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See also: modern county of See also: Sussex
.
A large See also: part of that See also: district, however, was covered in early times by the See also: forest called Andred
.
According to the traditional account given in the Anglo-Saxon See also: Chronicle, it was in 477 that a certain Ella (zElle) led the invaders ashore at a place called Cymenes ora and defeated the inhabitants
.
A further See also: battle at a place called Mearcredes burne is recorded under the See also: year 485, and in the annal for 491 we read that Ella and Cissa his son sacked See also: Anderida and slew all the inhabitants
.
Ella is the first See also: king of the invading
See also: race whom See also: Bede describes as exercising supremacy over his See also: fellows, and we may probably regard him as an See also: historical See also: person, though little See also: weight can be attached to the See also: dates given by the Chronicle
.
The See also: history of Sussex now becomes a See also: blank until 607, in which year Ceolwulf of Wessex is found fighting against the See also: South See also: Saxons
.
In 681 See also: Wilfrid of See also: York, on his expulsion from Northumbria by See also: Ecgfrith, retired into Sussex, where he remained until 686 converting its See also: pagan inhabitants
.
According to Bede, lEthelwald, king of Sussex, had been previously baptized in See also: Mercia at the See also: suggestion of See also: Wulfhere, who presented him with the Isle of See also: Wight and the district about the Meon
.
After Wilfrid's exertions in relieving a See also: famine which occurred in
Sussex the king granted to him eighty-seven hides in and near the peninsula of Selsey which, with a lapse until 709 after Wilfrid's retirement, remained the seat of the South Saxon bishopric until the Norman See also: Conquest
.
Shortly afterwards, however, 1Ethelwald was slain and his See also: kingdom ravaged by the exiled West Saxon See also: prince Ceadwalla
.
The latter was eventually expelled by two princes named Berhthun and Andhun, who thereupon assumed the See also: government of the king-dom
.
In 686 the South Saxons attacked See also: Hlothhere, king of Kent, in support of his See also: nephew Eadric, but soon afterwards Berhthun was killed and the kingdom subjugated for a See also: time by Ceadwalla, who had now become king of Wessex
.
Of the later South Saxon See also: kings we have little knowledge except from occasional charters
.
In 692 a See also: grant is made by a king called Nothelm to his
See also: sister, which is witnessed by two other kings called Nunna and " Uuattus." Nunna is probably to be identified with Nun, described in the Chronicle as the kinsman of See also: Ine of Wessex who fought with him against Gerent, king of the West Welsh, in 710
.
According to Bede, Sussex was subject to Ine for a number of years
.
A grant, dated by Birch about 725, is made by Nunna to Eadberht, See also: bishop of Selsey, and to this too " Uuattus " appears as a witness
.
In 722 we find Ine of Wessex at war with the South Saxons, apparently because they were supporting a certain Aldbryht, probably an exile from Wessex
.
An undated grant is made by Nunna about this time, which is witnessed by a King lEthelberht
.
After this we hear nothing more until shortly before 765, when a grant of See also: land is made by a king named Aldwulf with two other kings, Aelfwald and Oslac, as witnesses
.
In 765 and 770 grants are made by a King Osmund, the latter of which is witnessed by See also: Offa of Mercia
.
Off a also appears as witness to two charters of an AEthelberht, king of the South Saxons, and in 772 he grants land himself in Sussex, with See also: Oswald, See also: dux of the South Saxons, as a witness
.
It is probable that about this time Off a definitely annexed the kingdom of Sussex, as several persons, Osmurid, IElfwald and Oslac, who had previously used the royal title, now sign with that of dux
.
In 825 the South Saxons submitted to Ecgberht, and from this time they remained subject to the West Saxon dynasty
.
The earldom of Sussex seems later to have been held sometimes with that of Kent
.
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[next] 3RD EARL OF THOMAS RADCLYFFE [or RATCLYFFE] SUSSEX ... |
HELLO, ITS ME AGAIN. RE: EALDBERHT. A CONJECTURE MIGHT BE PROPOSED THAT EALDBERHT WAS THE YOUNGER SON OF AETHELSTAN, AND THAT HE REBELLED BECAUSE INE HAD NOT RAISED HIM TO KINGSHIP WHEN HIS ELDER BROTHER, AETHELBERHT, HAD BEEN MADE THE DOMINANT KING OVER THE SOUTH SAXONS ON THE DEATH OF THEIR PATERNAL UNCLE-IN-LAW, NOTHHLM(OR NUNNA), PERHAPS IN 722. IT MIGHT BE FURTHER ARGUED THAT AETHELSTAN HAD MANAGED TO BROKER PEACE BETWEEN EALDBERHT AND INE, BUT THAT ON HIS DEATH, PERHAPS IN 725, THE DISSIDENT YOUNGER SIBLING REBELLED AGAIN. THERE WAS THEN ANOTHER DEFEAT FOR EALDBERHT AND HIS WARRIORS, AND HE LOST HIS LIFE IN THE COMBAT. THESE THOUGHTS ARE DISCUSSED AT GREATER LENGTH ON MY BLOGSITE. DAVID SLAUGHTER
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