Kingdom of East Anglia - History

History

The Kingdom of East Anglia was organized in the first or second quarter of the 6th century with Wehha listed as the first king of the East Angles, followed by Wuffa.

Until 749 the kings of East Anglia were members of the Wuffingas dynasty, named after the semi-historical Wuffa. During the early seventh century, under Rædwald, East Anglia emerged to become a powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Rædwald, the first of the East Anglian kings to be baptised as a Christian, is considered by many experts to be the person who was buried within (or commemorated by) the ship burial at Sutton Hoo, near Woodbridge. During the decades that followed his death in around 624, East Anglia became increasingly dominated by the powerful kingdom of Mercia. Several of Rædwald's successors were killed in battle, such as Sigeberht (killed circa 641). Under Sigeberht's rule and the guidance of his bishop, Felix of Burgundy, Christianity was firmly established in East Anglia.

After Æthelberht was killed by the Mercians in 794, and until 825, East Anglia ceased to be an independent kingdom, although it briefly reasserted its independence under Eadwald in 796. It survived until 869, when the Vikings defeated the East Anglians in battle and their king, Edmund of East Anglia, was killed. After 879, the Vikings settled permanently in East Anglia. In 903 the exiled Æthelwold of Wessex induced the East Anglian Danes to wage a disastrous war on his cousin Edward the Elder. By 917, after a succession of Danish defeats, East Anglia had submitted to Edward and was incorporated into the kingdom of England, afterwards becoming an earldom.