainly was a dominant ruler by 601, when Gregory the Great wrote to him: Gregory urges Æthelberht to spread Christianity among those kings and peoples subject to him, implying some level of overlordship.<ref name=Kirby_37>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p. 37.</ref> If the battle of Wibbandun was fought c. 590, as has been suggested, then Æthelberht must have gained his position as overlord at some time in the 590s. This dating for Wibbandun is slightly inconsistent with the proposed dates of 581–588 for Ceawlin's reign, but those dates are not thought to be precise, merely the most plausible given the available data.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=Yorke_133 />

===Relationships with other kingdoms===
In addition to the evidence of the ''Chronicle'' that Æthelberht was accorded the title of ''bretwalda'', there is evidence of his domination in several of the southern kingdoms of the [[Heptarchy]]. In Essex, Æthelberht appears to have been in a position to exercise authority shortly after 604, when his intervention helped in the conversion of King [[Sæberht of Essex]], his nephew, to Christianity. It was Æthelberht, and not Sæberht, who built and endowed St. Pauls in London, where [[St Paul's Cathedral]] now stands. Further evidence is provided by Bede, who explicitly describes Æthelberht as Sæberht's overlord.<ref name=Bede_108 /><ref name=Kirby_37 /><ref name=Stenton_109>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 109.</ref>

Bede describes Æthelberht's relationship with [[Rædwald]], king of [[Kingdom of East Anglia|East Anglia]], in a passage that is not completely clear in meaning. It seems to imply that Rædwald retained ''ducatus'', or military command of his people, even while Æthelberht held ''imperium''.<ref name=Bede_111 /> This implies that being a ''bretwalda'' usually included holding the military command of other kingdoms and also that it was more than that, since Æthelberht is ''bretwalda'' despite Rædwald's control of his own troops.<ref name=Kirby_17 /> Rædwald was converted to Christianity while in Kent but did not abandon his pagan beliefs; this, together with the fact that he retained military independence, implies that Æthelberht's overlordship of East Anglia was much weaker than his influence with the East Saxons.<ref name=Kirby_37 /><ref name=Yorke_62>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 62.</ref> An alternative interpretation, however, is that the passage in Bede should be translated as "Rædwald, king of the East Angles, who while Æthelberht lived, even conceded to him the military leadership of his people"; if this is Bede's intent, then East Anglia firmly was under Æthelberht's overlordship.<ref name=Blackwell_13_Higham>"Rædwald", N. J. Higham, in Lapidge, ''Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England''.</ref>

There is no evidence that Æthelberht's influence in other kingdoms was enough for him to convert any other kings to Christianity, although this is partly due to the lack of sources—nothing is known of [[Kingdom of Sussex|Sussex]]'s history, for example, for almost all of the seventh and eighth centuries.<ref name=Yorke_20>For example, Yorke comments that "it is impossible to write at any length about the history of [Sussex] in the seventh and eighth centuries" (''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 20).</ref> Æthelberht was able to arrange a meeting in 602 in the [[River Severn|Severn]] valley, on the northwestern borders of [[Wessex]], however, and this may be an indication of the extent of his influence in the west.<ref name=Kirby_37 /> No evidence survives showing Kentish domination of [[Mercia]], but it is known that Mercia was independent of [[Northumbria]], so it is quite plausible that it was under Kentish overlordship.<ref name=Stenton_39>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 39.</ref>