Editing Kingdom of Sussex (section)

===Christianisation and loss of independence (600–860)===
After 491 the written history of Sussex goes blank until 607, when the annals report that [[Ceolwulf of Wessex]] fought against the South Saxons.<ref name="ASC607">ASC Parker MS. AD607.</ref> Threatened by Wessex, the South Saxons sought to secure their independence by alliance with Mercia.<ref>{{harvnb|Fisher|2014| p=112}}</ref> To the South Saxons, the more distant influence and control of a king from Mercia is likely to have been preferable to that of the West Saxons.<ref name="Brandon 1978 32"/> The alliance between Mercia and the South Saxons was further sealed by [[Aethelwalh of Sussex|Æðelwealh]], king of Sussex, receiving baptism into the Christian church through the Mercian court, with [[Wulfhere of Mercia|Wulfhere]] acting as his sponsor, making Æðelwealh Sussex's first Christian king. Wulfhere gave Æðelwealh the [[Isle of Wight]] and the territory of the ''[[Meonwara]]'' (the [[River Meon|Meon]] valley of present-day Hampshire).<ref name="bede225">Bede, book&nbsp;IV, chap.&nbsp;13, 225.</ref> Æðelwealh also married Eabe, a princess of the ''[[Hwicce]]'', a Mercian satellite province.{{sfn|Yorke|1995| pp=58-59}}

[[File:Barnard Chichester mural.png|thumb|16th-century Barnardi picture of Cædwalla granting lands to Wilfrid.]]

In 681, the exiled [[Wilfrid|St Wilfrid of Northumbria]] arrived in the kingdom of the South Saxons and remained there for five years evangelising and baptising the people.<ref name="bede225"/> There had been a famine in the land of the South Saxons when Wilfrid arrived.<ref name="bede225"/> Wilfrid taught the locals to fish, and they were impressed with Wilfrid's teachings and agreed to be baptised ''en masse''.<ref name="bede225"/> On the day of the baptisms the rain fell on the "thirsty earth", so ending the famine.<ref name="bede225"/> Æðelwealh gave 87 [[Hide (unit)|hides]] (an area of land) and a [[royal vill]] to Wilfrid to enable him to found [[Selsey Abbey]].<ref name="bede225"/> The abbey eventually became the seat of the [[Bishop of Selsey|South Saxon bishopric]], where it remained until after the [[Norman Conquest]], when it was moved to [[Bishop of Chichester|Chichester]] by decree of the [[Council of London (1075)|Council of London of 1075]].<ref name="bede225"/><ref name="kelly1">Kelly.Chichester Cathedral:The Bishopric of Selsey. p.1</ref>

Shortly after the arrival of St Wilfrid, the kingdom was ravaged with "fierce slaughter and devastation" and Æðelwealh was slain by an exiled West Saxon prince [[Cædwalla of Wessex|Cædwalla]].<ref name="bede230">Bede, book&nbsp;IV, chap.&nbsp;15, 230.</ref> The latter was eventually expelled, by Æðelwealh's successors, two Ealdormen named [[Berthun of Sussex|Berhthun]] and [[Andhun]].<ref name="bede230"/> In 686 the South Saxons attacked [[Hlothhere]], king of [[Kingdom of Kent|Kent]], in support of his nephew [[Eadric of Kent|Eadric]], who afterwards became king of Kent. At this time, a new South Saxon hegemony extending from the Isle of Wight into Kent could conceivably have seen Sussex re-emerge as a regional power but the revival of Wessex ended this possibility.<ref name="Kirby114"/><ref name="Venning45-46"/> Eadric's rule in Kent lasted until Kent was invaded by Cædwalla who had managed to establish himself as ruler of Wessex. With his additional resources, Cædwalla once more invaded Sussex, killing Berhthun.<ref name="KellyODNB"/> Sussex now became for some years subject to a period of harsh West Saxon domination.<ref name="KellyODNB"/> According to [[Bede]], the subjection reduced the kingdom of Sussex to "a worse state of slavery"; it also included placing the South Saxon clergy under the authority of Wessex through the [[bishop of Winchester|bishops of Winchester]].<ref name="Brandon 1978 32"/> Cædwalla also seized the Isle of Wight where he ruthlessly exterminated its population, including its royal line. According to David Dumville, Cædwalla's savage behaviour towards Sussex and the Isle of Wight can be explained by Sussex's westward expansion with assistance from Mercia at the expense of Wessex and Cædwalla was determined that this should never happen again.{{sfn|Dumville|1997|p=359}}

Of the later South Saxon kings we have little knowledge except from occasional [[Anglo-Saxon charters|charters]]. In 692 a grant is made by a king called [[Nothelm of Sussex|Noðhelm]] (or ''Nunna'') to his sister, which is witnessed by another king called [[Watt of Sussex|Watt]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+45 |title=S 45 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> There is a theory that Watt may have been a sub-king who ruled over a tribe of people centred around modern day Hastings, known as the ''[[Haestingas]]'' and Nunna is described, in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', as the kinsman of [[Ine of Wessex]] who fought with him against [[Geraint of Dumnonia|Geraint]], King of the Britons, in 710.<ref name=brandon23 /><ref name="asc710">ASC Parker MS AD 710</ref> According to Bede, Sussex was subject to Ine for a number of years<ref name="bede415">Bede, book&nbsp;IV, chap.&nbsp;15, 415.</ref> and like Cædwalla, Ine also oppressed the people of Sussex in the same harsh way for many years.<ref name="bede415"/><ref name="Sawyer 1978 43">{{harvnb|Sawyer|1978| p=43}}</ref>

In 710 Sussex was still under West Saxon domination when King Nothhelm of Sussex is recorded as having campaigned with Ine in the west against Dumnonia. Sussex evidently broke away from West Saxon domination some time before 722 when Ine is recorded as invading Sussex, which he repeated three years later, killing a West Saxon exile named Ealdberht who had fled to the Weald of Sussex and Surrey<ref>{{harvnb|Swanton|1996| p=42}}</ref> and appears to have attempted to find support in Sussex.<ref name="Sawyer 1978 43"/> The ''Anglo Saxon Chronicle'' records a further campaign against the South Saxons by the West Saxons in 725.<ref name="Brandon 1978 32"/>

According to a charter dated 775, the former [[Selsey Abbey|abbot of Selsey]], Bishop [[Eadberht of Selsey]] ({{Circa|705}} x?709)&nbsp;– (716 x?), was given a grant of land by King [[Nothhelm of Sussex|Nunna]]; the document included King [[Watt of Sussex|Watt]] as a witness. However, the charter is now believed to have been a 10th- or early-11th-century forgery.<ref>Kelly. ''Charters of Selsey''. p.26. W. de Gray Birch had suggested an emendation (of the date) to 725 but Kelly says ''this is still unsatisfactory since it is too late for Bishop Eadberht''</ref><ref name="eadberht1">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=182-cap&cid=1-17-1#1-17-1|title=Cap. I/17/1 (S43)|publisher= Diocese of Chichester Capitular Records|access-date=13 May 2010}}
With Professor H.L. Rogers findings on why manuscript is forgery.</ref><ref>Kelly. ''Charters of Selsey''. p.26."..is without doubt a forgery and not an innocent 10th century copy of a genuine eighth-century charter."</ref>

There is another charter, that is thought to be genuine, that records a series of transactions of a piece of land near modern-day [[Burpham]] in the [[River Arun|Arun Valley]].<ref name="kelly34">Kelly. Charters of Selsey. p.34</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+44 |title=S 44 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref>
It starts off with a grant of land, at Peppering, by Nunna to Berhfrith probably for the foundation of a minster.<ref name="kelly31">Kelly. Charters of Selsey. p.31</ref>
Berhfrith transferred the land to Eolla, who in turn sold it to Wulfhere. The land then went to Beoba who passed it on to Beorra and Ecca.<ref name="kelly31"/> Finally King Osmund bought the land from his [[comes]] Erra and granted it to a religious woman known as Tidburgh.<ref name="kelly31"/> The charter is undated but it has been possible to date the various transactions approximately, by cross referencing people who appear both on this charter and on other charters that ''do'' provide dates.<ref name="kelly31"/> On the transaction, where Eolla has acquired the land from Berhfrith and sells it to Wulfhere [{{Circa|705}} x (716x?)], Nunna's subscription is followed by a certain [[Osric of Sussex|Osric]] who was possibly Nunna's co-ruler.<ref name="kelly33">Kelly. Charters of Selsey. p.33</ref> The other witnesses who followed Osric were Eadberht and Eolla, both who can be identified as ecclesiastics.<ref name="kelly33"/>

Nunna's last surviving charter, which is dated 714 in error for 717,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+42 |title=S 42 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> is witnessed by a King [[Aethelstan of Sussex|Æðelstan]].

A little later, [[Aethelbert of Sussex|Æðelberht]] was King of Sussex, but he is known only from charters. The dates of Æðelberht's reign are unknown beyond the fact that he was a contemporary of [[Sigeferth of Selsey|Sigeferth]], Bishop of Selsey from 733, as Sigeferth witnessed an undated charter of Æðelberht<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+46 |title=S 46 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> in which Æðelberht is styled Ethelbertus rex Sussaxonum.

After this we hear nothing more until about 765, when a grant<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+50 |title=S 50 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> of land is made by a king named [[Ealdwulf of Sussex|Ealdwulf]], with two other kings, [[Aelfwald of Sussex|Ælfwald]] and [[Oslac of Sussex|Oslac]], as witnesses.

In 765<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+48 |title=S 48 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> and 770<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+49 |title=S 49 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> grants are made by a King [[Osmund of Sussex|Osmund]], the latter one was later confirmed by [[Offa of Mercia]].

The independent existence of the Kingdom of Sussex came to an end in the early 770s.<ref name="KellyODNB"/> In 771, King Offa of Mercia conquered the territory of the ''Haestingas''; he may have entered Sussex from the Kingdom of Kent, where he was already dominant.<ref name="KellyODNB"/> By 772 he apparently controlled the whole of the Kingdom of Sussex.<ref name="KellyODNB">{{cite web |last=Kelly |first=S.E. |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=52344&back= |title=S. E. Kelly, 'Kings of the South Saxons (act. 477–772)'in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref> Offa also confirmed two charters of [[Aethelbert of Sussex|Æðelberht]], and in 772<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+108 |title=S 108 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> he grants land himself in Sussex, with [[Oswald of Sussex|Oswald]], ''dux Suðsax'', as a witness. It is probable that about this time Offa annexed the kingdom of Sussex, as several persons, [[Osmund of Sussex|Osmund]], [[Aelfwald of Sussex|Ælfwald]] and [[Oslac of Sussex|Oslac]], who had previously used the royal title, now sign with that of ''dux''.

Offa may not have been able to maintain control in the period 776–785 but he appears to have re-established control afterwards.<ref name="Wil"/> Mercian power collapsed in the years following Offa's death in 796, and the South Saxons re-emerged as an independent political entity.

After the [[Battle of Ellandun]] in 825<ref name="Wil">{{cite book |title=The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England Appendix I |type=PDF |first=Simon |last=Keynes |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |doi=10.1002/9781118316061.app1 |pages=521Fbos–538|year = 2013|isbn = 9781118316061}}</ref> the South Saxons submitted to [[Egbert of Wessex|Ecgberht of Wessex]], and from this time they remained subject to the West Saxon dynasty. According to Heather Edwards in the ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', it is probable that Sussex was not annexed by Wessex until 827.<ref name="EcgODNB">{{cite web |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/8581 |last=Edwards |first=Heather |title=Ecgberht [Egbert] (d. 839), king of the West Saxons |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |access-date=22 June 2014}}</ref> The earldom of Sussex seems later to have been sometimes combined with that of Kent. [[Æthelberht of Wessex]] was ruling Sussex and the other south-eastern kingdoms by 855, and succeeded to the kingship of Wessex on the death of his brother, King [[Æthelbald of Wessex|Æthelbald]], thus bringing Sussex fully under the crown of Wessex.<ref>{{harvnb|Yorke|2002| p=148}}</ref>