Heaberht of Kent

Heahberht (also: Heaberht, Heaberhtus ) was 764 / 765-785, a king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent.

Life

The kings Sigered (West Kent) and Eanmund ( East Kent ) disappear from the sources as Offa ( 757-796 ), king of Mercia, to the supremacy acquired over Kent the year 764. Offa sat Ecgberht II (c. 764-779/784 ) in the western and eastern Heahberht in Kent as a vassal kings.

This situation meant that Heahberht the land grant of the Kentish King Ecgberht II had to agree. In one case still had the licentia ( permission ) Offa's required as a representative of the hegemonic power. Also in the third Charter fulfilled Heahberht only the role of approving contract witnesses. Heahberht and his co-regent Ecgberht II opposed the supremacy Mercia. Both left it in Canterbury new coins on the model of the Carolingian denarii shape. In addition to the mercantile function, the coins were also a political symbol against the Mercian hegemony. Archbishop of Canterbury Jænberht ( 765-792 ) seems to have recognized the struggle for autonomy of the two Kentish kings. Heahberht further fate is unknown. Ecgberht won in 776 at the Battle of Otford a victory over Offa and ruled over the next few years as an independent king probably all over Kent.

Swell

  • Charter S34
  • Charter S37
  • Charter S105
Eanmund of Kent Egbert II of Kent Carolingian dynasty Denarius Barbara Yorke Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
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