695 Deaths - Saebbi of Essex (Paperback)

Chapters: Saebbi of Essex. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 33. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Sebbi (also known as Saint Sebbi) was the joint King of Essex from 664 to 683 along with his brother, Sighere. After Sighere died, Sebbi became sole ruler of Essex until 694. Sighere and Sebbi were cousins of their predecessor, Swithelm. In 665 Sighere apostatized and fell back into paganism, while Sebbi remained a faithful Christian. They soon developed a rivalry. Sighere found an ally in Wessex, and Sebbi in Mercia. As a result of their rivalry, King Wulfhere of Mercia established himself as overlord of Essex in 665. He despatched Jaruman, the Bishop of Mercia, who was assigned to reconvert the people of Essex to Christianity. In 686, Caedwalla, a Wessex sub-king, established himself as overlord of Essex. He and Sebbi invaded Kent, expelling King Eadric, and Sebbi ruled over West Kent. It was presumably at the time that Sebbi founded the original abbey at Westminster. Sebbi is believed to have abdicated in 694 in order to enter a monastery, and was succeeded by his sons, Sigeheard and Swaefred, who ruled jointly over Essex. Sebbi died in 695 and was buried in Old St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London where he was revered as a saint. Bede recounts the burial thus (4.11): AT that time, as the same little book informs us, Sebbi, a devout man, of whom mention has been made above, governed the kingdom of the East Saxons. He was much addicted to religious actions, almsgiving, and frequent prayer; preferring a private and monastic life to all the wealth and honours of his kingdom, which sort of life he would also long before have undertaken, had not his wife positively refused to be divorced from him; for which reason many were of opinion, and often said so, that a person of such a dispos...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=2687