King of Kent Saint Aethelbert of Kent, I

Abt 535 - 615  (80 years)

• Name	Saint Aethelbert of Kent  [1]
  Title	King of Kent
  Suffix	I
  Birth	Abt 535	Kent, England   [1, 2]
  Baptism	597  [2]
  	At his baptism, he brought a large part of his population into the faith
  Gender	Male
  Kinfolk of Note	Direct Ancestor of Retha Zulma Gott and Cecil Lamar Moon
  Occupation	The Senator of Moselle
  Ordained	St. Ethelbert of Kent was canonised for his role in establishing Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons, as were his wife and daughter. His feast day was originally 24 February but was changed to 25 February  [2, 3]
  		†Saint Ethelbert, King of Kent Stained-glass window of Æthelberht from the chapel of All Souls College, Oxford
  Religion	He brought the king of the East Saxons and the king of the East Angles into the Church. Ethelbert ruled for fifty-six years, founding the abbeys of Christ Church, Sts. Peter and Paul in Canterbury, and St. Andrew’s in Rochester  [2]
  Death	24 Feb 615	Kent, England   [1, 2]
  Person ID	I10750	A Tree Called Smith
  Last Modified	21 Jul 2025

  
  

  Father	King of Kent Eormenric of Kent,   b. 520, Kent, England d. 560, Canterbury, Kent, England (Age 40 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Family ID	F14384	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Father	Duke of Moselle Ansbertus Ferreolus von Markgraf Schelde,   b. Abt 465, Moselle, Lorraine, France d. 491, Moselle, Lorraine, France (Age 26 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Mother	Duchess of Moselle Outeria,   b. 504, Moselle, Lorraine, France d. 580, Moselle, Lorraine, France (Age 76 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Family ID	F3252	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Queen of Kent Saint Berthe 'Aldeberge' de Heristal,   b. Abt 539, Herstal, Liege, Belgium d. 612, Canterbury, Kent, England (Age 73 years)
  Marriage	Bef 565
  Children	1. Governor of Aquitaine de Tongres Arnoldus de Metz,   b. 560, Aquitaine, France d. Abt 611 (Age 51 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   2. Clothilde de Heristal,   b. Abt 585, Herstal, Liege, Belgium d. 23 Oct 640, Tréves, Gard, Languedoc-Roussillon, France (Age 55 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
  Family ID	F3871	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	21 Jul 2025

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - Abt 535 - Kent, England Death - 24 Feb 615 - Kent, England  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Old World

  †Saint Ethelbert, King of Kent Stained-glass window of Æthelberht from the chapel of All Souls College, Oxford

  
  

  Places

  Statue of Aethelberht of Kent Sculpture of King Æthelberht of Kent, an Anglo-Saxon king and saint, on Canterbury Cathedral in England.

  
  

• Sources

  [S54] Ancestry Family Trees, (Name: Online publication - Provo, UT : Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.;), Database online. [S1057] Wikipedia: Æthelberht, (Name: Wikipedia.com;), Æthelberht of Kent. Æthelberht ; c. 550 – 24 February 616) was King of Kent from about 589 until his death. The eighth-century monk Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, lists him as the third king to hold imperium over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In the late ninth century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he is referred to as a bretwalda, or "Britain-ruler". He was the first English king to convert to Christianity. Æthelberht was the son of Eormenric, succeeding him as king, according to the Chronicle. He married Bertha, the Christian daughter of Charibert I, king of the Franks, thus building an alliance with the most powerful state in contemporary Western Europe; the marriage probably took place before he came to the throne. Bertha's influence may have led to Pope Gregory I's decision to send Augustine as a missionary from Rome. Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet in east Kent in 597. Shortly thereafter, Æthelberht converted to Christianity, churches were established, and wider-scale conversion to Christianity began in the kingdom. He provided the new church with land in Canterbury, thus helping to establish one of the foundation stones of English Christianity. Æthelberht's law for Kent, the earliest written code in any Germanic language, instituted a complex system of fines; the law code is preserved in the Textus Roffensis. Kent was rich, with strong trade ties to the Continent, and Æthelberht may have instituted royal control over trade. Coinage probably began circulating in Kent during his reign for the first time since the Anglo-Saxon settlement. He later came to be regarded as a saint for his role in establishing Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons. His feast day was originally 24 February but was changed to 25 February. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelberht_of_Kent [S547] Saints, Saint Ethelbert of Kent. King of Kent, England, converted by St. Augustine. He married Bertha, a Christian daughter of King Charibert of Paris, and in 568 fought the West Saxons. Ethelbert was baptized in 597, bringing a large part of his population into the faith. He did not enforce conversions, but he brought the king of the East Saxons and the king of the East Angles into the Church. Ethelbert ruled for fifty-six years, founding the abbeys of Christ Church, Sts. Peter and Paul in Canterbury, and St. Andrew’s in Rochester. St. Bede lists him asAedilbert. http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3190