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Eorpwald; also Erpenwald or Earpwald, (reigned from c. 624, assassinated c. 627 or 632), succeeded his father Rædwald as ruler of the independent Kingdom of the East Angles. Eorpwald was a member of the East Anglian dynasty known as the Wuffingas, named after the semi-historical king Wuffa. Little is known of Eorpwald's life or of his short reign, as little documentary evidence about the East Anglian kingdom has survived. The primary source for Eorpwald is the ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', written by Bede in the 8th century. Soon after becoming king, Eorpwald received Christian teaching and was baptised in 627 or 632. Soon after his conversion he was killed by Ricberht, a pagan noble, who may have succeeded him and ruled for three years. The motive for Eorpwald's assassination was probably political as well as religious. He was the first early English king to suffer death as a consequence of his Christian faith and was subsequently venerated by the Church as a saint and martyr. In 1939, a magnificent ship-burial was discovered under a large mound at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk. Although Rædwald is usually considered to have been buried with the ship (or commemorated by it), another possibility is Eorpwald. Alternatively, he might also have had his own ship-burial nearby. ==Background and family== By the beginning of the 7th century, southern England was almost entirely under the control of the Anglo-Saxons.〔Hunter Blair, ''Roman Britain and Early England: 55 B.C. – A.D. 871'', p. 204. Peter Hunter Blair gives the twenty-five years from 550 to 575 as the dates of the final conquest.〕 These peoples, who are known to have included Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians, began to arrive in Britain in the 5th century. By 600, a number of kingdoms had begun to form in the conquered territories, including the Kingdom of the East Angles, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk.〔Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 1.〕 Almost no documentary sources exist about the history of the kingdom before the reign of Rædwald, who reigned until about 624.〔Plunkett, ''Suffolk in Anglo-Saxon Times'', p. 70.〕 Sources of information include the names of a few of the early Wuffing kings, mentioned in a short passage in Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', written in the 730s.〔Carver, ''The age of Sutton Hoo: the seventh century in north-western Europe'', p. 4.〕 In 616, Rædwald defeated and killed Æthelfrith of Northumbria in the Battle of the River Idle and then installed Edwin as the new Deiran king. Whilst Edwin had been an exile at Rædwald's court, he had had a dream where he was told that if he converted to Christianity, he would become greater than any that had ruled before him. Steven Plunkett relates that, according to the version of events as told in the Whitby ''Life of St Gregory'', it was Paulinus who visited Edwin and obtained his promise to convert to Christianity in return for regal power.〔Plunkett, ''Suffolk in Anglo-Saxon Times'', pp. 79-80.〕 After Edwin emerged as the ruler of Deira, with its centre at York, he became accepted as king of the northern Northumbrian province of Bernicia.〔Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 79.〕 Following his victory over the Northumbrians, Rædwald was not only king of the East Angles, but also the most powerful king amongst the rulers of the various English kingdoms, occupying the role which was later described by the term ''Bretwalda''. He is thought by many to have been buried in the sumptuous ship burial at Sutton Hoo.〔Plunkett, ''Suffolk in Anglo-Saxon Times'', pp. 81, 82.〕 Eorpwald was the son of Rædwald by a wife whose name is not recorded. He had at least one brother, Rægenhere, and another sibling, Sigeberht, may also have been his brother. Rædwald used the letters R and E when naming two of his own sons, (as did his own father when he and his younger brother Eni were named), which suggests that Eorpwald was the younger sibling and would only have become Rædwald's heir after his elder brother Rægenhere was slain in battle in 616.〔Plunkett, ''Suffolk in Anglo-Saxon Times'', p. 72.〕 It is unclear whether, as Bede understood, Sigebert and Eorpwald were brothers, or whether they shared the same mother but not the same father, as was stated by the 12th century chronicler William of Malmesbury. According to the historian Barbara Yorke, Sigebert may have been a member of a different line of Wuffings who as his rival was forced into exile, in order to ensure that Eorpwald became king.〔Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 67-68.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eorpwald of East Anglia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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