• General Notes

  Ruled 20 January 640 - 14 July 664. Born: c624 or earlier. Died: 14 July 664. Buried: Canterbury. Married: c640y Seaxburh, dau. Anna, king of the East Angles. It is uncertain whether Eorcenbert was the son of Eadbald and his second wife Ymme, or of his first wife, the unnamed widow of ATHELBERT. To have been old enough to succeed Eadbald in 640, Eorcenbert cannot have been less than sixteen, and quite possibly older. It may be that his mother died in giving birth to him. He was the first Saxon king to be raised as a Christian, and on his accession ordered that the idols of the pagan worshippers be destroyed throughout Kent. He strengthened the laws of his grandfather to ensure that his decrees be taken seriously, and he also gave royal assent to the observation of fasting in Lent. He effectively outlawed pagan worship in Kent, although small enclaves persisted as shown by the survival of such names as Woodnesborough (or Woden's Barrow) near Canterbury. Eorcenbert also appointed the first Saxon archbishop of Canterbury after the death of Honorius, the last of Augustine's companions, in 653. This was Frithuwine of the West Saxons, who took the name of Deusdedit (dedicated to
  God).
  
  Eorcenbert married Seaxburh, the daughter of ANNA of the East Angles, who must also have been young at that time. During their reign she established the nunnery at Minster, on the Isle of Sheppey, to which she retired as abbess after her husband's death in 664. In 679, on her sister's death, she became abbess of Ely, and her own daughter, Eormenhild (or Irmengeld), the widow of king WULFHERE of Mercia, succeeded as abbess of Minster, and later at Ely.
  
  Eorcenbert's observation of Lent brought with it conflict over the strict dating of Easter. Because the Roman and Celtic churches calculated the time of the Easter feast differently it meant that at times Easter might be celebrated twice in any one year. This led to king OSWY of Northumbria calling the Synod of Whitby to determine whether the Celtic or Roman approach should be paramount. Eorcen-bert sent his bishop Deusdedit, who clearly favoured the Roman method, and this view prevailed. Deusdedit died of a plague soon after Whitby, and it seems that the same plague caused the death of Eorcenbert who was only in his forties. He died on the same day as Deusdedit, and was succeeded by his son EGBERT.
  
  We can be fairly certain that during Eorcenbert's reign Kent continued to develop as a prosperous kingdom, and farmsteads and hamlets grew into villages and towns. Most of the long established villages in Kent can be dated to the middle of the seventh century.

Details of Earconbert's family with Sexburga of East Anglia