page_title: History of Rochester, Kent
section_title: Saxon
hierarchical_section_title: History of Rochester, Kent / Medieval / Saxon
caption_attribution_description: English: First page of the Textus Roffensis. From Rochester Cathedral Library, MS A.3.5; now kept in Strood at Medway Archives (DRc/R1). Scanned from The Anglo-Saxons, ed. James Campbell, 1990, Penguin Books, p. 53.
context_page_description: Rochester is a town and former city in Kent, England. It is located at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about 30 miles from London. The town's location is due to the bridge which carries the Roman Watling Street over the river.
context_section_description: Following the withdrawal of the legions, the defences of the British kingdoms suffered.  Eventually, in AD 449, the Jutish brothers Hengist and Horsa landed at Ebbsfleet or possibly Milton Creek, possibly both.  The Britons were defeated at Aylesford, leading to the establishment of a Kingdom of Kent uniting Jutes and Saxons.  The town of Rochester became the centre of the Cesterwara Lathe. By the early 7th century Rochester boasted a market and a port reeve.
  In AD 560, King Ethelbert of Kent came to the throne of Kent.  Around AD 600 he promulgated a code of about 90 laws defining crimes and punishments.  The code was regarded as sufficiently significant that in the twelfth century (over 500 years later) they were written down in the Textus Roffensis, the "Book of [the church of] Rochester".  Although the only surviving copy is the Textus, the laws are referred to by both Bede and Alfred the Great. Æthelberht's laws are thought to be both the earliest law code of any kind in any Germanic language and their wording the earliest surviving document in the English language.
  In AD 597, Augustine of Canterbury established the See of Canterbury, and in AD 604 sent Justus to found a cathedral and become the first bishop in Rochester, indicating the interest in the area on the part of the Roman mission organized from Canterbury. The foundations of a small early Kentish church, under the later Norman cathedral, are identified as belonging to Justus's cathedral, dedicated to St. Andrew; the original cathedral was 42 ft (13 m) high and 28 ft (8.5 m) wide. The apse is marked in the present cathedral.  Under the Roman system, a bishop was required to have at his see a school for educating suitable persons for the ministry. In addition, to provide music a choir school was established which has become The King's School.  The cathedral was served by secular canons, "a body of clergy who lived together but were unbound by any monastic rule". This contrasts sharply with the monasticism of the Celtic church one of the factors to figure in the struggle for control of the Church in England.  It is notable that Bishop Felix of Burgundy provided to Sigeberht of East Anglia "master and teachers according to the customs of Kent".
  England had become religiously unified following the synod of Whitby in AD 664; politically, though, it was still divided into a number of often warring kingdoms.  Following the death of Penda of Mercia a period of turmoil had followed during which Surrey had been annexed by the Mercians.  The first recorded act of Æthelred of Mercia in AD 676 was to ravage Kent, destroying Rochester.  Three reasons have been suggested for this attack: to prevent King Hlothhere of Kent from regaining control of Surrey, to seek revenge for the murder of the sons of Eormenred of Kent, or at the instigation of the kings of Essex who solicited the invasion in response to recent Kentish attempts to gain dominance over the East Saxons. The damage to the see of Rochester was so great that the incumbent bishop, Putta, retired from his diocese; his appointed successor, Cwichelm, also gave up the see "because of its poverty". The thrymsa coinage had become debased so in the 690s it was replaced by silver coins known as sceattas (probably called "pennies") struck in at least six mints including the one at Rochester. The coins continued in use until the 750s. Bede, in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People (AD 730), records the name of the city as Hrofæscæstre (see the discussion above under Taxonomy). Sigered, a client king to Offa of Mercia, styled himself Rex Cantiae and granted land in Rochester to the bishop. Three years later, in 765, his successor Egbert gave more land and the charter was confirmed by Offa as overlord.
  In AD 842 Rochester was sacked by invading Danes and was under siege again from them in AD 884.  This time the town held out until relieved by King Alfred. In the 10th century Rochester had the right to mint coins (AD 930). The wooden bridge is mentioned in AD 960, though this may have been a rebuilding in timber usi
caption: First page of the Textus Roffensis, Rochester Cathedral Library, MS A.3.5
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