Ethelbert

Also known as: King Ethelbert · Family: Kent · Role: king of Kent · First appears: Book I · Chap. XXV

Around c. 582, Ethelbert, son of Irminric, ruled Kent and was married to Bertha, a Christian of the Frankish royal family, allowing her to preserve her religious rites. When Augustine and his companions arrived on the Isle of Thanet, he provided them with necessities and later gave them lodging, sustenance, and permission to preach in Canterbury, though he initially refused to abandon the religion he had long observed: “Your words and promises are fair, but because they are new to us, and of uncertain import, I cannot consent to them so far as to forsake that which I have so long observed with the whole English nation.” He was then converted and baptized through Augustine’s teaching, granted the missionaries a settled residence and possessions, and, on Augustine’s advice, erected and endowed the church of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

In the years that followed, Gregory sent Ethelbert a letter and gifts, urging him to spread Christianity, suppress idol worship, and follow Augustine’s counsel. Ethelbert helped Augustine convene British bishops and doctors, while his nephew Sabert, son of his sister Ricula, ruled another nation under his subjection. In 604, after Mellitus preached the Christian faith, Ethelbert built St. Paul’s church in London and gave gifts, lands, and possessions to Mellitus, Justus, and Augustine and their churches; letters concerning church decrees were later sent to him by Boniface.

In 616, after ruling Kent for fifty-six years, Ethelbert died. He was also the father of Eadbald and Ethelberg; Eadbald succeeded him, and his accession proved harmful to the still tender growth of the new Church.