Pybba (also Pibba, Wibba, Wybba) was an early King of Mercia

Mercia

Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...

. He was the son of Creoda

Creoda of Mercia

Creoda was the first monarch of Mercia, reigning from 584 to 593.Creoda is recorded as having been the son of Cynewald, the grandson of Cnebba, and the great-grandson of Icel; consequently, members of the Mercian royal line were known as Iclingas...

 and father of Penda

Penda of Mercia

Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the...

 and Eowa

Eowa of Mercia

Eowa was a son of the Mercian king Pybba and a brother of the Mercian king Penda; according to the Historia Brittonum and the Annales Cambriae. These two sources state that Eowa was a king of the Mercians himself at the time of the Battle of Maserfield , in which he was killed, on August 5 of what...

.

His dates are sometimes given in genealogies as birth in 570, the beginning of his reign in 593, and death in either 606 or 615, but with no apparent evidence; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...

just mentions him as father of Penda, with no further detail.

Pybba is said by the Historia Brittonum to have had 12 sons. Cearl

Cearl of Mercia

Cearl was an early king of Mercia who ruled during the early part of the 7th century, perhaps from about 606 to about 626. He is the first Mercian king mentioned by Bede in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum.Cearl's ancestry is unknown...

, another Mercian king, is mentioned by Bede

Bede

Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...

, and may have been Pybba's successor, but his relationship to Pybba, if any, is unknown. Pybba's son Penda eventually became king; the Chronicle gives the date of this as 626, although Bede suggests it was not until after the battle of Hatfield Chase

Battle of Hatfield Chase

The Battle of Hatfield Chase was fought on October 12, 633 at Hatfield Chase near Doncaster, Yorkshire, in Anglo-Saxon England between the Northumbrians under Edwin and an alliance of the Welsh of Gwynedd under Cadwallon ap Cadfan and the Mercians under Penda. The site was a marshy area about 8...

 in 633.

Besides Penda and Eowa (who the author of the Historia Brittonum said were the sons of Pybba who were the best known to him), Pybba also apparently had a son named Coenwalh. Every king from Penda until Ceolwulf

Ceolwulf I of Mercia

Ceolwulf I was King of Mercia and Kent, from 821 to 823. He was the brother of Cœnwulf, his predecessor, and was deposed by Beornwulf.-External links:* http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+186...

, who was deposed in 823, was said to be a descendant of Pybba, either through Penda, Eowa, or Coenwalh (perhaps excluding Beornrad

Beornrad of Mercia

Beornred was briefly King of Mercia in 757, following the murder of Æthelbald. However, he was defeated by Offa and fled.According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in 757:...

, who ruled briefly and whose background is unknown).

Pybba also is said to have had a daughter. Though un-named, she was possibly the first wife of Cenwalh, King of Wessex (648-674).