Relationship of church and state in Anglo-Saxon England in the first half of the 8th century: The case of the King Eadberht (737/738-758) and the archbishop of Ecgbert (735-766)
Authors: Cairovic Ivica 
Published: February 2020

Eadberht was the king of Northumbria from 737/738 until 758, and his reign
was understood and interpreted through the centuries as a return to the
imperial desires and hints that the Nortambrian rulers had in the 7th
century. On the other hand, the economic development of the northern part of
the British Isles was obvious in this period. Although Eadberht had major
internal political problems, as several candidates for the position of the
ruler were a permanent danger, he confirmed his status in several battles in
which he defeated the rivals for the throne and continued to rule
independently. 421 In the year of 758, Eadberht abdicated for the benefit
of his son and settled down in York, where his brother Ecgbert was
Archbishop. This act shows that the prodigious relationship between these
two rulers was one of the strongest links in an unbroken chain of close
relations between state and Church in the first half of the 8th century.
Archbishop Ecgbert died in 766 and was buried in the Cathedral Church in
York. During his archbishop service, Ecgbert was seen as a church reformer,
but the same continued after his death, as indicated by the creators of the
canons and disciplinary provisions for the Anglo-Saxon clergy and the laity
who attributed their writings to Ecgbert. It is concluded that Ecgbert was
serving the Church in the canonical, dogmatic, pastoral, and exegetical
fields. On the other hand, concerning the state, the authorities and
Anglo-Saxon society, in general, had the help of his brother, King Eadberht.
It was this family relationship that paved the way for the relationship
between the Church and the state in Anglo-Saxon England. Thus, a very close
relationship between the Archbishop and the King in the later period of the
British Isles is proof of the tradition that started in the first half of
the 8th century in Northumbria and York. On the other hand, the relationship
between Church and state property was established in the earlier period, and
in the period when Ecgbert and Eadberht ruled, it is only directed to the
family of the ruling house deciding on the property of the Church and the
state. One of the best examples for this is family monasteries, headed by a
hegumen from the ruling family, who worked with a relative who ruled the
areas in which the monastery was. This paper analyzes available historical
sources to determine the relationship between clergymenand rulers in
Anglo-Saxon England in the first half of the 8th century. The historical
methodology in this study will describe the relationship between Church and
State in Anglo-Saxon England, on the example of Eadberht, King Northumbria
(737/738-758), and his brother Ecgbert, the first Archbishop of York
(735-766). An example of the symphony of church and state in Anglo-Saxon
England in the first half of the 8th century is the example of Ecgbert and
Eadberht, that can serve to understand later historical phenomena in the
history of the Church and the state of Western Europe, especially when
analyzing the phenomenon of investiture. Thus, the proposed research with
its conclusion hypotheses can serve as a first step in the process of
analyzing the phenomenon of investiture and its eventual conclusion in the
late Middle Ages in Western Europe.