<!--details, e.g. Yorke,
Kings, p. 50.
Ecgric (killed
circa 636) was a
king of
East Anglia, the independent
Anglo-Saxon kingdom that today includes the English counties of
Norfolk and
Suffolk. He was a member of the ruling
Wuffingas dynasty, but his relationship with other known members of the dynasty is not known with any certainty.
Anna of East Anglia may have been his brother, or his cousin. It has also been suggested that he was identical with Æthelric, who married
Hereswith and was the father of
Ealdwulf of East Anglia. The primary source for the little that is known about Ecgric's life is
Bede's
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum.
In the years that followed the reign of
Rædwald and the murder of Rædwald's son (and successor)
Eorpwald in around 627, East Anglia lost its dominance over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Three years after Eorpwald's murder at the hands of a pagan, Ecgric's kinsman
Sigeberht returned from exile and they ruled the East Anglians together, with Ecgric perhaps ruling the northern part of the kingdom. Sigeberht succeeded in re-establishing
Christianity throughout East Anglia, but Ecgric may have remained a pagan, as Bede praises only Sigeberht for his accomplishments, and his lack of praise for his co-ruler is significant. Ecgric ruled alone after Sigeberht retired to his monastery at Beodricesworth in around 634: it has also been suggested that...
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