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Ealhmund (Wessex) of Kent (abt. 748 - aft. 784)

Ealhmund of Kent formerly Wessex
Born about [location unknown]
Ancestors ancestors
Son of [uncertain] and [uncertain]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Father of
Died after after about age 36 [location unknown]
Problems/Questions
Profile last modified | Created 27 Jul 2014
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The House of Wessex crest.
Ealhmund (Wessex) of Kent is a member of the House of Wessex.

Contents

Biography

Identity

Bierbrier and other historians believe this is the same Ealhmund found in two pedigrees in the Winchester (Parker) Chronicle, compiled during the reign of Alfred the Great. [1]

784 Charter

The existence of Ealhmund is confirmed by a charter in which, in 784, Ealhmund granted land to the Abbot of Reculver. [2][3][4] This is the only contemporary evidence of Ealhmund's existence.

785 End of Reign

Reigned in 784, subject to Mercian overlordship

By the following year, 785, Offa of Mercia seems to have been ruling directly, as he issued a charter without any mention of a local king. [5]

Issue

Ealhmund & his unknown wife were probably the parents of:

  1. Ecgberht, born 769-80, died in 839 . The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that "Egbert succeeded to the kingdom of Wessex" after the death of Beorhtric in 802. See Ecgberht's profile for some discussion of his parentage.

Research Notes

Uncertain Parents

Experts disagree on whether Ealhmund was of Wessex or Kentish origins. There is a lack of hard evidence to determine which is right.

Historian Heather Edwards acknowledges that scholars disagree on Ecgberht's parents, but suggests that Ealhmund was probably a Kentish royal scion, whose pedigree was forged to give his son Egbert the descent from Cerdic requisite to reigning in Wessex.[6] This part of the ODNB entry for Ecgberht contains some surmise and speculation.

The referenced pedigree is provided in the genealogical preface to the Winchester (Parker) Chronicle and also in the annual entry (covering years 855–859) describing the death of Æthelwulf as follows: [7]

  1. Ingild, brother of King Ine of Wessex and descendant of founder, Cerdic
  2. Eoppa
  3. Eafa
  4. Ealhmund
  5. King Egbert of Wessex.

Charles Cawley has expressed doubts about Ealhmund's ancestry, noting that: "The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle names Ealhmund as son of Eafa, in a late passage which sets out the ancestry of Æthelwulf King of Wessex. However, Ealhmund's predecessor as king of Kent, and Ealhmund's own son, were both named Ecgberht, a name which was not particularly common in any of the Anglo-Saxon royal families. In view of the general practice of name inheritance within the ruling families, and the absence of the name "Ecgberht" from the house of Wessex as recorded in the traditional genealogies, it is not impossible that Ealhmund's origins lay in Kent and not in Wessex. This would of course mean that the usually represented ancestry of Ecgberht King of Wessex would require reconsideration. Mercian involvement in Kentish affairs appears to have increased again in 785-89. Presumably King Ealhmund was deposed as king of Kent by Offa King of Mercia as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that "the Kentishmen … formerly … had been wrongly forced away from their allegiance to [Ecgberht King of Wessex's] kinsmen". This event may have taken place in 789, the date when King Ealhmund's son Ecgberht is later described as having been expelled from England by Beorhtric King of Wessex and Offa King of Mercia." [8]

The Henry Project has a fairly detailed discussion of the issues. It acknowledges scholarly disagreements, recognises that Ecgberht of Wessex had Kentish connections according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, but comments that "the most obvious parentage for Ealhmund would be to accept the orthodox genealogy as it stands", that is, the traditional view that his father was Eafa and that he was descended from the royal line of Wessex. It rightly mentions the possibility that Ealhmund may have either married a member of the Kentish royal family, or that his descent from the Kentish royal family was matrilineal rather than patrilineal - either theory would reconcile the traditional genealogy with the evidence that Ealhmund was linked to a Kentish ruling dynasty.[9]

The possibility of a matrilineal connection to the royal house of Kent is supported by David Kelley[10] but has been disputed by M L Bierbrier, with little more than assertion, in a talk in 2007.[1] Medlands mentions that Ealhmund may have had a Kentish wife.[8]

In the absence of firmer information, it is not possible to draw definitive conclusions.

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 M L Bierbrier. Genealogical Flights of Fancy. Old Assumptions, New Sources, in 'Foundations: Journal of the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy', Vol. 2(5), p. 382, PDF
  2. "S 38". Anglo-Saxons.net. Retrieved 2012-02-10. Cited by Wikipedia: Ealhmund_of_Kent Accessed 10/3/2019 jhd
  3. Barbara Yorke. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England, Seaby, 1990, p. 31
  4. P H Sawyer. Anglo-Saxon Charters, Royal Historical Society, 1968, p. 81, charter 38. "Ealhmund, king of Kent, to Hwitred, abbot, and his familia at Reculver; grant of land at Sheldwich, Kent"
  5. "S 123". Anglo-Saxons.net. Retrieved 2012-02-10. Cited by Wikipedia: Ealhmund_of_Kent Accessed 10/3/2019 jhd
  6. Edwards, Heather (2004). "Ecgberht [Egbert] (d. 839), king of the West Saxons". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8581. Retrieved 14 May 2014. (subscription or UK public library membership required) Cited by Wikipedia: Ealhmund_of_Kent Accessed 10/3/2019 jhd
  7. Garmonsway, G.N. ed., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, London: J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd. pp. xxxii, 2, 4. Cited by Wikipedia: Ealhmund_of_Kent Accessed 10/3/2019 jhd
  8. 8.0 8.1 Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands: A Prosopography of Medieval European Noble and Royal Families, Online at Foundation for Medieval Genealogy Website. Anglo Saxon Danish Kings
  9. The Henry Project, entry for Ealhmund
  10. Kelley, David H. "The House of Aethelred", in Brooks, Lindsay L., ed., Studies in Genealogy and Family History in Tribute to Charles Evans, Salt Lake City: The Association for the Promotion of Scholarship in Genealogy, Occasional Publication, No. 2, pp. 63–93. Cited by Wikipedia: Ealhmund_of_Kent Accessed 10/3/2019 jhd

See also:

Note NI2469!SOURCES: 1. Anglo-Saxon Bishops, Kings & Nobles, Eng. 104, p. 339, 342-43
2. Royal Line of Succession, A16A225, p. 5
3. Keiser und Koenig Hist., Gen. Hist. 25, pt 1, p. 95
4. Hist. of the Anglo-Saxons, Eng. 36, v. 1, p. 362




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Comments: 7

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I have made the discussion of Ealhmund's origins a little more balanced. There is insufficient evidence for anyone to decide whether the traditional genealogy of the House of Wessex (which appears to have been compiled during the reign of Alfred the Great) - giving Ealhmund a descent from the main Wessex royal line - is right, or whether it is mistaken. The Henry Project has a useful discussion, which I have summarised briefly.
posted by Michael Cayley
I have proposed a merge between Alburga Kent and the unknown Kentish princess who married Ealhmund; while little or nothing is known about her, they are the same person.

I recommend however, that whoever Giselle the Frankish nun is, she be detached as a wife of Ealhmund.

That will leave Ealhmund with one wife.

posted by Jack Day
I have today detached Giselle.
posted by Michael Cayley
Also spelled 'Alchmond', son of 'Eata', son of Eoppa, nephew to King Ina. David Hume, The History of England, Vol. 1, pp. 48.; Ref. Saxon Chronicles; p.16;
posted by Scott Lee
Are all of these the same people?

See: Wessex-249, Van Kent-1, Northumbria-61

http://circlevirtuous.com/fam2648.html http://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Ealhmund_of_Kent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86lla_of_Northumbria

posted by Jessica Boyd

W  >  Wessex  |  O  >  of Kent  >  Ealhmund (Wessex) of Kent

Categories: House of Wessex | Famous People Born Before 900