Eadbald was King of Kent from 616 until his death. He succeeded his father Æthelberht, who made Kent the dominant force in England during his reign and became the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to Christianity. Eadbald's accession was a significant setback for the growth of the church, since he was a pagan and did not convert for at least a year, and perhaps for as much as eight years. He was ultimately converted by either Laurentius or Justus, and separated from his first wife, who had been his stepmother, at the insistence of the church. Eadbald's second wife was Ymme, who may have been a Frankish princess. She bore him two sons, Eormenred and Eorcenberht, and a daughter, Eanswith. Eadbald's influence was less than his father's, but Kent was powerful enough to be omitted from the list of kingdoms dominated by Edwin of Northumbria. Edwin's marriage to Eadbald's sister, Æthelburg, established a good relationship between Kent and Northumbria which appears to have continued into Oswald's reign. When Æthelburg fled to Kent on Edwin's death in about 633, she sent her children to Francia for safety, fearing the intrigues of both Eadbald and Oswald. The Kentish royal line made several strong diplomatic marriages over the succeeding years, including the marriage of Eanflæd, Eadbald's niece, to Oswiu, and of Eorcenberht to Seaxburh, daughter of King Anna of East Anglia. Eadbald died in 640, and was succeeded by Eorcenberht.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1805:
Napoleonic Wars: French forces led by Emperor Napoleon I decisively defeated a Russo-Austrian army commanded by Czar Alexander I in the Battle of Austerlitz . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Austerlitz
1823:
U.S. President James Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine, a proclamation of opposition to European colonialism in the New World. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine
1942:
The Manhattan Project: Scientists led by Enrico Fermi initiated the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in the experimental nuclear reactor Chicago Pile-1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Pile-1
1956:
Cuban Revolution: The yacht Granma, carrying Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement, reached the shores of Cuba. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granma_%28yacht%29
1975:
The Pathet Lao overthrew the royalist government in Vientiane, forcing King Savang Vatthana to abdicate, and established the Lao People's Democratic Republic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laos
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
sententious (adj): 1. (obsolete) Full of meaning. 2. Using as few words as possible; pithy and concise. 3. Tending to use aphorisms, especially given to trite moralizing http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sententious
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