KENT

560 ? – 616  Æthelberht I (St Ethelbert)

Son of Eormenric.

According to an entry found only in Manuscript F of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Æthelberht was born in 552. Manuscript F is relatively late (c.1100x1110), and its source for this snippet of information is not evident. It would make Æthelberht only eight-years-old when he succeeded to the kingdom, assuming it took place in 560, as implied by Bede (HE II, 5). In this instance, however, Bede’s dating is problematic, and Æthelberht’s accession may well have been considerably later. All manuscripts of the Chronicle agree that, in 568, Æthelberht was defeated by the West Saxon king, Ceawlin, and his brother Cutha, who “drove him into Kent; and slew two ealdormen at Wibbandune [unidentified], Oslaf and Cnebba.”  This is the first recorded conflict between Anglo-Saxon kingdoms – it was probably over the control of Surrey – however, there are also chronological difficulties with the Chronicle in its record of Wessex’s beginnings, and it seems likely that it is dated much too early. At any rate, despite his apparently inauspicious start, Æthelberht went on to become “the third of the English kings who ruled over all the southern provinces that are divided from the northern by the river Humber and the borders contiguous to it”. (HE II, 5).  Taking its cue from Bede, the Chronicle lists him as the third Bretwalda. How and when Æthelberht achieved this accolade is not recorded, but the previous ruler so honoured was Ceawlin, who the Chronicle indicates had been overthrown in 591.

In 596, Pope Gregory I (‘the Great’), “being moved by Divine inspiration”, says Bede (HE I, 23), despatched a team of missionaries “to preach the Word of God to the English nation”.  Christianity had, of course, been introduced into Britain centuries earlier, before the end of Roman times, and it still flourished amongst the Britons in the West, but the Anglo-Saxon incomers had brought their pagan religion with them, and there had, apparently, been no attempt by the resident British clergy to convert them to Christianity.[*] And so it was that a band of monks, from the monastery of St Andrew, which Gregory had founded, led by Augustine, prior of the monastery, set off from Rome. They soon got cold feet, however:

… when they had gone but a little way on their journey, [they] were seized with craven terror, and began to think of returning home, rather than proceed to a barbarous, fierce, and unbelieving nation, to whose very language they were strangers …

HE I, 23

Augustine was sent back to ask Gregory to cancel the mission. Gregory replied in a letter (quoted by Bede), dated 23rd July 596, in which he, in effect, told the monks to pull themselves together and get on with it:

Forasmuch as it had been better not to begin a good work, than to think of desisting from one which has been begun, it behoves you, my beloved sons, to fulfil with all diligence the good work, which, by the help of the Lord, you have undertaken. Let not, therefore, the toil of the journey, nor the tongues of evil-speaking men, discourage you; but with all earnestness and zeal perform, by God’s guidance, that which you have set about; being assured, that great labour is followed by the greater glory of an eternal reward. When Augustine, your Superior, returns, whom we also constitute your abbot, humbly obey him in all things; knowing, that whatsoever you shall do by his direction, will, in all respects, be profitable to your souls. Almighty God protect you with His grace, and grant that I may, in the heavenly country, see the fruits of your labour, inasmuch as, though I cannot labour with you, I shall partake in the joy of the reward, because I am willing to labour. God keep you in safety, my most beloved sons.

HE I, 23

In 597, probably in Spring, Augustine’s party arrived in Britain:

At that time, King Æthelberht, who reigned in Kent, was most powerful; he had extended his dominions as far as the boundary formed by the great river Humber, by which the southern Angles are divided from the northern. On the east of Kent is the large Isle of Thanet, containing, according to the English way of reckoning, 600 families, divided from the mainland by the river Wantsum, which is about three furlongs (600 metres) in breadth, and which can be crossed only in two places; for at both ends it runs into the sea.[*] On this island landed the servant of the Lord, Augustine, and his companions, being, as is reported, nearly 40 men. They had obtained, by order of the blessed Pope Gregory, interpreters of the nation of the Franks, and sending to Æthelberht, signified that they were come from Rome, and brought a joyful message, which most undoubtedly assured to those that hearkened to it everlasting joys in heaven, and a kingdom that would never end, with the living and true God. The king hearing this, gave orders that they should stay in the island where they had landed, and be furnished with necessaries, till he should consider what to do with them. For he had before heard of the Christian religion, having a Christian wife of the royal family of the Franks, called Bertha; whom he had received from her parents, upon condition that she should be permitted to preserve inviolate the rites of her religion with the Bishop Liudhard, who was sent with her to support her in the faith. Some days after, the king came into the island, and sitting in the open air, ordered Augustine and his companions to come and hold a conference with him. For he had taken precaution that they should not come to him in any house, lest, by so coming, according to an ancient superstition, if they practised any magical arts, they might impose upon him, and so get the better of him. But they came endued with Divine, not with magic power, bearing a silver cross for their banner, and the image of our Lord and Saviour painted on a board; and chanting litanies, they offered up their prayers to the Lord for the eternal salvation both of themselves and of those to whom and for whom they had come. When they had sat down, in obedience to the king’s commands, and preached to him and his attendants there present the Word of life, the king answered thus: “Your words and promises are fair, but because they are new to us, and of uncertain import, I cannot consent to them so far as to forsake that which I have so long observed with the whole English nation. But because you are come from far as strangers into my kingdom, and, as I conceive, are desirous to impart to us those things which you believe to be true, and most beneficial, we desire not to harm you, but will give you favourable entertainment, and take care to supply you with all things necessary to your sustenance; nor do we forbid you to preach and gain as many as you can to your religion.”  Accordingly he gave them an abode in the city of Canterbury, which was the metropolis of all his dominions, and, as he had promised, besides supplying them with sustenance, did not refuse them liberty to preach. It is told that, as they drew near to the city, after their manner, with the holy cross, and the image of our sovereign Lord and King, Jesus Christ, they sang in concert this litany: “We beseech thee, Lord, for Thy great mercy, that Thy wrath and anger be turned away from this city, and from Thy holy house, for we have sinned. Hallelujah.”

Bede HE I, 25

Augustine’s team took up residence in Canterbury, in the house allotted them by Æthelberht, and began “preaching the Word of life to as many as they could”:

In brief, some believed and were baptized, admiring the simplicity of their blameless life, and the sweetness of their heavenly doctrine. There was, moreover, near the city itself, to the east, a church built in ancient times in honour of St Martin, whilst the Romans still inhabited Britain, wherein the queen, who, as has been said before, was a Christian, was wont to pray. In this they [Augustine’s party] also first began to come together, to chant the Psalms, to pray, to celebrate Mass, to preach, and to baptize, till when the king had been converted to the faith, they obtained greater liberty to preach everywhere and build or restore churches.  When he [Æthelberht], among the rest, believed and was baptized, attracted by the pure life of these holy men and their gracious promises, the truth of which they established by many miracles, greater numbers began daily to flock together to hear the Word, and, forsaking their heathen rites, to have fellowship, through faith, in the unity of Christ’s Holy Church. It is told that the king, while he rejoiced at their conversion and their faith, yet compelled none to embrace Christianity, but only showed more affection to the believers, as to his fellow citizens in the kingdom of Heaven. For he had learned from those who had instructed him and guided him to salvation, that the service of Christ ought to be voluntary, not by compulsion. Nor was it long before he gave his teachers a settled residence suited to their degree in his metropolis of Canterbury, with such possessions of divers sorts as were necessary for them.

Bede HE I, 26

At this point, Bede says that Augustine travelled all the way back to the south of Gaul: “to Arles, and, according to the orders received from the holy Father Gregory, was ordained archbishop of the English nation by Etherius, archbishop of that city.” (HE I, 27).  However, one of Pope Gregory’s surviving letters (MGH VIII, 29), written to Eulogius, patriarch of Alexandria, in July 598, indicates that Augustine had already been ordained by the time he arrived in Britain:

The English race, situated in the far corner of the world, has hitherto remained in unbelief, worshiping stocks and stones; but aided by your prayers I made up my mind (it was God who prompted me) to send a monk of my own monastery to them to preach. With my leave, he was made a bishop by the bishops of Germany, and, with their encouragement, reached that nation at the end of the world. And now letters have just arrived telling us of his safety and of his work. They show that he and those who were sent out with him shine amongst that nation with such miracles that they seem to imitate the mighty works of the Apostles in the signs which they display. And at Christmas last more than ten thousand English people, we are informed, were baptized by our brother and fellow-bishop. I tell you this that you may know not only what your words are doing at Alexandria, but also what your prayers are doing at the world’s end.

Presumably Bede didn’t have access to this letter – it is hard to believe that he would not have quoted the supposed number of converts (clearly “more that ten thousand” is an exaggeration) made at Christmas 597 – so, presumably, he inferred the time and place of Augustine’s ordination from the materials he did have access to.[*]

At any rate, in 601:

… Pope Gregory, hearing from Bishop Augustine, that the harvest which he had was great and the labourers but few, sent to him … certain fellow labourers and ministers of the Word, of whom the chief and foremost were Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus, and Rufinianus, and by them all things in general that were necessary for the worship and service of the Church, to wit, sacred vessels and altar-cloths, also church-furniture, and vestments for the bishops and clerks, as likewise relics of the holy Apostles and martyrs; besides many manuscripts. He also sent a letter, wherein he signified that he had despatched the pallium to him, and at the same time directed how he should constitute bishops in Britain.

Bede HE I, 29

Bede quotes Gregory’s letter to Augustine, which is dated 22nd June 601. In a nutshell, Gregory’s grand plan (which never came to fruition) was that there should be an archbishop in London and an archbishop in York, each having twelve bishops under him. The senior archbishop would be whichever of the two had been ordained first, but, in the meantime, Augustine would be the senior churchman in Britain for as long as he lived.[*]

In another letter dated 22nd June 601, also quoted by Bede, Pope Gregory wrote to Æthelberht:

Bishop Gregory, to his most excellent son, the glorious lord Æthelberht, king of the English.
Almighty God advances good men to the government of nations, that He may by their means bestow the gifts of His loving kindness on those over whom they are placed. This we know to have come to pass in the English nation, over whom your Highness was placed, to the end, that by means of the blessings which are granted to you, heavenly benefits might also be conferred on your subjects. Therefore, my illustrious son, do you carefully guard the grace which you have received from the Divine goodness, and be eager to spread the Christian faith among the people under your rule; in all uprightness increase your zeal for their conversion; suppress the worship of idols; overthrow the structures of the temples; establish the manners of your subjects by much cleanness of life, exhorting, terrifying, winning, correcting, and showing forth an example of good works, that you may obtain your reward in Heaven from Him, Whose Name and the knowledge of Whom you have spread abroad upon earth. For He, Whose honour you seek and maintain among the nations, will also render your Majesty’s name more glorious even to posterity… let your Highness hasten to impart to the kings and peoples that are subject to you, the knowledge of one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; that you may surpass the ancient kings of your nation in praise and merit, and while you cause the sins of others among your own subjects to be blotted out, become the more free from anxiety with regard to your own sins before the dread judgement of Almighty God…

HE I, 32

In the year of our Lord 604, Augustine, archbishop of Britain, ordained two bishops, to wit, Mellitus and Justus; Mellitus to preach to the province of the East Saxons, who are divided from Kent by the river Thames, and border on the Eastern sea. Their metropolis is the city of London, which is situated on the bank of the aforesaid river, and is the mart of many nations resorting to it by sea and land. At that time, Sæberht, nephew to Æthelberht through his sister Ricula, reigned over the nation, though he was under subjection to Æthelberht, who, as has been said above, had command over all the nations of the English as far as the river Humber. But when this province also received the word of truth, by the preaching of Mellitus, King Æthelberht built the church of St Paul the Apostle, in the city of London, where he and his successors should have their episcopal see. As for Justus, Augustine ordained him bishop in Kent itself, in the city of Dorubrevis, which the English call Hrofæscæstræ [Rochester], from one that was formerly the chief man of it, called Hrof. It is about 24 miles distant from the city of Canterbury to the westward, and in it King Æthelberht dedicated a church to the blessed Apostle Andrew, and bestowed many gifts on the bishops of both those churches, as well as on the bishop of Canterbury, adding lands and possessions for the use of those who were associated with the bishops.

Bede HE II, 3

The creation of a diocese at Rochester is one of a number of hints tending to suggest that the kingdom of Kent had been formed from two pre-existing ‘peoples’.[*] Presumably during the 6th century, the eastern-Kentish people had annexed the territory of the western-Kentish, and, as a result, there was a dominant king, the nominal king of Kent, based in Canterbury, but there was also a subordinate king who ruled in West Kent, based in Rochester. Barbara Yorke, indeed, asserts that later forged charters “preserve a tradition” that Æthelberht’s son, Eadbald, ruled alongside his father.

As well as his nephew, Sæberht (who, according to Manuscript E of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 604, had been “set as king” of the East Saxons by Æthelberht), Æthelberht persuaded/coerced Rædwald, king of the East Angles, to be “initiated into the mysteries of the Christian faith in Kent” (HE II, 15).  This was hardly a successful conversion, however, since its only practical result would appear to have been that Rædwald had a Christian altar installed alongside the pagan altar in his temple.

Augustine had restored:

… with the support of the king, a church, which he was informed had been built of old by the faithful among the Romans, and consecrated it in the name of the Holy Saviour, our Divine Lord Jesus Christ, and there established a residence for himself and all his successors [this is the beginning of Canterbury Cathedral]. He also built a monastery not far from the city to the eastward, in which, by his advice, Æthelberht erected from the foundation the church of the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, and enriched it with divers gifts; wherein the bodies of the same Augustine, and of all the bishops of Canterbury, and of the kings of Kent, might be buried [this is the beginning of St Augustine’s Abbey].

Bede HE I, 33

On the 26th of May, of a year between 604 and 609 (Bede had no knowledge of which year), Augustine died:

… and his body was laid outside, close by the church of the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, above spoken of, because it was not yet finished, nor consecrated, but as soon as it was consecrated, the body was brought in, and fittingly buried in the north chapel thereof …

HE II, 3

Laurence succeeded Augustine in the bishopric, having been ordained thereto by the latter in his lifetime, lest, upon his death, the Church, as yet in so unsettled a state, might begin to falter if it should be destitute of a pastor even for an hour.

HE II, 4

Laurence, being advanced to the rank of archbishop, laboured indefatigably, both by frequent words of holy exhortation and constant example of good works to strengthen the foundations of the Church, which had been so nobly laid, and to carry it on to the fitting height of perfection. In short, he not only took charge of the new Church formed among the English, but endeavoured also to bestow his pastoral care upon the ancient inhabitants of Britain, as also of the Scots, who inhabit the island of Ireland, which is next to Britain. For when he understood that the life and profession of the Scots in their aforesaid country, as well as of the Britons in Britain, was not truly in accordance with the practice of the Church in many matters, especially that they did not celebrate the festival of Easter at the due time, but thought that the day of the Resurrection of our Lord ought, as has been said above [HE II, 2], to be observed between the 14th and 20th of the moon; he wrote, jointly with his fellow bishops, a hortatory epistle, entreating and conjuring them to keep the unity of peace and Catholic observance with the Church of Christ spread throughout the world… Also Laurence, with his fellow bishops, wrote a letter worthy of his rank to the priests of the Britons, by which he endeavoured to confirm them in Catholic unity; but what [little] he gained by so doing the present times still show. About this time, Mellitus, bishop of London, went to Rome, to confer with the Apostolic Pope Boniface [Boniface IV, 608–615] about the necessary affairs of the English Church. And when the same most reverend pope called a synod of the bishops of Italy, to prescribe rules for the life and peace of the monks, Mellitus also sat among them, in the 8th year of the Emperor Phocas, the 13th indiction, on the third of the Kalends of March [i.e. on the 27th of February 610], to the end that he also might sign and confirm by his authority whatsoever should be regularly decreed, and on his return into Britain might carry the decrees to the Churches of the English, to be committed to them and observed; together with letters which the same pope sent to the beloved of God, Archbishop Laurence, and to all the clergy; as likewise to King Æthelberht and the English nation.

HE II, 4

Bede reports that:

In the year of our Lord 616, which is the 21st year after Augustine and his company were sent to preach to the English nation, Æthelberht, king of the people of Kent, having most gloriously governed his temporal kingdom 56 years, entered into the eternal joys of the kingdom of Heaven.[*]

HE II, 5

Nothing could be clearer, Æthelberht died in 616, but Bede then adds:

King Æthelberht died on the 24th day of the month of February, 21 years after he had received the faith, and was buried in St Martin’s chapel within the church of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, where also lies his queen, Bertha.[*]

HE II, 5

Bede had earlier (HE I, 26) given the impression that Æthelberht was baptized shortly after Augustine’s arrival in Kent, in 597, in which case, Æthelberht’s death, twenty-one years later (assuming “received the faith” means baptized), would be in 618, not 616. Possibly this is just a slip-up on Bede’s part.[*] If, though, Æthelberht had in fact already become a Christian in 595, before Augustine’s arrival – after all, Bertha had brought Bishop Liudhard to Kent with her (presumably he died prior to the arrival of Gregory’s missionaries) – Bede’s numbers would be reconciled. Pope Gregory, however, wrote to Bertha in 601 (MGH XI, 35; not quoted by Bede), criticizing her for having failed to convert her husband (“since you, illustrious Lady, are, as I said, furnished with right faith, and are also instructed in letters, this ought not to have been a slow or a difficult task for you”), but encouraging her to now make amends:

Confirm therefore the mind of your illustrious consort in his attachment to the Christian faith by constant exhortation; let your care pour into him an increased love of God, and inflame his soul for the complete conversion of the race of his subjects … Set yourself so earnestly and whole-heartedly to help our most reverend brother and fellow-bishop aforesaid [i.e. Augustine], and the servants of God whom we sent to those parts for the conversion of your nation, that you may reign here happily with our illustrious son, your consort, and after many years may receive also the joys of the life to come, which know no end.

This letter to Bertha would certainly seem to rule out the possibility that Æthelberht had been converted before Augustine’s arrival; and Gregory’s letter to Æthelberht, precisely dated 22nd June 601[*], surely leaves no room to doubt that he had been baptized by that time (see above). It is, moreover, difficult to imagine that the mass baptism at Christmas 597 could have taken place whilst the king himself remained pagan, so, on balance, it seems reasonable to suppose: that Æthelberht “received the faith” in 597 (as Bede suspected, though he didn’t know for sure); Bede’s remark that the king died “21 years after” is a careless error; that Bede believed Æthelberht died in 616.

A further implication of Bede’s figures is that Æthelberht succeeded to the kingdom of Kent in 560.[*] A reign of fifty-six years, though plainly not impossible, is somewhat unlikely for this period. It is widely suggested, therefore, that Æthelberht lived, rather than reigned, for that length of time, in which case he would have been born in 560. As previously mentioned, an entry in Manuscript F of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle dates his birth to 552. The Frankish historian Gregory of Tours (538–594) says, after reporting Charibert’s succession to his share of his father’s kingdom in 561: “King Charibert took Ingoberg to wife, by whom he had a daughter, who afterwards married a man from Kent and was taken there.” (DLH IV, 26).  The daughter of Charibert and Ingoberg is presumed to be Bertha, and the “man from Kent” Æthelberht. Charibert had a roving eye, and soon cast Ingoberg aside in favour of one of her servants. It would seem reasonable, therefore, to date Bertha’s birth to about 562, which would put her at marriageable age by 580. Gregory of Tours visited Ingoberg “a few months” before her death in 589, and he notes that she died: “leaving one daughter, who was married to the son of a certain king in Kent.” (DLH IX, 26).  That Æthelberht was being described as the son of a king, presumably by his mother-in-law, in 589, suggests that, as far as Ingoberg knew at least, his father, Eormenric, was still ruling at that time.[*] Perhaps then, it is possible to suggest that, in round figures, Æthelberht was born about 560, was married to Bertha about 580 and became king of Kent about 590.[*]

Bede sums up Æthelberht’s reign:

Among other benefits which he conferred upon the nation under his care, he established, with the help of his council of wise men, judicial decrees [i.e. a law-code], after the Roman model; which are written in the language of the English, and are still kept and observed by them. Among which, he set down first what restitution should be made by anyone who steals anything belonging to the Church, the bishop, or the other clergy, for he was resolved to give protection to those whom he had received along with their doctrine.

HE II, 5

Æthelberht’s law-code was drawn-up sometime after the arrival of Augustine. It still survives, albeit in a 12th century copy.[*]