Eorpwald of East Anglia - Death and Sainthood

Death and Sainthood

The conversion of Eorpwald's kingdom did not result in the establishment of any ecclesiatistical infrastructure, such as the establishment of a see within the kingdom. Bede reported that soon after his conversion, Eorpwald was slain (occisus) by a heathen (uiro gentili) named Ricberht and that after he was killed, the kingdom reverted to heathen rule (in errore uersata est) for three years.

Eorpwald was the first English king to be killed because of his Christian faith. The circumstances are not recorded, so that it is not known whether Ricberht was representative of an internal East Anglian opposition to Christian rule, or if he was an emissary from abroad wishing to diminish Edwin of Northumbria's influence over the East Angles. The return of East Anglia to pagan rule does not necessarily mean that there was an overt struggle between the worship of the Anglo-Saxon gods and the worship of Christ, but could express a reaction away from Christianity amongst the East Angles, prompted by Edwin's rise to power and his subsequent dominance over their king. The ancestry of Ricberht is unknown and it is unclear as to whether he ever ruled after he killed Eorpwald, but in 630 or 631, three years after Eorpwald's assassination, Sigeberht returned from exile in Gaul and became king of the East Angles.

At Sutton Hoo (near Woodbridge, in Suffolk) is the site of two 6th-7th century Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, where it is believed that members of the Eorpwald's dynasty were entombed under large earth mounds. Several East Anglian kings, including Eorpwald, have been suggested as possible candidates for the occupant of the burial site under Mound 1, discovered in 1939. Martin Carver has speculated that historians could use regal lists and other sources of information to identify the occupants, whilst acknowledging that no material evidence exists to support the theory that Eorpwald or other members of his family are buried there. He has used Eorpwald's relationship as the son of Rædwald to place him in either Mound 1 or 2.

According to Fleming's Complete History of the British Martyrs, published in 1904, King Eorpwald was venerated as a saint and a martyr by the English Church. His feast day is not known.