Ealdwulf of East Anglia

Ealdwulf
King of the East Angles
Reign	663 - about 713
Predecessor	Æthelwold
Successor	Ælfwald
Died	713
Issue	Ælfwald
Dynasty	Wuffingas
Father	Æthilric
Mother	Hereswitha
Religion	Christian

Ealdwulf (or Aldwulf) was king of East Anglia from 663 to around 713. His forty-nine year reign was extraordinary in length, with only Æthelbald of Mercia and Offa of Mercia having comparable longevity. Little is known of Ealdwulf, but his long rule reflects the success of alliances formed in the decades before his ascension. During his reign, East Anglia experienced a long period of stability and growth, not least in its commercial centre at Gipeswic (now modern Ipswich).

Ealdwulf was the son of Æthilric and the grandson of Eni. He belonged to the East Anglian Wuffingas dynasty, who ruled the kingdom of East Anglia (Old English: Ēast Engla Rīce), a small independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom that comprised what are now the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and part of the Fens. His father Æthilric may have been the same person as Ecgric, an East Anglian king who was killed in battle around 636. His mother Hereswith, who was the daughter of Hereric and Breguswith (a nephew of Edwin of Northumbria}, belonged to the Northumbrian royal family.

Soon after becoming king in 616, Edwin killed Ceretic of Elmet, following the murder of Hereswith's exiled father. Hereswith may have been baptized as a child by Paulinus of York in 626, along with her sister Hilda, Edwin and other members of the Northumbrian royal family. The diplomatic marriage of Æthilric and Hereswith occurred between 626 and 633, before Edwin was himself slain by Cadwallon ap Cadfan, and must have carried the expectation that Æthilric was to be a Christian husband and probably king of the East Angles. It sealed Æthilric in kinship to Edwin.

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