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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Æthelberht ’ s wife was a Christian and brought a Frankish bishop with her, to attend her at court, so Æthelberht would have had knowledge of Christianity before the mission reached Kent.

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 ".

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.

Mellitus was exiled from London by the pagan successors to his patron, King Sæberht of Essex, following the latter's death around 616.

The episcopal church built in London was probably founded by Æthelberht, rather than Sæberht.

Sæberht, Saberht or Sæbert ( d. c. 616 ) was a King of Essex ( r. c. 604 – c. 616 ), in succession of his father King Sledd.

Bede tells that Sæberht converted to Christianity in 604 and was baptised by Mellitus, while his sons remained pagan.

The episcopal church which was built in London was probably founded by Æthelberht, rather than Sæberht, though a charter which claims to be a grant of lands from Æthelberht to Mellitus is a forgery.

He certainly didn't want a wife who was fickle as Ann.

He knew who was riding after him -- the men he had known all his life, the men who had worked for him, sworn their loyalty to him.

He was riding between two warriors, who held him erect when he started to slump.

It was, I felt, possible that they were men who, having received no tickets for that day, had remained in the hall, to sleep perhaps, in the corners farthest removed from the counter with its overhead light.

Hague, like all who worked near the pits, was partly deafened from the constant assault against his eardrums.

Facing the forest now, she who had not dared to enter it before, walked between two trees at random and headed in what she believed was the direction of the pool.

Donna, his young wife, the girl who was both daughter and wife to him.

Lewis was a man who had made a full-time job of cow stealing.

He was a man, those neighbors testified later, who didn't have a friend in the world.

But to the cattlemen who had been facing bankruptcy from rustling losses and to the cowboys who had been faced with lay-offs a few years earlier, he was becoming a vastly different type of legendary figure.

Then, with a glory that almost wiped out the deep, downward sags in her careworn face, Matilda leaned over the wheel and shouted to Hez, who was stumbling along in the heat and the dust on the opposite side of the wagon `` Pa!!

Out in the center of the circle the farmer, who was Dan, wasted no time when they came to the line, `` The farmer choose his wife ''.

`` Gyp Carmer couldn't have known about Colcord's money unless he was told -- and who else would have told him ''??

Mrs. Roebuck smilingly declined and began suddenly to go on about her son, who was `` onleh a little younguh than you bawhs ''.

`` You know who the other man was ''??

Present at the scene -- in addition to the dead man, who was indeed Louis Thor -- had been Thor's partner Bill Blake, and Antony Rose, an advertising agency executive who handled the zing account.

My new Aunt was perhaps three or four years older than I and it had been a long time since I had seen as gorgeous a woman who oozed sex.

I don't even remember who wrote it but it was one of those 15th or 16th century poets.

If it were not that I knew who it was I could have mistaken it for my Aunt so well did her clothes fit him.

The Grafin, who was charmed by her, told her, `` Your sister who was here two years ago has quite dark hair.