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Ethelbert Biography

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ETHELBERT, or AETHELBERT (c.552-616). King of Kent from 560 to 616. After the death of Ceawlin, King of the West Saxons, in 593, Ethelbert established his supremacy over all the English south of the Humber and was acknowledged as Bretwalda. Ethelbert married Bertha, daughter of Charibert, King of the Franks, who was a Christian, and who stipulated that his daughter should be allowed to practice her own religion. The conversion of Ethelbert was effected by St. Augustine (q.v.) in 597. After his conversion and baptism he founded the bishopric of Rochester, and in concert with his nephew, Saeberht, King of Essex, who also had been converted, erected the church of St. Paul in London. He died Feb. 24, 616. Ethelbert is also known as the author of the first written Saxon laws. Consult: Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, vol. iii (Oxford, 1871); Oman, England before the Norman Conquest (New York, 1910) ; Hodgkin, History of England to the Norman Conquest (ib., 1906).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. VII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 118.