The Heirs of King Rædwald

with Dr Sam Newton

at Tranmer House, Sutton Hoo (map)
on Saturday 10th February 2007

Our main source for the period, Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, tells us that the reign of Rædwald’s son Eorpwald ended in assassination and uncertainty but by c.631 the kingdom was stable enough for his step-son Sigeberht to succeed. He established St Felix as the first bishop of the Eastern Angles at Dommoc and St Fursey at Cnobheresburh, the sites of which we shall consider.

Sigeberht himself appears to have been the first English king to abdicate to become a monk, and died a martyr in battle against the Mercian king Penda, c.640, who continued to dominate Britain during the reigns of the next two kings, Rædwald's nephews Anna (or Onna), father of saints, and Æthelhere. The former was killed in battle by Penda, perhaps at Bulcamp (c.654), while the latter was killed at the Battle of Winwæd (c.655) as an ally of Penda, who also died there. We shall attempt to locate the sites of these events and to elucidate something of the drama behind them.

Sam Newton was awarded his Ph.D in 1991 and published his first book, The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia, in 1993. Since then he has worked as an independent scholar in Early Medieval Studies. His latest book, The Reckoning of King Rædwald, was published in 2003. He is also now a Director of Wuffing Education, NADFAS lecturer, and Time Team historian.

Bruce-Mitford, R., Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology (Gollancz 1974)
Higham, N., An English Empire: Bede and the Early Anglo-Saxon Kings (Manchester 1995)
Higham, N., The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England (Manchester 1997)
Kirby, D.P., The Earliest English Kings (London 1991)
Newton, S., The Reckoning of King Rædwald (Redbird 2003)
Scarfe, N., The Suffolk Landscape (Hodder & Stoughton 1972, Alastair 1986)
Warner, P., The Origins of Suffolk (Manchester 1996)

Bookings

Please phone or email to check the availability of places and then send the application form and a cheque for £38, payable to Wuffing Education to:

Wuffing Education,
4 Hilly Fields,
Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 4DX
(tel : 01394 386498)

Email cliff AT wuffingeducation.co.uk
(replace 'AT' by '@' in order to send email - we used 'AT' to avoid spam robots automatically sending us emails)
Website www.wuffingeducation.co.uk

Return to list of current Study Days

Website by
Adroit Solutions Ltd