Ricberht of East Anglia

Ricberht is thought to have briefly been the king of East Anglia, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk.

According to Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Ricberht was responsible for the murder of Eorpwald of East Anglia in about 627, shortly after Eorpwald succeeded his father Rædwald and was baptised as a Christian. Ricberht may then have been king for a period of three years, during which East Anglia reverted to paganism.

Background

The Kingdom of the East Angles appears in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People early in the 7th century, at the time that it was a powerful kingdom ruled by Rædwald. The early East Anglian kings were pagans who belonged to the Wuffingas dynasty, named after Wuffa. Wuffa's descendants ruled the kingdom in an almost unbroken line until after the reign of Ælfwald in the middle of the 8th century. According to Bede, Rædwald was recognised as exercising dominance or imperium over the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. His position was assured when he gave his loyalty and support to Edwin of Northumbria (at that time a fugitive at his court) and when he defeated Æthelfrith of Northumbria on the banks of the River Idle, a tributary of the river Trent. Rædwald was converted to Christianity in Kent, but under the influence of his pagan wife, his church contained both a Christian and a pagan altar.^[1]

Rædwald was succeeded by his son Eorpwald, who converted to Christianity shortly after becoming king in around 627.

The assassination of Eorpwald

Soon after his conversion, Eorpwald was killed by Riceberht, as the result of a pagan reaction against him. The source for Ricberht, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, states that 'Eorpwald, not long after he had embraced the Christian faith, was slain by one Ricberht, a pagan;' (Uerum Eorpuald non multo, postquam fidem accepit, tempore occisus est a uiro gentili nomine Ricbercto;).^[2] It is not known where Eorpwald's murder occurred, or of any other details surrounding his death. He may be the person who was buried in the Sutton Hoo ship-burial near the Wuffingas centre of authority at Rendlesham, but most experts consider his father to be a more likely candidate.^[3]

Rule

Nothing about Riceberht's ancestry or background is known.^[4] According to historians, including Barbara Yorke, Ricberht, if he ruled at all, succeeded Eorpwald and was king for three years.^[5] He was the last pagan king of the East Angles. Bede does not mention him again, only noting that 'the province was in error for three years' (et exinde tribus annis prouincia in errore uersata est), prior to the accession of Eorpwald's half-brother (or brother) Sigeberht of East Anglia,^[6] which is generally taken to mean that East Anglia relapsed back into paganism during this period.^[7]

References

Sources

• Bede (1999). Ecclesiastical History of the English People. (available at Google Books): Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192838660. 
• Kirby, D.P. (2000). The Earliest English Kings. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 1-415-24211-8. 
• Yorke, Barbara (2002). Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-16639-X.