Pybba of Mercia

King of Mercia

Pybba (died c. 606) (also Pibba or Wibba) was an early Anglian King of Mercia. He is the common ancestor of the Mercian kings in the four Mercian genealogies.[a] As such he's considered by many historians to be the first known king of Mercia. He was the father of kings Penda and Eowa.

Anglo-Saxon England c. 600

King of Mercia

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Pybba was the son of Creoda.[2] The probable dates of his reign are from c. 593c. 606.[3] Henry of Huntingdon placed him in this same time period: "When Ceolric [ Ceol ] reigned over Wessex [591–597], Aethelfrith over Northumbria [593–616], and Pybba over Mercia, King Aethelberht of Kent and the Kentish people were converted to the faith [c. 597c. 601]..."[4] By this he is dated from the last decade of the 6th century into the first decade of the 7th century. The Mercian kings down to Ceolwulf all claimed to be descendants of Pybba.[5] He also had a daughter who married (as his first wife) Cenwalh of Wessex[6] Pybba either died or was deposed in c. 606.[7]

  1. These are found in the 'Anglian Collection'. They are identified as Version V, (British Library); Version C (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge); Version T (British Library); and Version R (Rochester, Cathedral Library)[1]

References

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  1. D. N. Dumville, 'The Anglian collection of royal genealogies and regnal lists', Anglo-Saxon England, Vol. 5 (1976), pp. 23–50
  2. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: According to Several Original Authorities, ed. & trans. Benjamin Thorpe, Vol II (London: Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts, 1861), p. 21
  3. Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999), p. 249
  4. Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum: The History of the English People, ed. & trans. Diana E Greenway (Oxford: Clarendon Press/Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 111
  5. Henry Royston Loyn, The Governance of Anglo-Saxon England, 500-1087 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1984), p. 16
  6. Peter Hunter Blair, Roman Britain and Early England; 55 B.C.–A.D. 871 (New York; London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1966), p. 207
  7. Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999), p. 250

Other websites

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