It was Æthelberht, and not Sæberht, who built and endowed St. Pauls in London, where St. Paul ’ s Cathedral now stands.

Bede describes Æthelberht as Sæberht ’ s overlord.

Æthelberht ’ s law for Kent, the earliest written code in any Germanic language, instituted a complex system of fines.

Also of importance is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals assembled in about 890 in the kingdom of Wessex, which mentions several events in Kent during Æthelberht ’ s reign.

None survive in original form from Æthelberht ’ s reign, but some later copies exist.

There also is a surviving lawcode of Æthelberht ’ s.

The first of these names that can be placed historically with reasonable confidence is Æthelberht ’ s father, whose name now usually is spelled Eormenric.

The only direct written reference to Eormenric is in Kentish genealogies, but Gregory of Tours does mention that Æthelberht ’ s father was the king of Kent, though Gregory gives no date.

One other member of Æthelberht ’ s family is known: his sister, Ricole, who is recorded by both Bede and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the mother of Sæberht, king of the East Saxons.

The dates of Æthelberht ’ s birth and accession to the throne of Kent are both matters of debate.

Augustine ’ s mission from Rome is known to have arrived in 597, and according to Bede, it was this mission that converted Æthelberht.

Putting together the different dates in the Chronicle for birth, death, and length of reign, it appears that Æthelberht ’ s reign was thought to have been either 560 – 616, or 565 – 618, but that the surviving sources have confused the two traditions.

It is possible that Æthelberht was converted to Christianity before Augustine ’ s arrival.

It also is possible that Bede had the date of Æthelberht ’ s death wrong ; if, in fact, Æthelberht died in 618, this would be consistent with his baptism in 597, which is in accord with the tradition that Augustine converted the king within a year of his arrival.

The traditions for Æthelberht ’ s reign, then, would imply that Æthelberht married Bertha before either 560 or 565.

The extreme length of Æthelberht ’ s reign also has been regarded with skepticism by historians ; it has been suggested that he died in the fifty-sixth year of his life, rather than the fifty-sixth year of his reign.

On the other hand, Gregory refers to Æthelberht at the time of his marriage to Bertha, simply as " a man of Kent ", and in the 589 passage concerning Ingoberg ’ s death, which was written in about 590 or 591, he refers to Æthelberht as " the son of the king of Kent ".

If this does not simply reflect Gregory ’ s ignorance of Kentish affairs, which seems unlikely given the close ties between Kent and the Franks, then some assert that Æthelberht ’ s reign cannot have begun before 589.

All of the contradictions above cannot be reconciled, but the most probable dates that may be drawn from the data, place Æthelberht ’ s birth at approximately 560, and perhaps, his marriage to Bertha at 580.

Æthelberht later was canonised for his role in establishing Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons, as were his wife and daughter.

He was the son of King Æthelberht and his wife Bertha, a daughter of the Merovingian king Charibert.

Although Æthelberht had been Christian since about 600 and his wife Bertha was also Christian, Eadbald was a pagan.

So far as is known, she was the mother of all Æthelwulf's children, his five sons Æthelstan, Æthelbald, Æthelberht, Æthelred and Alfred the Great, and his daughter Æthelswith, wife of King Burgred of Mercia.

Traces of wife-purchase were still seen in the law of Æthelberht of Kent, which stated that if a man carried off a freeman's wife, he must, at his own expense, procure another wife for the husband.

Æthelberht ( King of Kent and overlord of southern England according to Bede ) was in a position to exercise some authority in Essex shortly after 604, when his intervention helped in the conversion of King Saebert of Essex ( son of Sledd ), his nephew, to Christianity.

Æthelberht ( also Æthelbert, Aethelberht, Aethelbert, or Ethelbert ) ( c. 560 – 24 February 616 ) was King of Kent from about 580 or 590 until his death.

Shortly thereafter, Æthelberht was converted to Christianity, churches were established, and wider-scale conversion to Christianity began in the kingdom.

Kent was rich, with strong trade ties to the continent and, it may be that Æthelberht instituted royal control of trade.

Bede was interested primarily in the Christianization of England, but since Æthelberht was the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to Christianity, Bede provides more substantial information about him than about any earlier king.

According to Bede, Æthelberht was descended directly from Hengist.

It may be that Æthelberht was king of east Kent and Eadbald became king of west Kent ; the east Kent king seems generally to have been the dominant ruler later in Kentish history.

Another perspective on the marriage may be gained by considering that it is likely that Æthelberht was not yet king at the time he and Bertha were wed: it may be that Frankish support for him, acquired via the marriage, was instrumental in gaining the throne for him.

Following the death of King Æthelberht of Kent in 616, Justus was forced to flee to Gaul, but was reinstated in his diocese the following year.

Augustine needed more clergy to join the Gregorian mission that was converting the kingdom of Kent, then ruled by Æthelberht, from paganism to Christianity.

This traditional view, that the Epistola represents a contradiction of the letter to Æthelberht, has been challenged by the historian and theologian George Demacopoulos, who argues that the letter to Æthelberht was mainly meant to encourage the King in spiritual matters, while the Epistola was sent to deal with purely practical matters, and thus the two do not contradict each other.

He married Bertha, the Christian daughter of Charibert, king of the Franks, thus building an alliance with the most powerful state in contemporary Western Europe ; the marriage probably took place before Æthelberht came to the throne.

The historian N. J. Higham connects the timing of this episode with a change in the " overkingship " from the Christian Kentish Æthelberht to the pagan East Anglian Raedwald, which Higham feels happened after Æthelberht's death.

It is thought likely that Frankish pressure had been influential in persuading Æthelberht to become Christian, and Eadbald's conversion and marriage to Ymme are likely to have been closely connected diplomatic decisions.

The King of Kent at this time was Æthelberht, who happened to be married to a Christian, Bertha.

Along with the letter to Augustine, the missionaries brought a letter for Æthelberht, urging the King to act like the Roman Emperor Constantine I and force the conversion of his followers to Christianity.

The historian N. J. Higham offers another explanation for their attendance, arguing that Æthelberht sent the pair to the council because of shifts in Frankish policy towards the Kentish kingdom, which threatened Kentish independence, and that the two clergymen were sent to negotiate a compromise with Chlothar.

Connections with Francia went beyond trade and the royal marriages Æthelberht and Eadbald made with Frankish princesses.