Origins
Ealdwulf, who was the son of Æthilric and the son of Eni, belonged to the East Anglian Wuffingas dynasty. Æthilric may have been the same person as Ecgric, who died in battle in around 636: Æthilric was, in any case, probably dead by 647. Ealdwulf's mother Hereswith and his aunt Hilda of Whitby were the daughters of Hereric and Breguswith, of the house of Edwin of Northumbria.
Ealdwulf was a first cousin of the saintly children of Anna of East Anglia. He was born into a Christian royal household, since his mother Hereswith may have been baptized in childhood by Paulinus of York in 626, together with Edwin, her sister and other members of the Northumbrian royal family. Hereswith's father was murdered as an exile in the British kingdom of Elmet: Edwin afterwards slew Ceretic of Elmet soon after becoming king in 616. The diplomatic marriage of Ealdwulf's parents occurred in the period between 626 and 633, when Edwin was slain by Cadwallon ap Cadfan. The marriage must have carried the expectation that Æthilric was to be a Christian husband and probably king of the East Angles. Like Edwin's conversion of Eorpwald in 627, it sealed Æthilric in kinship to Edwin.
During Ealdwulf's childhood, Felix of Burgundy and Fursey were both active in East Anglia. As a boy, Ealdwulf is said to have seen for himself the temple containing both Christian and pagan altars that Rædwald of East Anglia had maintained. Ealdwulf's testimony may be authority for Bede's account of the temple. His widowed mother left for Gaul in around 647, to lead a religious life within the Frankish royal oratory at Chelles, there being no religious house for women in East Anglia. It is not known whether Ealdwulf accompanied her, or whether he remained in East Anglia during the eventful reigns of his three uncles — Anna, Æthelhere and Æthelwold.
Read more about this topic: Ealdwulf Of East Anglia
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