Bede, Witney (The Kingdom of Kent) and Kirby (The Earliest English
Kings) agree that he was the nephew of Aethelbert. Yorke (Kings and
Kingdoms of Early Anglo - Saxon England) seems to have thrown a huge
spanner in the works when she says that: 'The East Saxon royal family
had links with that of Kent through the marriage of Sabert with King
Aethelbert's sister'. This I must assume was Ricula.This is my
problem then did Saberht marry his own mother? I would say it is
unlikely given his Christian beliefs but one can never be too sure.
It is this situation which gave raise to my question about
stepmothers. I could not see how this could arise and Jo Ann McNamara
at CUNY came up with the theory about stepmothers. Any info., as to
references would be much appreciated.
Conway Churchill
University of Leeds
[log in to unmask]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|