Between May and October 2007, Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service uncovered a previously unknown Early Anglo-Saxon settlement lying across 12 acres (4.72ha) earmarked for new playing fields at Hartismere School in Eye. It had a continental long-house of a type hitherto unknown in England. It had a very early cremation cemetery which was eventually dated to 425. The site is extensive but only sparsely occupied, with only 18 SFB s found and identified by 2013. However, the area covered makes it the largest early Anglo-Saxon dig ever undertaken. Bronze Age and Iron Age remains were also found here that indicate a very long history of human usage of this area.

These were strategic defensive settlements, established to protect the Cotswold heartlands, and Norfolk was particularly well settled. Because the north still had the army in place, there was less need for reinforcements to be sent there. Forces were placed to protect the North road, the Thames estuary and the major intersections of the Icknield Way. These inland posts were really a defence line of last resort.

One of these posts might have been at West Stow, sitting on the River Lark crossing of the Icknield Way.

A sprawling half mile long Romano-British settlement known as Camborito had been long established at adjacent Icklingham, and a Roman villa has also been identified there. Finds have been made here over many years and four lead water tanks have now been discovered in Icklingham bearing Christian symbols. In 1974 an apparently Christian cemetery was found with a possible Christian chapel.

Around this time it thus appears that the Anglo-Saxon village Stowa was first established just the other side of the Icknield Way from Camborito. How they interacted and how relations changed over the next 50 years we do not know. The Romano-British were Christian at this time and the Anglo-Saxons were pagans.

In the east and south, Germanic forces were accepted nearly everywhere, with the exception of Verulamium, the capital of the Catevellauni.

In 437 it appears there was a battle between Ambrosius and Vortigern possibly at Wallop in Hampshire.

What was it like here when the Anglo-Saxons arrived? There was a 'managed' landscape with Romano-British field systems; grazing for sheep on higher ground, water meadows and arable land all rather run down, as the economy collapsed.

Useful timber for building was to hand, and there were deserted sites, like the Icklingham Roman town nearby, where all kinds of useful things could be found and recycled such as tiles for hearths, bronze, iron and even bits of pottery.

It is believed that many of the Romano-British population survived the collapse of Roman Britain and were absorbed into early Anglo-Saxon society, some at least, as slaves.

There were no forests of pine trees - these are all 19th-20th Century plantations.

From about 440 AD for the next 200 years into the 7th Century the landscape in our area was settled by the Anglo-Saxons, whose little villages controlled areas of land which were to become the 'parishes' of later saxon and medieval times.

West Stow, sitting in the centre of the Lark Valley, was one of a number of similar 'villages' extending from the three round the later Bury St Edmunds to Mildenhall on the fen edge. The Blackbourn valley to the north-east has a similar distribution of sites. They are spaced out along the river banks with territories extending behind. Beyond these settled valleys, central Suffolk, a region of heavy, damp clay was returning to dense scrub and forest after the collapse of Roman settlement. This area was not occupied by the earliest Anglo-Saxon settlers. To the east, settlement penetrated the lighter sandlings of the coastal region much as in the west. To the west and south the river systems of Cambridgeshire were densely settled by Anglo-Saxons and were clearly related by their possessions to those in Suffolk.

Hengest's Saxon forces had now increased to such a level that resentment over their spread and their pay rose high on both sides. Hengest demanded more money and more land for his growing forces. Whatever happened, it became a fight and armed Saxon insurrection swept across the lowlands. Vortigern was first driven out of Kent by Hengest.

Later, Caistor by Norwich for example, was totally destroyed as undoubtedly were other settlements, and Colchester was stormed. The economy was also destroyed. The pottery industry ceased production. Farms ceased to produce food, and markets ceased to operate. Certainly Kent and East Anglia were conquered in this first attack.

Aetius provided no help, but Bishop Germanus visited the British for a second time, so we can envisage the country more or less partitioned into Saxon control and old British control with a largely Romanised flavour.

How long after the Romans left before the Anglo-Saxons began to settle around Haverhill is not, as yet, possible to determine but we do know where they started; not on the more agreeable south-eastern slope of the main valley, but at the head of the smaller one. The reason was probably that this was a better defensive position. The name Burton means 'the farm by the fort'. So it was at what is now Burton End that they built their fortified farm, on the place which is now called the 'Castle'.

Vortigern's son, Vortimer, was said by the Kentish Chronicle to have driven the Saxons out of Kent and back to Thanet for five years. The main battle seems to have been at Richborough.

The British also won at the Battle of Aylsford, but at Crayford the Saxons won and drove the British out of Kent, back to London.

The King of the Vandals, called Genseric, now entered Rome and for two weeks stripped it of all its treasure, carrying it off to North Africa.

The village of Stowa, as we call it today, was located on a small hillock by the River Lark, on very light sandy soil. The Icknield Way crossed the River Lark at a ford a few yards away, running roughly north and southwards. An old Roman road ran east and westwards a few yards north of the village. This road led to the old Romano British village of Camborito, just a few hundred yards to the west. The village cemetery was just across the Roman road.

At first the people of Stowa were cremated when they died and it is estimated that a thousand cremations were held here, of which about 530 were contained in funerary urns.

The Central Suffolk clay soils do not seem to have attracted the Anglo-Saxons. They preferred the river valleys, and more easily worked soils. Other settlements have been excavated at Honington and Grimstone End in Pakenham. We do not know exactly when Bury or Haverhill were first settled by Anglo-Saxons, but we have a better idea of where it took place. In Haverhill the first settlement was at Burton End. In modern Bury we have evidence of several Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, so there were probably at least four small villages within the area of today's town. One was probably where the Abbey's ruins remain today, one near Barons Road, one at Westgarth Gardens and one near Northumberland Avenue.

It seems that the settlers in West Suffolk were based along the river valleys which flowed into the Fens, and that they looked to trade in that direction rather than to the east. It seems likely that West suffolk was thus settled from the direction of the Wash, through the Fens, while East Suffolk was settled up the river valleys like the Gipping, Stour and Waveney, which all flowed eastwards towards the North Sea.

Although Vortigern had ceded Sussex, it was not taken unopposed. Aelle landed at Selsey Bill to take Chichester but was thwarted. London, Chichester and Verulamium were still in British hands but 12,000 troops had gone to Armorica so a decisive counter attack was ruled out. However, various local leaders or Kings took various offensive actions to avoid their own total destruction.

It seems likely that British resistance in 470 was based on the wealthy farmlands of the Cotswold area, Salisbury Plain and in Hampshire. It is also highly possible that they based their tactics upon the use of horses and mounted cavalry. This knowledge may have been remembered from Roman days, or invented by necessity, but their armour and weapons would be have been Roman. The Saxons at this time invariably fought with spears on foot, and this helps to explain how the weakened British managed to resist them for so long. Using mounted men in hit and run attacks, they could also cover large amounts of territory at five times the speed of the Saxons. It has been suggested that as the Romano-British did not use stirrups, they could not fight from horseback, but we now know that a saddle can be designed to work without stirrups.

The British cavalry needed secure overnight stops and used the old Roman walled towns, or re-occupied some of the old iron-age hill forts like South Cadbury.

Battles were fought in a zone from Wiltshire and the borders of Gloucestershire up to the Cambridge area. There is no evidence of fighting in the Saxon/English heartlands of Norfolk and North Suffolk or Kent.

The British resistance inspired a new sense of local identity, no longer Roman. They called themselves Combrogi or 'fellow countrymen', whose modern form is Cymry or Cumbri, names which survive today in Wales and Cumbria.

The English knew them by both names, and also called them foreigners or wealh or wylisc in Old English, and Welsh in today's English. The English saw them as part of the old Christian world, based on Rome.

The Anglo-Saxons named their country Englaland (land of the Angles) and their language was called Englisc. It is the modern historian who refers to them as Anglo-Saxons, who spoke Anglo-Saxon or Old English. Suffolk is full of Anglo-Saxon place names, most names coming from Old English words.

Latin writers referred to them as Angli and were doing so before the middle of the 6th century. By the 7th century King Ine called himself King of the West Saxons but described his subjects as Englishmen or Welshmen, but not as Saxons.

Saxon was a term used by foreigners, and survives in modern Welsh as Saesnag and in Irish as Sasenach. Until about 650, the Saxons were Pagan, also called Heathens or Barbarians.

The flow of immigrants much increased in the late 5th century, to such an extent that the homeland of Angeln was deserted in Schleswig. At this time we believe that the Kings and their courts also moved to England.

Trade and social contacts were probably maintained with their homelands, as shown by many of the objects that have been found. At Undley, near Lakenheath, a high status Angle wore this gold pendant shown here. It was made in the late 5th century in Schleswig or southern Scandinavia. A roman helmeted head copies many Roman coins, and although the wolf and infants is a strong Roman motif, there are also runic characters present. Such a pendant, made from a pattern stamped into flattened gold, is known as a bracteate.

This object illustrates one of the earliest known examples of runes seen in England. Literacy under the Romans had used the latin alphabet still familiar to us today. The northern German tribes had adopted a runic alphabet, known to us as the "futhark", by the 3rd century AD. This object helps to illustrate their linguistic and cultural penetration into eastern Britain at this time.

Although the British had stemmed the English advance further westwards, the Roman Empire had faded around them, and they had no larger continental Empire to support them. The Romanised economy was destroyed by war, and the British had to rebuild their lives in their own way, with only half the country's resources available to them.

In the Fens the Roman drainage system built around Car Dyke had failed as there was no administration to maintain it against the rising sea levels. Areas of Fen now flooded, leaving only Ely and a few other islands above the water level. Along with this problem came a rise in sea levels through the 4th and 5th centuries, so that by this time East Anglia was a virtual isthmus, cut off from the area of Mercia to the West by the great marshy fenland.

To the south the heavy clay soils of the Stour valley were reverting to Wildwood. The Roman roads were becoming overgrown by impenetrable blackthorn thickets by a lack of use and maintenance. Rome's once great city at Colchester declined into a ghost town by the 6th century, and both Colchester and the area of North Essex would be sparsely populated until the coming of the Danes in the 10th century.

However, for the next 15 years this period was peaceful and was looked on as a golden age of freedom, truth and justice under King Arthur, by Romanised scholars like Gildas. As the Saxons themselves kept no written records their views of the situation are unknown. Welsh poems and later monastic traditions regarded Arthur as a tyrant. Gildas never named Arthur, and the modern legends surrounding King Arthur did not begin until first taken up in Norman France in the 12th century by Chretien de Troyes. The story was taken up by Geoffrey of Monmouth in England shortly afterwards, and Malory's Morte d'Arthur followed in the 15th century.

Arthur continued to experience conflicts such as at Chester and various boarder actions against the Irish in the north west, and in Wales and Cornwall and possibly local rebellions by British war lords. His success led to him being called Emperor and Roman titles and governorships were somewhat restored in the area under his control, based on lowland central England.

There is some evidence that Saxon settlements which were on the fringes of Saxon control, like Kempston by Bedford, were sent packing by Arthur, establishing stricter borders between both populations. Following years of bloodshed and flight to Gaul, it appears that the population in 500 was only a small fraction of what it had been in the Roman period by 400 AD.

Over the next 5 years more graves were discovered. Eriswell had three cemeteries with 446 graves finally identified. This is a major find for East Anglia and covers the 200 year period from the late 5th to early 7th centuries. There were other horse burials found, but the first one in 1997 aroused the most excitement.

Although the remains were originally dated to around 550AD, a radio carbon date was obtained in the early 21st century which placed the first horse burial burial to between 490 and 535AD. I have therefore located it at roughly the midpoint of this range for the purposes of this Chronicle.

After this date a further wave of settlers came to East Anglia and Kent from Sweden via Denmark and Friesland. If it was around this time they may have been led by Wehha, because the first King of East Anglia was Wehha according to Nennius, a 9th Century historian.

The area later known as the Wicklaw, and later as the Liberty of St Etheldreda, may have been the home estates first established by the Wuffing kings. It covers all their major sites from Rendlesham to Sutton Hoo, and the estuaries of the Deben and Alde and south to the Orwell.

By now East Anglia seems to have become one cohesive kingdom. A strong king would be welcome to impose order in the land and to create the stability without which the farmers could not till the land successfully.

It has been suggested by Michael Baillie, Professor of Palaeoecology at Queen's University, Belfast, that these periods may have been caused by comets or planetary debris which throw dust into the atmosphere, thus causing several cold years, as the sunlight is reduced at the earth's surface.

Exact dating of these early events is difficult and dates get continually adjusted in the light of further evidence.

By about 560 the era known as the Great Migration period had largely ended. The Yellow Plague may well have helped to end much more movement of populations.

The Saxon's pagan culture would be unchallenged in England until about 630, when Christian missionaries started to impress the Saxon kings. However, the pagan culture was itself in a state of evolution. Early on the preferred death ritual was burial of cremated remains in an urn. Burial of the body with grave goods was now more prevalent, and in some high status cases mounds were being thrown up over the grave. The Anglo-Saxons had found many earlier period Bronze Age mounds, and had sometimes used them for their own purposes.

At Snape, for example, existing mounds had been used for burials of cremated remains in urns for a century or more. But around this time a remarkable high status burial was carried out in a 14 metre long ship, buried under a large new mound. In 1862 the burial at Snape was excavated by S Davidson and Dr N Hele, who found it already plundered in antiquity. Nevertheless the ship was clearly visible, and was followed by other burials around it.

Near Sutton Hoo, on the River Deben, another cemetery has a mixture of cremations, and inhumations. The cremations are different than at West Stow, with ashes buried without containers, but under mounds. With other indications this is thought to represent Anglian links with the royal family in Kent. Soon, those of the very highest status in the area of Rendlesham, Ufford, Kingston and Sutton, would be buried under large mounds in a new grave area reserved for themselves, which we now know as the barrows of Sutton Hoo.

The Devils Dyke is the largest of these works, at over seven miles in length. Today they look like old railway embankments, and the work needed in their construction must have been similar. The Victorians needed a thousand men to build one mile of embankment in a year, and this scale of effort would have been needed by the Anglo Saxons for seven years in the construction of Devils Dyke. Only a great king of a prosperous nation could undertake such a feat of engineering.

In return, Aethelberht agreed that Bercta could continue to worship in her Christian faith. Most of the kingdoms just across the Channel from England were Christian, and the English kings would have been well aware of that religion, even if they kept their own traditional beliefs.

Augustine finally arrived in Kent on his mission from the Pope. He was met by King Aethelberht on the Isle of Thanet, where Aethelbert had given them permission to land. This seems to have resulted from Athelbert of Kent being married to Bercta, or Bertha, his Frankish princess from Northern Gaul, who was a Christian. She was asked by Pope Gregory to use her influence on the King and paved the way for Augustine.

At first Aethelbert confined the Christians to Thanet, and when he did meet them, he travelled to the Island himself, rather than summoning them to his own halls. He spoke to them out of doors, a position which Bede said was to avoid the possibility of witchcraft.

Aethelbert, at first, refused to accept the Christian message, but he permitted them to preach throughout Kent, and soon allowed them to set up home in Canterbury, where the King himself lived with his Christian wife, Bercta.

Augustine and his entourage began to build and restore the remnants of Roman churches, and began to convert the population of Kent to the Roman form of Christianity. He brought 40 monks with him and at Christmas 597 some 10,000 people were baptised in Kent. Canterbury would become the home of English Christianity from this beginning.

Athelbert was rising to become High King of England and political refugees seem to have been accepted at his court, including Raedwald, later to be King of East Anglia. Raedwald possibly converted to Christianity in Kent at this time.

The mighty Raedwald returned to East Anglia and took over his Wuffing inheritance as their king and seems to have ruled over all East Anglia. Bede recorded that Raedwald ruled East Anglia from Rendlesham in East Suffolk.

He now married a royal bride, whose name we do not know, but she had been married to an East Saxon prince, and already had a son of royal blood, called Sigeberht.

The 7th century had three great characteristics, not seen before in Anglo-Saxon England. These were:

• (a) the consolidation of the countryside into Kingdoms, ruled by a king of a 'royal' family;
• (b) the introduction and spread of Christianity, which had died out after the Romans had left; and
• (c) the rise of towns again for the first time since the Roman withdrawal.

By at least 601 King Aethelbert himself had converted to Christianity and he wanted his allies to join him. Both Saeberht of the East Saxons and Raedwald cemented their relationship with the Bretwalda Aethelbert, by travelling to Kent to be baptised and to take Holy Communion. St Augustine himself may have baptised Raedwald in Canterbury. Augustine also consecrated Mellitus as the first Bishop of London, with his seat at St Paul's, to minister to the East Saxons. It seems likely that Augustine would have wanted to appoint a Bishop into Raedwald's East Anglian realm as well. Perhaps Raedwald was not ready to accept such a posting at this time.

Raedwald was to become notable because he would set up a pagan altar and a Christian altar within one temple at his home, and seems to have trodden his own fine line between the old religion and the new. After all, Pope Gregory himself had advised Augustine not to destroy existing pagan temples, but to convert them to Christian worship. Bede recorded that it was Raedwald's new pagan wife who led him astray from Christianity. Probably it would have been politically necessary for a new king of a pagan people to pay some regard to their existing beliefs and sensibilities.

In any case, Raedwald's Christianity was the first to be established north of the Thames, and despite his temple of two altars, Christianity would become the established religion for the future.

At about this time King Aethelbert of Kent produced the first written Code of English Law. Basically it was a list of the amounts of compensation payable for various crimes. These amounts were by no means equal justice for all. Aethelbert defined the classes of society, and each class got a different level of compensation. The classes presumably reflected the social realities of the time, and were divided as follows:

• The King
• Earls
• Freemen
• Churls
• Bondsmen
• Slaves

Around the same time the old Christian King Saebert of the East saxons also died. He is a strong contender for the royal person who was buried in a rich and elaborate grave chamber at Prittlewell in Essex. Now located in the suburbs of Southend, this was a strategic port on the River Thames.

King Saebert of Essex had three pagan sons who now demanded to take communion as their father had done. Bishop Mellitus of London had to refuse as they were not baptised, and the result of a seemingly minor disagreement was that Mellitus and his Christian mission was "out a-shoved" from Essex. In this case it would be several decades before Christianity returned to the East Saxons. Mellitus had to go to Canterbury.

Aethelfrith of Northumbria had recently defeated the King of Scotland. In 616 he also defeated the Welsh at Chester, isolating Wales. Bede saw this as a punishment from God, because the Welsh would not adopt Roman ideas about religious practices, including the date of Easter. However, the increasing power of Aethelfrith now threatened the other kings of the south, particularly Raedwald. As Christianity had still not reached Aethelfrith, it meant that his rise must have also threatened the future of that religion in England.

Eadwine or Edwin was thus a claimant to the throne of Northumbria, and to escape reprisals had finally sought safe shelter at the court of Raedwald. He was welcomed as an honoured guest in Raedwald's Hall at Rendlesham. The Hall at Rendlesham has never been found, but this illustration from Sutton Hoo Centre suggests how it might have appeared. Although Aedwine was far away from Northumbria, Aethelfrith could not accept Aedwine on the scene, however far off.

Aethelfrith therefore tried to bribe Raedwald with two offers of great wealth to kill Edwin to remove him as a rival. Raedwald refused to kill Edwin, and Aethelfrith then offered even more, together with the threat of war if his wishes were again refused. Bede tells this story together with tales of mysterious visitors who come at night to make offers to help Aedwine to escape, and to give him advice. This may all be linked to the view that while he had been in East Anglia, Edwin was converted to Christianity by Paulinus, who was a part of Augustine's mission to Canterbury. Part of the arrangements made to support Aedwine might have included the condition that he had to convert to Christianity.

Bede claimed that Raedwald had finally decided to betray Aedwine, but was persuaded by his Queen that no amount of gold would counterbalance the dishonour such a betrayal would mean. War with Northumbria was now inevitable, not only because of Aedwine, but because of the power struggle between two great kings for overall mastery of the country.

Raedwald did not wait for Aethelfrith to carry out his threat of war. Instead, he went on the offensive and led his army north as far as the River Idle, south east of Doncaster, on the southern edge of Aethelfrith's kingdom.

Raedwald's army was in three columns, and the Northumbrians managed to destroy one column, killing Raedwald's son in the process. The other columns, led by Raedwald, stood firm against Aethelfrith and finally defeated his army after killing him.

The Anglo Saxon Chronicle recorded this event many years later as follows:
. "Here Aethelfrith, king of the Northumbrians, was killed by Raedwald, king of the East Anglians, and was succeeded by Eadwine."

Following the battle on the River Idle and Raedwald becoming acknowledged as Bretwalda, it is likely that this victory would have inspired other kingdoms to adopt or re-adopt the new Christian religion.

Raedwald was the greatest of the Wuffinga kings, and it is generally accepted that he was buried in a pagan ship burial at Sutton Hoo, in great splendour.

However, this is not the whole story. Raedwald knew about Christianity, had been baptised and had adopted it, although his burial was basically in the traditional pagan manner of the Wuffings. He was known to have kept a temple with two altars, one for the old gods and one for the new, an arrangement which scandalised Bede. Bede blamed Raedwald's wife for this arrangement as she was thought to always retain her pagan beliefs.

We can accept that Raedwald never actually rejected Christianity, as he was buried with some Christian icons. By his head were two baptismal spoons, engraved Saulos and Paulos, often given to those who had accepted an adult conversion. Cruciform designs are visible on several objects in the grave, including silver bowls. Despite Bede's misgivings from his monastery in Jarrow in a century later, Raedwald probably considered himself a Christian King, and was probably regarded as such by those around him at the time.

The king's pattern welded steel sword had a bejewelled scabbard with large buttons ornamented by a gold and garnet representation of a cross which must have been intended as Christian symbolism.

From the humble villages like West Stow, to the great wealth of the rulers, it is obvious that Anglo-Saxon society was highly stratified. In such a society there were obligations of protection, loyalty and service. The Wuffings drew their strength from the hundreds of little villages, like West Stow, which formed the backbone of their kingdom.

In turn, the people needed a strong king, for without the law and order that he could impose, they could not raise their crops and their families in safety.

Gareth Williams, curator of early medieval coins at the British Museum, said the "hugely important find", which dates to the same era as the Sutton Hoo ship burial near Woodbridge in Suffolk, is "the largest coin hoard of the period known to date".

The first coin was discovered in 1991, but it was not until 2014 that further coins, dating to about AD 610, were found.

Some were minted in the Byzantine empire, but most were from the Merovingian kingdom, which broadly corresponds to modern day France. Most of the coins are Frankish tremisses, and there are also nine gold solidi, a larger coin from the Byzantine empire worth three tremisses.
This includes coins struck from the same die in the same workshop as those found in a purse at Sutton Hoo. (The Sutton Hoo burial included a purse of 37 gold coins, three blank gold discs of the same size as the coins and two small gold ingots, as well as many other gold items.)

A stamped gold pendant, a gold bar and two other pieces of gold were found at the same time, suggesting the hoard should be seen as bullion, valued by weight rather than face value.

It seems that Edwin of Northumbria was now accepted as Bretwalda, or High King of England. Edwin or Aedwine had actually been placed on the throne of Northumbria by Raedwald after the battle on the River Idle in 616.

Aedwine had allowed Paulinus to set up a church in York, and to spread Christianity in Northumbria. Paulinus had gone to York with Aethelburh, the Christian sister of Eadbald of Kent, when she married Aedwine in 625. However, Aedwine was not yet ready to accept baptism and make the new religion an official part of his own rulership.

Ipswich was now coming into some prominence on its present site and was notable for the distinctive Ipswich-ware pottery thought to have been produced here from c.620 to c.850, after which Thetford-ware came to dominate. (However, the start date of 620 has now been called into question, and suggested that Ipswich Ware did not come into production until 50 years later. At present this must be taken as a consideration.)

Bede was very impressed by Aedwine's kingship and Christian values, whereas he had regarded Raedwald as ignoble because of his twin altars. Raedwald had apparently failed to make his own sons into Christians, so now it was Edwin who was said to have persuaded Earpwald of East Anglia to convert to Christianity. Earpwald would have seen this as part of his alliance with the Bretwalda.

Although Raedwald had been a baptised Christian, he does not seem to have tried to convert others to his faith, an attribute which Bede gives to Aedwine, and the new religion now gained further strength in East Anglia. However, it seems that there were still powerful adherents to the old ways who had mortal objections to a Christian rule in East Anglia.

Our main source for the period, Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, tells us that the reign of Rædwald’s son Eorpwald ended in assassination and backsliding. He says in Book II, chapter 15:
"Not long after Eorpwald's acceptance of Christianity, he was killed by a pagan named Ricbert, and for three years the province relapsed into heathendom."

This little known pagan king called Ricbert may well have been another of Raedwald's sons,or one of the sons which his wife had produced from an earlier marriage. If so, he was brother or half brother to Sigeberht. It is considered that Ricbert ruled East Anglia from 627 to 629.

We do not know Ricbert's fate, as Bede merely says that Sigeberht succeeded to the kingship. However, it is implied in later events that Sigeberht had a military background, and so it is not unlikely that he gained power by force.

Bede devoted a chapter in Book III, chapter 18 of his history to the life and death of the devout King Sigeberht. Note that in this version of the succession, Bede ignores Ricbert, who, according to Book II, chapter 15, had succeeded Earpwold, ruling for three years before Sigeberht.

"After the death of Earpwald, successor of Raedwald, the kingdom of the East Angles was ruled by his brother Sigbert, a good and religious man who had been baptized long previously in Gaul while he had been living in exile to escape the hostility of Raedwald. When he returned home and became king he wanted to copy Gaul and founded a school for the education of boys in the study of letters. In this project he was assisted by Bishop Felix, who had come to him from Kent and provided him with teachers and masters according to the practice of Canterbury."

An infrastructure to support Christianity was thus introduced into the countryside of Saxon East Anglia when Bishop Felix established his see at a place called Dommoc. Along with Christianity came literacy, a skill the pagan early Anglo-Saxons had not thought of value to them, and so had ignored. St Felix was from Burgundy and his Christianity was of the Roman tradition. He remained the first Bishop of the East Angles until his death in 647.

The location of Dommoc is a cause for discussion. It was once thought most likely that it was located at Dunwich, and most writers give this as a certainty. Perhaps this was because of the similarity of names, and because of the importance of Dunwich by the 15th century. However it now seems unlikely that Dunwich really existed as a centre at this time, and Dr Sam Newton argues that "Dommoc" was established at Walton Castle. Old Saxon shore forts like Walton, left behind by the Romans, seem to have been attractive to the first Christian foundations at this time. Unfortunately, Walton castle, and any trace of Felix's chapel, fell below the sea by modern times.

In 631, Anna, a brother of Aethelric, and son of Eni, must have been living in Exning. His father, Eni, was Raedwald's brother, so Anna was a nephew of Raedwald. This area, on the edge of the Fens, would have been rich in marshland products as well as located on the strategically vital Icknield Way. The Icknield Way was the only real land based route into East Anglia from Mercia. Anna was to become known as the Father of Saints, and in 631 his wife gave birth to Aethelthryth, who would grow up to became the founder of a Convent at Ely.

Around 635, Sigeberht had founded a monastery at Bedericsworth, today called Bury St Edmunds. Bede states that he built the monastery for his own use. It was one of the earliest schools of English literacy, but it was not the type of structure whose ruins we see today, but was probably made of wood. The site may have been very close to the later abbey site at Bury. Bede recorded that Sigeberht now retired to live in his monastery. A marginal note made in the 12th century book, the Liber Eliensis, is the only evidence we have which identifies its location as Bury. He entrusted his earthly kingdom to his kinsman, Egric, (or Aethelric), who had already governed part of the kingdom , and "devoted his energies to winning an everlasting Kingdom".

Both Ipswich ware and Thetford ware have been excavated from the site of the Bury monastery, indicating an occupation here between the 7th and 9th centuries.

Why would Sigeberht have chosen this location at Bedericesworth? Did the Wuffing royal family perhaps own, or have rights over, land in the area? Did a relative already live on the site? Or was it a site of wilderness and marsh, peopled with demons and spirits, sorely in need of a holy presence?

The site was bounded by the River Linnet to the South, the River Lark to the east and the marshes of Tay Fen to the north. In reality it was probably surrounded by marshy pools and waterways, and quite isolated. As far as we know the Romans had failed to be attracted to Bury, and by this time there were a few anglo-saxon villages occupying the river banks in the area nowadays covered by the town. It was a good place to seek isolation, far from the royal court at Rendlesham, but safely inside the Wuffing kingdom.

With an abdicated king in residence, this would have been the start of the settlement as a villa regia or royal town. Over the years it was possibly able to acquire such rights as holding a market, but more importantly, charging market tolls.

Eventually the rivers may well have been used to transport some goods to and from the small market. The first market place was believed to be located around the area of today's St Mary's Square, being the junction of a North-South Road (Northgate Street and Southgate Street) with modern Westgate Street. The North-South road was in effect the High Street and probably ran in a straight line through the modern Abbey Gardens before the growth of the Abbey caused its diversion around the abbey walls.

The location of Penda's attack upon East Anglia is also unknown, but it is likely that he attacked up the Icknield Way, exactly where the Fleam Dyke and Devil's Dyke were built for protection. King Aethelric was now in charge of all East Anglia and would have mustered an army in defence at the Dykes. His brother Anna, living at Exning, would be expected to play a major part in defending this area.

It seems likely that the Mercians made a first attack which was held back, probably at the Fleam Dyke. The defenders would then fall back to the stronger position at the Mickle Dyke, the Great Ditch running seven miles from Reach to Newmarket, now known as Devil's Dyke. Aethelric believed that he needed Sigeberht's help to stand with him and help rally his forces. Perhaps a deputation rode to Bedericsworth to persuade Sigeberht to help. The round trip from Devil's Dyke to Bury to fetch him could be done easily in a day on horseback.

Thus, according to Bede, Sigeberht did not die peacefully in his monastery at Bury, but was killed in battle.
"The Mercians led by King Penda attacked the East Angles who, finding themselves less experienced in warfare than their enemies, asked Sigbert to go into battle with them and foster the morale of the fighting men. When he refused, they dragged him out of the monastery regardless of his protests and took him into battle ... in the hope that their men would be less likely to panic ... under ... a gallant and distinguished commander. ... Mindful of his monastic vows, Sigbert ... refused to carry anything more than a stick ... both he and King Egric were killed and the army scattered. These kings were succeeded by Anna, son of Eni."

Despite Penda's military victory, he was still subject to the authority and power of Oswald of Northumbria. Penda's intention was to not to keep hold of conquered territory, but to show that he was the stronger man, and that the defeated King should accept him as a superior. An annual tribute would also be payable. Because of this the East Angles were able to retain rule by their own Wuffing clan in return for acknowledging Penda as overlord.

We believe that King Anna (or Onna), son of Eni, ruled East Anglia from 640 to 654. He was a nephew of Raedwald, and brother to Egric/Aethelric.

East Anglia had enjoyed close ties with Kent for many years. In 640 King Eadbald of Kent died, and was buried at Canterbury. King Anna of East Anglia had a daughter called Seaxburh. In 640 she was married to the newly elevated King Eorconbold of Kent, whose father King Eadbald had just died. This cemented an alliance between Kent and East Anglia, greatly strengthening both parties. Such an alliance was doubly necessary because of the growing power of the pagan King Penda of Mercia.

Seaxburh would become the mother of two future Kings of Kent, but in later life she would enter a monastic life, eventually becoming the second abbess at Ely.

In Rochester, Paulinus died in 644. He was one of the Christian missionaries who had first arrived in Canterbury, and by now had links all over England. He had known Raedwald and preached in East Anglia before moving north.

Felix was buried at Dommoc, but long afterwards his remains were translated to Soham and then to Ramsey Abbey.

Bishop Felix passed away on 8 March 647 and was at once honoured as the Apostle of East Anglia and a Saint. He is still remembered in local churches today, as shown by this modern icon of him, which was a Commission for the Orthodox Church of St John the Wonderworker in Felixstowe.

Felix was replaced by Thomas as second Bishop of Dommoc, a man previously a deacon in the Fens, perhaps at Soham.

Now that the exiled King Cenwalh of Wessex was a baptised Christian, King Anna of East Anglia helped him to regain his royal seat in Wessex. Cenwalh had been a refugee in Anna's halls for three years since he was driven out of Wessex by Penda.

After this time, over a period of perhaps 25 years, the village was thought to have moved about a mile to the east perhaps around a new church. West Stow today is therefore centred on this new site. The original site was gradually deserted. There is evidence that other pagan Saxon settlements in Suffolk were abandoned at around this time, possibly to make a clean start on a new Christian site.

However, new research about a type of pottery called Ipswich ware, found at West Stow, now casts doubt on this dating. Paul Blinkhorn now suggests that Ipswich ware did not begin to be made until 720. As such pottery was found at West Stow, it indicates that the village may have continued in occupation into the 8th century. Stanley West discussed this issue in "West Stow Revisited", (2001), but found several problems with it.

The title of "Middle Saxon Period" is assigned to the period from c.650 to c.850, when Christianity was being adopted by the formerly pagan Saxons. Other names for this time are Early Medieval or Christian-Saxon.

During the Middle Saxon period the Fens and the clay soils were settled once again so that by the 9th Century most of our villages had been founded. However, we need to remember that the sites of named villages may have moved over time since then.

At Brandon, the Staunch Meadow site was first occupied in the mid to late 7th century. Unlike many Anglo-Saxon settlements, Staunch Meadow showed no signs of any previous occupations in the Iron Age or earlier. The site was almost an island, set in the riverside wetlands there. This settlement would develop into a monastic establishment of high status over the next 200 years.

In about 651, Penda, the King of Mercia, attacked the monastery at Cnobhersburh, probably from the sea. King Anna's East Anglian force arrived to rescue church books and treasures, but too late to prevent its destruction. The East Angles were defeated. Abbot Foillan and some of the monks fled to France with the Monastery books.

The result of this attack was a disaster for the monastery, but a greater one for the kingdom, as King Anna himself was exiled. It is possible that King Anna fled to the Welsh border, where he founded a small church in the area of Much Wenlock.

Now, in 654, King Anna of East Anglia also met his death at the hands of the Mercians in the battle of Bulcamp, near Blyford in Suffolk. His son Jurmin was also killed along with many of their men. It was the last battle to be fought on East Anglian soil for many years. King Anna and his son were buried at Blythburgh according to the Liber Eliensis.

According to Bede,
"Anna was killed by the same pagan King of the Mercians who had slain his predecessors", i.e., Penda.

The Mercians are now thought to have continued to have dominated East Anglia, although the East Angles kept their own kings until around 865 when the Danes arrived.

Bede tells us how the Christian faith of Oswy and his meagre force allowed them to defeat, and put to the sword, the much larger pagan forces, their kings, and at least 30 of their top generals. Those who survived the battle were trapped in the flooded river and drowned.

Thus did King Aethelhere of East Anglia die at the Battle of Winwæd in 654 or 655, fighting as an ally of King Penda of Mercia, who also died there. Bede saw Aethelhere as a villain who had been Christian but fought for the pagan Penda. Some commentators have even interpreted Bede as saying that Aethelhere was the instigator of the war, but Dr Sam Newton believes that this interpretation is simply the result of a scribe omitting a full stop in his copy. Aethelhere himself may have thought to preserve his own homeland by throwing in his lot with the superior force of Penda.

They were defeated in this battle by the Christian King Oswy of Northumbria, and so, according to Bede, this led to Mercia becoming Christian.

King Aethelhere was now succeeded by his brother Aethelwald, who ruled East Anglia from 655 until 664. Aethelwald was the fourth son of Eni, who had been a brother of the great King Raedwald. He was by now the last surviving nephew of King Raedwald.

Bede clearly saw the kingdoms of the East Angles and the East Saxons as separate. He recorded an East Saxon King Sigbert the Small, who was succeeded after some time by a second King Sigbert neither of whom appear to be the same man as the King Sigeberht of the East Angles. The second Essex Sigbert was a friend of King Oswy and used to visit him in Northumbria. Oswy persuaded this Sigbert to convert to Christianity and sent Cedd to evangelise the East Saxons in Essex. This Sigbert "was succeeded by Swidhelm." Swidhelm or Suithhelm became King of the East Saxons in about 655.

This statement contains the information that the Wuffing kings were based at Rendlesham at this time, and that they were Christian. The Godfather-Godson relationship might also imply that Aethelwold was a senior king to Swithhelm.

In 664 King Aethelwald of East Anglia also died. He was the last of the four nephews of King Raedwald, who had ruled the kingdom for 35 years.

King Aethelwald of East Anglia was now succeeded by the obscure, but long - lived King Aeldwulf, who ruled until 713. Aeldwulf was the son of Aethelric, who had died in battle alongside Sighbert, fighting against Penda in 640. Aethelric was known to Bede as King Egric, and was Sighbert's brother. Little has been recorded of King Aeldwulf, but he ruled for 49 years, and succeeded in having a peaceful realm throughout that time. Christian institutions would become widely established throughout these years.

The first east anglian sceattas were probably minted in the reign of Aeldwulf.

“It shows that the person buried in this grave was of the very highest status, certainly aristocratic and quite possibly royal.”

Mr Lucking found the site in 2015, aged 23, and now works as a full-time archeologist. "We could hear this large signal. We knew there was something large but couldn't predict it would be like that," he said of the discovery. When it came out the atmosphere changed."
The Winfarthing Woman was highlighted in the annual report of the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) as an example of best practice by amateur metal detectorists.

The year 669 was also significant to English Christianity because it was the year that Pope Vitalian sent Theodore to be the new Archbishop at Canterbury. This post had been vacant for five years since the death of Deusdedit in 664. Archbishop Theodore and his assistant Hadrian would set about the reform of the English church, and re-establish Canterbury as the seat of a great centre of learning and scholarship. The rise of Canterbury inevitably eclipsed provincial centres of learning like Iken.

She founded a double monastery at Ely, one part of which has been claimed to be the first nunnery in the country. Later she was to become known as one of the most famous saints of Anglo-Saxon England. Bede recorded that because of her life of purity and chastity, her body remained free of decay after death, which occurred in 679.

Aethelthryth was born in Exning, a daughter of Anna, one of Raedwald's nephews. Anna became King Anna of East Anglia in 640, ruling until killed by Penda of Mercia in 654. Anna's children feature high in the annals of East Anglian saints.

Aethelthryth would be succeeded as Abbess of Ely by her sister, Seaxburh or Saxburga. Another daughter of Anna was Ethelburga who became Abbess of Faremoutier, in France. The final daughter of King Anna was Withburga, and she was also pious, founding a religious house on the fen edge, probably at West Dereham.

Religious foundations would continue at Ely in the following centuries. St Audrey would become associated with East Suffolk when a large area of land surrounding Woodbridge was given to the Abbey at Ely by King Edgar in 970. Her growing importance is shown by the illustration here, which was included in the Benedictional of St Aethelwold, produced in the period from 970-980 AD.

In 673 Archbishop Theodore held the first Church Council at Hertford to discuss the new canon laws for the English church. These governed the Bishops and Kings alike. One new rule was that no man could have a second wife while the first still lived. This would prevent King Ecgrith of Northumbria, for example, from taking a new wife now that Aethelthryth was in a nunnery, thus denying him any heirs. In 677 Ecgrith would evict his local Bishop, renounce the faith, and re-marry in the traditional form, some two years before Aethelthryth's death.

There is an ancient ruin at South Elmham, pictured here, within an enclosure. The enclosure is called Minster Yard, and covers an area of 4 acres. The ruin is 101 feet long. However, these ruins appear to be dated to the eleventh century, and are probably not the site of the original foundation. However, Norman Scarfe and others still believe that the foundation was at South Elmham, albeit on another location nearby. Scarfe has suggested that the land parcel made up of the Elmham villages and the Ilketshall villages around Bungay, were the endowment for the South Elmham Minster.
There is another claim to be the site of the Elmham Minster at North Elmham in Norfolk. There may have been two sites for the new see, spaced conveniently to cover most of Norfolk and Suffolk, or North Elmham may have been created later under Danish rule.

He was revered as a saint almost immediately, and his fame spread all over England and altogether sixty-four ancient churches were dedicated to him. Although the majority of these were in eastern England, there are dedications to him in all parts of England, perhaps in remembrance of his travels. Notably all four Gates of the City of London would have chapels inside them dedicated to St Botolph. His fame even spread abroad, especially to Holland, northern Germany and Denmark.

He became revered for his prophecies, exorcisms, miracles and charitable works, and in later years Saint Botolph became a patron saint of travellers. St Botolph is still revered in some local churches, as shown by this modern icon, which was a Commission for the Orthodox Church of St John the Wonderworker, Felixstowe.

Botolph was succeeded as Abbot at Iken by Aethelheah.

At Gipeswic or Ipswich, a pottery quarter was becoming established on the north east side around Carr Street and Cox Lane. These were thrown on a wheel and kiln fired. The skill may have been brought in from Frisia by a group of migrants. The pots are known as Ipswich Ware, and were produced for the next two centuries.

St Botolph having died in 674, another East Anglian saint, St Aethelthryth or Audrey, died in 679. She died at her foundation in Ely of a plague tumour on her throat. She had asked to be buried in a plain wooden coffin alongside the other nuns in the cemetery there.

Audrey was born in 630 on the royal estate of the East Anglian Kings at Exning in West Suffolk, and was the daughter of Anna, the future King of East Anglia. Her Old English name was 'Aethelthryth', meaning 'noble strength', which later came to take the form 'Etheldred' or 'Etheldreda' and then 'Audrey'. Baptised by the Apostle of East Anglia, St Felix, it was he who also instructed her in the Faith.

In 673 Audrey set up a monastery for both monks and nuns at Ely, and became its Abbess. Some time after about 696, St Audrey was venerated as a saint and became the greatest woman-saint of East Anglia. Her shrine in Ely attracted pilgrims from far and wide. Today she is probably more widely known than her male contemporaries. This modern icon was a commission for St John's Orthodox Church in Felixstowe.

She was succeeded as abbess of Ely by her sister, Seaxburh, who came from the nunnery at Sheppey.

Seaxburh was another Wuffing princess, and also daughter of King Anna of East Anglia. She had been married to Erconberht, King of Kent until 664, and her son Ecgberht had been King of Kent from 664 to 673, and was succeeded by her second son, Hlothere in 673. Seaxburh had founded her own minster at Sheppey, and was living there by 673. As we have seen, in 679 she removed herself to Ely, to take up her sister's work closer to her childhood home at Exning.

It is also likely that a church was first founded in Haverhill around this time. It was located where Clements Lane crosses Camps Road into Crowland Road at Burton End. Local tradition knew it as St Botolphs, but recently it has become thought it was more likely to have been dedicated to St Mary.

Ipswich also began its explosive growth from this time and seems to have been important industrially and commercially long before the emergence of Thetford, Dunwich or Norwich. Ipswich ware pottery was sold widely over eastern England. This pottery was the first industrially produced ware since Roman times. Ipswich ware was so superior to the hand made pots elsewhere that it was sold all over East Anglia, and has been found in Kent, and as far north as County Durham.

Royal vills of the Middle Saxon period were residences of peripatetic kings and were a trading network for the products of Ipswich. One such vill was at Bury St Edmunds, under the name of Bedericsworth.

“We think there’s only been one other bed burial combined with a Christian pectoral cross ever found,” said Alison Dickens, of Cambridge University’s archaeological unit. “Bed burials are conspicuously rare, but there is a little cluster around the Cambridge area.”

Into the 8th Century, in parallel with the consolidation of the secular powers of kings and their kingdoms, the Christian church established its own institutions and hierarchies based on a network of monasteries and abbeys. These became centres of learning and scholarship and particularly of literacy, but their aim was always to study Christianity and spread its message. Much of the doings of kings and states and the way people lived were of only passing interest to the church.

By 2013, a total of around 450 burials had been excavated at this site, which today is known as Peace Keeper Park by the USAF, who occupy the area at RAF Lakenheath. As well as the cemeteries, there was evidence of local occupation back at least to the Bronze Age.

Caudle Head Mere is the site of a natural spring, feeding a stream which drains into the Fens. It is below Maids Cross Hill, and is just behind Lakenheath village which itself stand on the edge of Fenland. Before the airfield was constructed from 1940 onwards, this was an area of sand dunes, scattered with flint artefacts from the stone ages, including the mesolithic. Nearby, just to the south, Lords Walk was along the 15 foot contour, just above swampy ground, used as a droveway, back at least to the Iron Age, for taking cattle to the summer pastures on the Fens. Evidence was found of a crouched Bronze Age burial, in a mound, which had attracted around itself one of the Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. Roman remains show that the area was occupied during the Roman period, ending in the 5th century.

The Anglo-Saxon nobleman in the first horse burial discovered here might have been born here around 470, possibly representing a founder generation of Anglo-Saxons in this area. Some 16 Sunken Featured buildings were found, representing the earliest "Saxon" occupation here. Jo Caruth, the archaeologist who excavated this area, has suggested that the cemeteries were located so as to be a "gateway " to the settlement.

By 700 AD it is also suggested that the water levels at the mere and its surroundings had risen, making further occupation uncomfortable, and the whole settlement was possibly relocated eastwards to Eriswell village itself.

East Anglia seems to have had stronger Scandinavian affinities then any other early English kingdom, its most outstanding feature being the rite of royal ship funeral.

In such a society the heroic epic poem Beowulf might have had its origins, perhaps to link the Wuffings with the Wulfings of Beowulf, an ancient and royal house back in the old country. Beowulf's action seems to take place in pagan Scandinavia from about 450-550, but its narrator is from a Christian society. The monster Grendel is like the creatures thought to live in fens and marshes. A grindle is a ditch or drain and the name survives in Grindle Gardens, Bury and at Wattisfield and Stanton.

An otherwise unknown Abbot called Esi reported on East Anglian matters. In 731 Bede named Aldberct as bishop of Dommoc, and Hathulac as bishop of Helmham. By this time presumably Bishop Cuthwine of Dommoc had died, to be replaced by Aldberct or Aldberht.

Another 8th century historian is known to us as Nennius. Nennius was a compiler of historical records who wrote that he had gathered together this material but it was up to the reader to separate the wheat from the chaff. He tried to put them into order and some of these documents are considered important sources. The Kentish Chronicle was one document which covered 425 to 460 AD. Another by the name of Chronographer tried to date early 5th century events. Both documents were written in the 6th century, but Nennius gathered them together in the 8th century.

These reforms were considered at the Council of Clofeshoe, which was attended by the Bishop of Dommoc, who in 747 was called Eardwulf.

Nevertheless, Aelfwald had presided over a long period of peace in East Anglia, fostering prosperity, developing the port of Ipswich, and supporting the religious institutions in his realm. These are likely to have included Dommoch, Elmham and Bedericsworth. Iken and Cnobersburgh may have been still occupied, as well as others which have not survived in the record.

A Beowulf manuscript could have been kept at any of these minsters until 869 when the Danes destroyed them all, along with any records of the East Anglian kingdom for the previous 200 years.

Aelfwald had been a great supporter and encourager of the spread of Christianity, as well as a ruler who had presided over a long period of peace and prosperity for East Anglia. However, he either produced no heirs to the kingdom, or they were too weak to grasp the throne on their own.

After Aelfwald the kingdom was divided between Hunbeanna and Aethelbert, according to the medieval Historia Regum. There are coins of a king called Beonna, and it is possible therefore, that Hun and Beonna were two different people. A king named Beonna is unlikely to have been a Wuffing, but Aethelbert could well have been. Kingly lines at this time seem to have relished naming their children with the same initial letters as themselves.

Aethelbert and Beonna both seem to have issued coinage. Both kings may have had moneyers operating in or around Thetford. Aethelbert's moneyer was Tilred, who favoured the use of runic lettering on his coins.

A bronze key has been found, and some of the church windows were glazed. The Wilton Cross was very likely found not far from the Brandon religious site, and may have belonged to a wealthy patron, or possibly to a churchman of a status such as a Bishop. In Brandon itself there is a wood called Wiltonhill Wood, and Hockwold cum Wilton is just over the Wilton Bridge on the Little Ouse

The fine glass and metalwork found at Staunch Meadows in Brandon dates their times of most prosperity to the late 8th and early 9th centuries. Being located between Thetford and the Wash on the River Little Ouse meant that Brandon could participate in the trade going up and down these rivers, and benefit from passing travellers. Water traffic was also possible to Ely and Soham.

Examples of both Anglo Saxon Runic lettering and Latin alphabet usage has been found here, marked on various items. The evangelists were often depicted with animal symbols here. St John is depicted as an eagle, Matthew as a man, Mark as a lion and Luke as a calf. The pin shown here could illustrate this usage, but note that the central symbol is the cross, with 'maltese' type flared ends.

In 1978 an important gold plaque was discovered dedicated to St John and dated to the early 9th century.

King Aethelrad of East Anglia probably died during the 780's, and at some point he was succeeded by Aethelberht II.

On the continent the Emperor Charlemagne had been waging war on the pagan nations to the north of his Frankish lands. In 792 and 793 he had attacked Westphalia and Eastphalia. In about 783 he had been said to execute 4,500 Saxons for following their pagan ways at Verden. The Danes may be seen as fighting back against such religious oppression by attacking the religious sites of any Christian nation. This was known as Strandhewing, or attacking the shores, where their ships could easily reach, and then retreat from.

The Canterbury manuscript, Version F of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, recorded,
"792 - Here King Offa ordered King Aethelberht's head to be struck off."
The Peterborough manuscript, Version E of the Chronicle, gives the same statement, with the additional information that Offa was King of Mercia.

According to legend, Aethelbert was attending Offa's court at Sutton in Offa's Great Hall, and was treacherously murdered. The legend says that Aethelbert was seeking the hand of Offa's daughter, Elfthryth.

One interesting factor in the legend is quoted by Steven Plunkett. It is that the King's plan to marry into Offa's family was discussed with his thegns and explained to his mother, Queen Leofruna at Beodricsworth. In the Saints Lives of Aethelbert, his father is called Aethelred, and appears to be based at Beodricsworth as well. Beodricsworth certainly was regarded as a royal vill by these medieval hagiographers, but they were writing long after the events took place, and were far more interested in their parables of holy lives than in writing real history.

The plan to make a political alliance through marriage failed dismally. It seems that Offa felt that Aethelbert was challenging his control of East Anglia in some way, perhaps by minting coinage in his own name. Offa wanted to stamp out any opposition to his overlordship of Southern Britain.

So Offa had Aethelbert's head chopped off, and the body thrown in a swamp. Retrieved by his followers, the body was moved to Hereford. On the way, the head was lost and stumbled upon by a blind beggar whose sight was miraculously restored. Thus did King Aethelbert become a saint.

Meanwhile the story goes that Offa raised a large force and subdued East Anglia. As we have seen, none of this appears in the Chronicles.

Several churches were dedicated to St Aethelbert. One was dedicated in his name at Herringswell, and another at Hoxne, although the latter was supplanted by a dedication to St Edmund in the 10th century.

In Mercia the kingship was taken up by Ecgfrith, Offa's son, but he died within a few months. Coenwulf, a descendent of Penda's brother, now became King of Mercia, and would rule that Kingdom from 796 to 821.

Sudbury was an important river port on the River Stour. Sitting on the border with Essex, it controlled the river's headwaters, including Long Melford and access to the River Glem. As a burh it probably had a ditch and bank defence works, although these have not been found. With a church dedicated to St Gregory, it is one of the earlier establishments of Saxon Christianity. It may even date back to the time of Bishop Felix's first missions. Thus it was a town important enough to be visited by the Bishop, and important enough to be known to the scribes and thus to be named in the Chronicles.

Bishop Tidfrith of Dommoc was accompanied at Clofesho by two abbots from his diocese, called Lull and Wulfheard.

There were at least six minting sites in East Anglia during the reign of Ceolwulf, which lasted only two or three years. The sites are not named on the coinage, but the moneyers were as follows:

• Wihtred
• Hereberht
• Wodel
• Werbald
• Botred or Fotred
• Eadgar or Eacga

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Manuscript A, for 823 (825) stated:
"that same year the King of the East Angles and his folk sought King Ecgberht as their protector and guardian against Mercian terror, and that same year the East Angles slew Beornwulf, the King of the Mercians."

This implies an alliance between the King of East Anglia and the King of Wessex against their joint enemy of Mercia.

Ecgberht had been king of the West Saxons for 21 years, and had resisted attempts by Mercia to bring Wessex into their control. In 825 Beornwulf of Mercia attacked Ecgberht's army at Ellandun near Swindon. Boernwulf came off worst, and Ecgberht now attacked Kent, intending to make Wessex the new Overlord of England. Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Essex now submitted to Ecgberht.

It seems that King Aethelstan of East Anglia now sought Ecgberht's support for his own uprising against Mercia. Beornwulf probably attacked East Anglia to enforce his overlordship, and in the process was killed as detailed in the Chronicle.

Perhaps merely by coincidence the Bishop Wermund of Dommoc was replaced by Bishop Wilred in 825. He would be Aethelstan's Bishop for many years. The Bishop of Elmham at this time was Bishop Hunferth, later to be replaced by Hunberht.

From 827 the East Anglian moneyers produced no further coins for Mercia in the name of Wiglaf, who now took over in Mercia. On the contrary, the East Anglians now began to produce coins for their own local king Aethelstan, who now enjoyed Ecgberht's support.

The British Museum description of this piece is as follows:
"The square of gold is finely engraved and inlaid with black niello. The powerful image is of an unusual figure with the body of a man dressed in robes and holding in his hands a quill pen and book, and the head of a fierce eagle. A Latin inscription reading SCS EVANGELISTA IOHANNIS ('St John the Evangelist') fills the space around the figure. This explains the eagle-head, because the eagle is the symbol of St John, Evangelist and writer of one of the Christian Gospels. The book and pen also represent his Gospel.

Holes at the four corners suggest that the plaque may have been set into a standing cross or onto a book cover. The plain back has a small letter 'a' as a guide for assembling the original object. This plaque will have once been part of a set of four, with three more depicting the symbols of the other three Gospel writers, the Evangelists St Mark (a lion), St Matthew (a man) and St Luke (a bull).

The mix of man and symbol is clever and unusual, while the lettering is of high quality. It is a unique survival in metal of the kind of decoration found in the finest manuscripts of the period. "

This type of book decoration was typical of monastic foundations at the time. It is likely that Sigeberht's royal monastic foundation at Bedericesworth would have been the equal to the Brandon site.

Beornwulf himself king of Mercia from 823 to 825 also seems to have had a claim to East Anglia in his own right. Steven Plunkett has suggested in "Suffolk in Anglo Saxon Times", that Beornwulf may have been part of a 'B' dynasty in East Anglia, tracing back through King Beonna, perhaps even to Beodric of Beodricsworth. This idea relies upon the propensity for royal families to use the same initial letter in naming their offspring as themselves.

By this time Christianity had been well and truly established in East Anglia. It had taken root over two centuries, and replaced the old belief in Woden as the ancestor of the English Angles and Saxons. As Steven Plunkett put it,
"The coming of Christianity had effected changes in arts, law, urban life, literacy, organised commerce, statehood and ecclesistical structures, all embedded in the East Anglian state."

Whatever his origins, the King of East Anglia was called Aethelstan at this time, and during the 830s his coinage included the words 'REX ANG', or King of the Angles.

Ipswich and Norwich may have been targets for these attacks in East Anglia. All of the coastal monasteries like Dommoc and Iken, with their valuable trappings donated by the faithful, must have been vulnerable, and too numerous to be properly defended when attack came from out of the blue.

The burial grounds at Sutton Hoo and Snape, along with the royal households at Rendlesham and surrounds, must have feared attack, but we can only guess whether such attacks occurred.

Burrow Hill in Butley seems to have been abandoned around this time. By the 940s the area known as the Wicklaw was no longer run from Rendlesham, but from Sudbourne. So it may be that these raids caused this move to occur.

In Northumbria a civil war had resulted in a viking attack against the disunited Nothumbrians and many men were killed. Clearly the English kings needed to stand firm together if they were to have any chance to resist these raids.

By the mid 9th century the town of Ipswich was huge, at about 125 acres, and was only a little smaller than the area later to be encompassed by its medieval walls. Ipswich at this time has been called the largest known early trading community in north-west Europe. East Anglia and its royal family would have been rich, famous and powerful.

While Ipswich was East Anglia's primary commercial and Industrial centre, as well as a nationally important port, its presence promoted prosperity throughout East Anglia. Town like environments were growing up at Beodricsworth as well as at Thetford and Norwich. While Ipswich was Gipes' Wic, Norwich was the North Wic of the kingdom.

The main industry of Ipswich was pottery, which was sent throughout central and eastern England. Ipswich ware was better than available elsewhere, and its production was also being continued in Thetford. The next 50 years would be good ones for Ipswich Ware sales.

The invaders now attacked Surrey, but were met by the army of Wessex led by King Aethelwulf and his son Aethelbald. Large numbers of the invaders were killed. In their retreat one party was attacked by King Aethelstan of Kent in ships off Sandwich.

This over-wintering continued and would lead to eventual take-over in future years.

From 855 to 870 Edmund's coinage was in circulation with his name on them. Spink's Coins of England states that one side had an Alpha or A, and the reverse had a cross with pellets or wedges. The coin shown here appears to show Omega rather than alpha. J North in English Hammered Coinage Volume 1 does give an example similar to the illustration here, describing it as very rare for King Edmund. The motif is described as omega with latin cross.
The inscription reads "EADMUND REX AN", REX AN being short for REX ANGLORUM, or Edmund King of the Angles.

Wealthy and important men who struck coins for the king are known as moneyers, and the moneyers known for Edmund are:

• Eadberht
• Eadwald
• Eadmund
• Ethelulf
• Sigered
• Baeghelm
• Beornferth
• Beornhaeh
• Dudda
• Twicga

King Edmund would rule East Anglia until his execution in 869 when the country was finally over-run by Danish invaders. There is a great deal of written material about King Edmund, but much of the detail was added long after his death.

The growth of the Legend of St Edmund, King and Martyr,is covered fully elsewhere in this history.

In West Mercia the Danes attacked around Wroxeter during the summer. All the English kings knew that they had to deal with the Danes as a major part of their responsibilities.

King Aethelwulf had been king of Wessex since 839, but following his absence and a foreign marriage, in 855 it was agreed that he would rule Kent, Essex, Surrey and Sussex. His son Aethelbald now ruled Wessex. These kings were Edmund's neighbours and a peaceful co-existence lasted for the next ten years. East Anglian border towns like Haverhill and Sudbury would continue to flourish in these circumstances.