Sæberht, Saberht or Sæbert (d. c. 616) was a King of Essex

Kingdom of Essex

The Kingdom of Essex or Kingdom of the East Saxons was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the so-called Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Kent. Kings of Essex were...

 (r. c. 604 – c. 616), in succession of his father King Sledd. He is known as the first East Saxon king to have been converted to Christianity.

The principal source for his reign is the early 8th-century Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum

Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum

The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum is a work in Latin by Bede on the history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between Roman and Celtic Christianity.It is considered to be one of the most important original references on...

 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...

 (d. 735), who claims to have derived his information about the missionary work of Mellitus

Mellitus

Mellitus was the first Bishop of London in the Saxon period, the third Archbishop of Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Christianity. He arrived in 601 AD with a group of clergymen sent to augment the mission,...

 among the East Saxons from Abbot Albinus of Canterbury through the London priest Nothhelm, later Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 739). Other sources include 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...

, an imperfectly preserved genealogy possibly of the late 9th century (London, BL

British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

 MS Add. 23211) and a handful of genealogies and regnal lists written down by Anglo-Norman historians.

Family

The genealogies and regnal lists are unanimous in describing Sæberht as the son of Sledd, who may have been regarded as the founder of the East Saxon dynasty. According to Bede, Sæberht's mother was Ricula, a sister of King Æthelberht of Kent.

Bede omits the names of Sæberht's sons, but one name is given in the genealogy of MS Add. 23211 as Saweard.

Conversion and succession

In 604, the Gaulish churchman Mellitus

Mellitus

Mellitus was the first Bishop of London in the Saxon period, the third Archbishop of Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Christianity. He arrived in 601 AD with a group of clergymen sent to augment the mission,...

 was consecrated by Augustine

Augustine of Canterbury

Augustine of Canterbury was a Benedictine monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597...

 as bishop in the province of the East Saxons, which had a capital at London, making him the first Bishop of London

Bishop of London

The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...

.

Bede tells that Sæberht converted to Christianity in 604 and was baptised by Mellitus, while his sons remained pagan. Sæberht then allowed the bishopric to be established. The episcopal church which was built in London was probably founded by Æthelberht, rather than Sæberht, though a charter which claims to be a grant of lands from Æthelberht to Mellitus is a forgery.

Death

Both Æthelberht and Sæberht died in 616, leaving the Gregorian mission

Gregorian mission

The Gregorian mission, sometimes known as the Augustinian mission, was the missionary endeavour sent by Pope Gregory the Great to the Anglo-Saxons in 596 AD. Headed by Augustine of Canterbury, its goal was to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. By the death of the last missionary in 653, they...

 without strong patrons. Sæberht's pagan sons drove Mellitus from London. According to Bede's explanation, this happened because Mellitus refused the brothers' request for a taste of the sacramental bread

Sacramental bread

Sacramental bread, sometimes called the lamb, altar bread, host or simply Communion bread, is the bread which is used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist.-Eastern Catholic and Orthodox:...

.

King Sæberht and his wife Ethelgoda are buried in Westminster Abbey, in a tomb provided by King Henry III close to the entrance of the Royal chapels.

Sources

III.22, pp. 280–5.

• Higham, N.J. The Convert Kings. Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England. Manchester, 1997.
• Kirby, D.P. The Earliest English Kings. London, 1991.
• Yorke, Barbara. "The Kingdom of the East Saxons." Anglo-Saxon England 14 (1985): 1-36.
• Yorke, Barbara. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London, 1990.
• Thornbury, Walter. Westminster Abbey: Chapels and royal tombs', Old and New London: Volume 3 (1878), pp. 431–450.

Further reading

• "Sæberht 1 (Male)." Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England.
• Hirst, S. and S. Lamb. The Prittlewell Prince: The Discovery of a Rich Anglo-Saxon Burial in Essex. London, 2004.