• General Notes

  Ruled 14 July 664 - 4 July 673.
  He was born sometime around 641, and began his reign with the clearly unChristian act of ordering the death of his cousins, Athelred and Athelbert, the sons of his father's elder brother, Eormenred. The reason was almost certainly to ensure his right of succession, although this hardly seemed to be challenged by his contemporaries. Nevertheless, at this time there was not an immediate right of succession from father to eldest born son, and Egbert was evidently ensuring he had no opposition. Unfortunately for Egbert the two young princes soon became the centre of a small cult, and this caused a rift in the Kentish royal household that Egbert was keen to mend. Eafa, the sister of the murdered brothers, demanded a blood price from Egbert, and in reparation he granted her land near the isle of Thanet where a second monastery was built (now Minster-in-Thanet) and consecrated in 675, with Eafa as the first abbess. Egbert also founded a church at Reculver, and granted land for another abbey at Chertsey, which shows that his authority extended as far as Surrey, at least in matters of the church. Soon after he became king he consulted the Northumbrian king OSWY over the selection of a successor to Deusdedit, the archbishop of Canterbury. The cruel start to Egbert's reign ended up being extremely profitable for the church, an uneasy balance which would continue for the next thousand years. Egbert died young (he can only have been in his early thirties), probably from an illness, and was buried at Canterbury. He was succeeded by his brother HLOTHHERE.

Details of Egbert's family