Ealdwulf of Sussex

Ealdwulf (also Ealduulf, Alduulf, Aldwlfus; fl 771/786-791 ) was a ruler of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Sussex in the second half of the 8th century.

Life

The chronology is very uncertain because of the weak source location of the 8th century for Sussex. Some charters are the only source of information on his dates. Its origin is unknown. Sussex stood since the end of the 7th century clearly in the shadow of the neighboring kingdom of Wessex.

Ealdwulf probably prevailed in the 760er years as king jointly with Ælfwald, Oslac and Osmund. Documented Ealdwulf is when King first detectable at 765. In this year a land grant to his Ealdwulfs comes Hunlaf dated to the construction of a monastery church, signed the Ælfwald and Oslac as witnesses. The copy of this document will be though mostly viewed as corrupted, but seems to go back to the original and authentic.

During his reign Wessex under King Offa of Mercia ( 757-796 ) was replaced as British hegemony. Offa gained around the year 764 the supremacy over the kingdom of Kent, and sat Ecgberht II (c. 764-779/784 ) in the western and Heahberht ( 764/765-? ) In eastern Kent as a vassal kings. Also on Sussex took the pressure to always on. Beginning of the 770er years the political situation in Sussex was apparently unstable, Offa took for themselves. In 771 Offa defeated Kent coming from the Hæstingas in East Sussex and then threw the entire kingdom of Sussex. Offa could have lands in Sussex, at its discretion in the year 772. The erstwhile kings ( Oswald, Osmund, Ælfwald and Oslac ) contributed in a charter that they signed as witnesses, only the title dux or ealdorman. In this Charter Oswald is titled dux Suðsaxorum ( Ealdorman the South Saxons ). Some historians derive from a certain primacy over the other dukes.

A dating from the year 780 Charter Oslacs was co-signed by Ælfwald and Ealdwulf as witnesses. One issued prior to 786 Charter Ealdwulfs indicates no further duces next Ealdwulf, but shows the dependence of Mercia to the fact that Ealdwulf Offa called dominus meus ( " my Lord "). In the year 791 Ealdwulf appeared for the last time in a document with which he transferred lands to Wihthun ( 787/789-805/811 ), the Bishop of Selsey. Year of his death is unknown. His death is also the end of the last remnant of independence, which was Sussex remained and was then extended to Mercia and Wessex from 825 to.

Swell

  • Charter S49
  • Charter S50
  • Charter S1178
  • Charter S1183
  • Charter S1184
Oslac of Sussex Osmund of Sussex Egbert II of Kent Heaberht of Kent Oswald of Sussex Barbara Yorke Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
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