Anglo-Saxon royal dynasty of East Anglia
The
kingdom of the East Angles
during the period it was ruled by the Wuffingas, bordered by the
North Sea
, the
River Stour
, the
Devil's Dyke
and the
Fens
The
Wuffingas
,
Uffingas
or
Wiffings
were the ruling dynasty of
East Anglia
, the long-lived
Anglo-Saxon
kingdom which today includes the English counties of
Norfolk
and
Suffolk
. The Wuffingas took their name from
Wuffa
, an early
East Anglian king
. Nothing is known of the members of the dynasty before
Rædwald
, who ruled from about 599 to
c.
624. The
Viking
invasions of the 9th century and
Dissolution of the monasteries
in the 16th century both led to the destruction of
documents
relating to the rule of the Wuffingas.
The last of the Wuffingas kings was
Ælfwald
, who died in 749; he was succeeded by kings whose lineage is unknown.
Earliest kings of the East Angles
[
edit
]
The
Kingdom of East Anglia
was invaded by peoples from northern Europe during the 5th and 6th centuries. Historical sources relating to the genealogy of the
East Anglian kings
include the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
and the 8th century English monk
Bede
's
Ecclesiastical History
, both compiled many years after the kingdom was formed, as well as a pedigree of Ælfwald contained in the
Anglian collection
that dates from the 9th century. In the pedigree, Ælfwald is claimed to descend from the god
W?den
.
The earliest kings of East Anglia were known as the
Wuffingas
, named after the semi-historical founder of the dynasty,
Wuffa
.
Rædwald
(died
c.
625
) is the first of the country's kings known to have ruled. Bede identified Rædwald's father as Tytil and his grandfather as Wuffa; their respective accession dates of 571 and 578 were given by the 13th century English
chronicler
Roger of Wendover
. The
Historia Brittonum
lists
Wehha
, father of Wuffa as the first of the Wuffingas, which perhaps sets the date for the origins of the dynasty to the middle of the 6th century.
Wuffa
is thought to mean "little wolf", suggesting that the dynastic name
Wuffingas
translates as "kin of the wolf", making it
etymologically
the same as the
Wulfings
clan named in
Beowulf
and the Old English poem "
Widsith
".
Dynasty
[
edit
]
The following family tree includes the Wuffingas kings from Wehha to
Ælfwald
. They are numbered in order of ruling.
[4]
Ecgric
was also a member of the Wuffingas house, but his exact descent is not decided. He may have been
Sigeberht's
brother, or his step-brother.
[
citation needed
]
|
Ancestor
|
Ælfwald (Alfwold Aldwulfing)
|
Ealdwulf (Aldwulf Æðelricing)
|
Ethelric (Æþelric Ening)
|
Eni (Eni Tytling)
|
Tytla (Tytla Wuffing)
|
Wuffa (Wuffa Wehhing)
|
Wehha (Wehh Wilhelming)
|
Wilhelm (Wilhelm Hrypping)
|
Hryth (Hryp Hroðmunding)
|
Hrothmund (Hroðmund Trigling)
|
Trygil (Trygil Tytimaning)
|
Tytiman (Tytiman Casericg)
|
Caesar (Caser Wodning)
|
W?den (Woden Frealafing)
|
Pedigree of Ælfwald from the Anglian collection,
preserved in the
Textus Roffensis
|
After 749, East Anglia was ruled either by the rulers of
Mercia
, or by kings whose genealogy is not known.
Centres of royal power
[
edit
]
The
Wicklaw region
Sutton Hoo
, the site of two early medieval
cemeteries
dating from the 6th to 7th centuries, lies along a bank of the tidal
estuary
of the
River Deben
. It stands 7 miles (11 km) from the
North Sea
and below the lowest convenient fording place. It formed a path of entry into East Anglia during the
period that followed the end of Roman imperial rule
in the 5th century.
The territory between the Orwell and the watersheds of the Alde and Deben rivers may have been an early centre of royal power for the Wuffingas kings, originally centred upon
Rendlesham
or Sutton Hoo, and a primary component in the formation of the East Anglian kingdom. In the early 7th century, Gipeswic (modern
Ipswich
) began its growth as a centre for foreign trade,
Botolph
's monastery at
Iken
was founded by royal grant in 654,
and Bede identified Rendlesham as the site of
Æthelwold's
royal dwelling.
Cultural associations
[
edit
]
The author Sam Newton has claimed that the
Old English
epic poem
Beowulf
may have been composed during the reign of Ælfwald. Before the end of his rule, East Anglia contained a group of ecclesiastical centres, all of which had strong associations with the Wuffingas dynasty. These included the
sees
at
Dommoc
and
Helmham
,
Botwulf of Thorney
's monastery at Icanho, the religious foundations at
Ely
and
Dereham
founded by daughters of
Anna
, the minster at
Blythburgh
and the monastery founded by Sigeberht prior to his abdication and subsequent death in battle.
References
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Bruce-Mitford, Rupert
(1974).
Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology: Sutton Hoo and Other Discoveries
. London:
Victor Gollancz Limited
.
ISBN
978-0-575-01704-7
.
- Newton, Sam (2004).
The Origins of Beowulf and the Pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia
. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
ISBN
978-0-85991-472-7
.
- Wade, Keith (2001). "Gipeswic ? East Anglia's first economic capital, 600?1066". In Salmon, Neil & Malster, Robert (eds.).
Ipswich from the First to the Third Millennium: Papers from an Ipswich Society Symposium
. Ipswich: Ipswich Society. pp. 1?6.
ISBN
978-0-9507328-1-7
.
- West, Stanley E.; Scarfe, Norman &
Cramp, Rosemary
(1984).
"Iken, St Botolph, and the Coming of East Anglian Christianity"
(PDF)
.
Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology
.
XXXV
(4). Ipswich: Society of Antiquaries of London: 279?301.
- West, Stanley E. (1998).
Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology: Sutton Hoo and Other Discoveries
(PDF)
.
East Anglian Archaeology
(Report). Ipswich: Suffolk County Council.
ISBN
978-0-86055-246-8
.
- Yorke, Barbara
(2002).
Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England
. London and New York: Routledge.
ISBN
978-0-415-16639-3
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Royal and noble family trees
|
---|
Americas
| |
---|
Asia
| Iran
| |
---|
Turkey
| |
---|
China
| |
---|
Malaysia
| |
---|
|
---|
Egypt
| |
---|
Europe
| Georgia
| |
---|
Roman
| |
---|
Spain
| |
---|
Britain
| |
---|
Croatia
| |
---|
|
---|
See also
| |
---|