Ælle of Sussex

Ælle is recorded in early sources as the first king of the South Saxons, reigning in what is now called Sussex, England, from 477 to perhaps as late as 514. His death is not recorded and although he may have been the founder of a South Saxon dynasty, there is no firm evidence linking him with later SouthSaxon rulers. He is said to have died in 514, but this is not secure, as the date of his death has not been recorded by any chronicler since Henry of Huntingdon in the 12th century.

About Ælle of Sussex in brief

Ælle is recorded in early sources as the first king of the South Saxons, reigning in what is now called Sussex, England, from 477 to perhaps as late as 514. His death is not recorded and although he may have been the founder of a South Saxon dynasty, there is no firm evidence linking him with later SouthSaxon rulers. In the late 9th-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he is recorded as being the first bretwalda, or ‘Britain-ruler’, though there is no evidence that this was a contemporary title. He was the firstKing recorded by the 8th century chronicler Bede to have held ‘imperium’, or overlordship, over other Anglo- Saxon kingdoms. Historians are divided on the detail of his life and existence as it was during the least-documented period in English history of the last two millennia. He may have led the Saxon forces at this battle, while others reject the idea out of hand. He is not a Christian, but a later Christian—Bede mentions a later king as ‘the first to enter the kingdom of heaven’ He is said to have died in 514, but this is not secure, as the date of his death has not been recorded by any chronicler since Henry of Huntingdon in the 12th century.

His descendants are known as the Northrian monk Ælian, who ruled in the 7th century and 8th century. He died in a battle at Cymensora, near present-day Pevensey, where the Saxons slaughtered their opponents to the last man. His sons are said to be called Horsa and Hengest, and to have been killed by the Britons in 491. The chronicle goes on to report a victory in 492, at present day Pevensey. The date usually given as marking the end of Roman Britain is 410, when the Emperor Honorius sent letters to the British, urging them to look to their own defence. The British thus gained a respite, and peace lasted at least until the time Gildas was writing: that is, for perhaps forty or fifty years until midway through the sixth. After 410 the Roman armies never returned. Sources for events after this date are extremely scarce, and a tradition, reported as early as the mid-6th century, records that the British sent for help against the barbarians to Aetius in the late 440s.

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