Ælle of Sussex
Channel: 宇宙のすべての知識 プリンシピア
Date: 2019-01-17

Ælle of Sussex, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2233 / CC BY SA 3.0

#510s deaths
#Anglo-Saxon warriors
#South Saxon monarchs
#Founding monarchs
#People whose existence is disputed
#6th-century English monarchs
#5th-century English monarchs
Ælle of Sussex

Ælle (also Aelle or Ella) is recorded in early sources as the first king of the South Saxons, reigning in what is now called Sussex, England, from 477 to perhaps as late as 514.

According to the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", Ælle and three of his sons are said to have landed at a place called Cymensora and fought against the local Britons. The chronicle goes on to report a victory in 491, at present day Pevensey, where the battle ended with the Saxons slaughtering their opponents to the last man.

Ælle was the first king recorded by the 8th century chronicler Bede to have held "imperium", or overlordship, over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In the late 9th-century "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" (around four hundred years after his time) Ælle is recorded as being the first bretwalda, or "Britain-ruler", though there is no evidence that this was a contemporary title. Ælle's death is not recorded and although he may have been the founder of a South Saxon dynasty, there is no firm evidence linking him with later South Saxon rulers. The 12th-century chronicler Henry of Huntingdon produced an enhanced version of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" that included 514 as the date of Ælle's death, but this is not secure.

Historians are divided on the detail of Ælle's life and existence as it was during the least-documented period in English history of the last two millennia.

By the early 5th century Britain had been Roman for over three hundred and fifty years. Amongst the enemies of Roman Britain were the Picts of central and northern Scotland, and the Gaels known as Scoti, who were raiders from Ireland. Also vexatious were the Saxons, the name Roman writers gave to the peoples who lived in the northern part of what is now Ge...