Ricberht of East Anglia

Ricberht
possible king of the East Angles
Reign	about 627-630
Predecessor	Eorpwald
Successor	Sigeberht with Ecgric
Religion	pagan

Ricberht (Old English: Ricbyhrt), may have briefly ruled East Anglia, a small independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Little is known of his life or his reign.

According to Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Ricberht murdered Eorpwald of East Anglia in about 627, shortly after Eorpwald succeeded his father Rædwald as king and had then been baptised as a Christian. Following Eorpwald's death, Ricberht may have become king, a possibility that is not mentioned by Bede or any contemporary commentator. East Anglia then reverted to paganism for three years, before Sigeberht and Ecgric succeeded jointly as kings of East Anglia and ended the kingdom's brief period of apostasy.

The earliest East Anglian kings were pagans. They belonged to the Wuffingas dynasty, named after Wuffa, whose ancestors originated from northern Europe and whose descendants ruled the East Angles in an almost unbroken line until after the reign of Ælfwald in the middle of the 8th century.

When East Anglia was first mentioned by Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, it was a powerful kingdom ruled by Rædwald (died about 624). According to Bede, Rædwald was recognised as exercising dominance or imperium over the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, a position that was assured when he gave his loyalty and support to Edwin of Northumbria (who was at that time a fugitive at the East Anglian court) and when together they defeated Æthelfrith of Northumbria on the banks of the River Idle, a tributary of the Trent. Rædwald was converted to Christianity in Kent at the invitation of King Æthelberht, but under the influence of his pagan wife, his church contained both a Christian and a pagan altar.

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