Editing Eadbald of Kent (section)

==Relations with other English kingdoms and church affairs==
[[Image:DESCENDANTS OF EADBALD OF KENT.svg|thumb|300px|right|Eadbald's children and their marriages]]

Eadbald's influence over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms was less than Æthelberht's. Eadbald's reduced power is apparent in his inability to restore Mellitus to the see of London: in Bede's words, his authority in Essex "was not so effective as that of his father".<ref name=Bede_II_6/> However, Kentish power was still sufficient to make alliance with Eadbald's relatives attractive to other kingdoms. Edwin's marriage to Eadbald's sister, Æthelburg, was probably also motivated by a desire to gain better access to communications with the continent.<ref name=Kirby_61>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.61.</ref> The relationship would have been valuable to Eadbald, too; it may have been as a result of this alliance that Edwin's overlordship of Britain did not include Kent.<ref name=Bede_II_5/><ref name=Yorke_36>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 36.</ref><ref name=Bede_II_9/> Another factor in Edwin's treatment of Kent may have been the location of the archbishopric in Canterbury: Edwin was well aware of the importance of Canterbury's metropolitan status, and at one time planned to make York an archbishopric too, with Paulinus as the planned first incumbent.<ref name=Kirby_79>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.79.</ref> Paulinus eventually returned to Kent, where at Eadbald's and [[Honorius of Canterbury|Archbishop Honorius]]'s request he became bishop of Rochester, and York was not made an archbishopric for another century.<ref name=Bede_II_20>Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', bk. II, ch. 20, p. 141.</ref><ref name=Kirby_80>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.80.</ref> Within a year of Edwin's death in 633 or 634,<ref name=Kirby_80/> [[Oswald of Northumbria|Oswald]] took the throne of Northumbria, and it seems likely that his relations with Eadbald were modelled on Edwin's. Oswald's successor, [[Oswiu of Northumbria|Oswiu]], married [[Eanflæd]], who was Edwin's daughter and Eadbald's niece, thereby gaining both Deiran and Kentish connections.<ref name=Kirby_88>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.88.</ref><ref name=Kirby_92>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.92.</ref>

Eadbald and Ymme had a daughter, [[Eanswith]] (who founded the very first nunnery on English soil at [[Folkestone]], 15 miles from Canterbury), and two sons, [[Eorcenberht of Kent|Eorcenberht]] and Eormenred. Eormenred was the older of the two, and may have held the title of ''regulus'', perhaps implying that he held the junior kingship of Kent. He appears to have died before his father, leaving Eorcenberht to inherit the throne.<ref name=Rollason_9/><ref name=Yorke_35>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.35.</ref> An additional son, Ecgfrith, is mentioned in a charter of Eadbald's, but the charter is a forgery, probably dating from the eleventh century.<ref name=Ecgfrith>See {{PASE|2925|Ecgfrith 1|access-date=9 January 2015}} The charter itself can be seen at {{cite web | url = http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+6 | title = Anglo-Saxons.net S 6 | publisher = Sean Miller | access-date=22 September 2007 }}</ref><ref name=Stenton_141>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 141.</ref>

Several of Eadbald's near relatives were involved in diplomatic marriages. King [[Anna of East Anglia]] married his daughter, [[Seaxburh of Ely|Seaxburh]], to Eorcenberht, and their daughter Eormenhild married [[Wulfhere of Mercia]], one of the most powerful kings of his day. [[Eanflæd]], Eadbald's niece, married [[Oswiu of Northumbria|Oswiu]], king of Northumbria and the last of the northern Angles Bede listed as holding ''imperium'' over southern England. Eadbald's granddaughter [[Domne Eafe|Eafe]] married [[Merewalh]], king of the [[Magonsæte]].<ref name=Kirby_43>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.43.</ref>