Kingdom of Essex
Reign Incumbent Notes
527 to 587 ( perhaps ) Æscwine or Erchenwine First king according to some sources , others saying son Sledd was first
587 to ante 604 Sledd Son of Æscwine/Erchenwine
ante 604 to 616/7 ? Sæberht Son of Sledd
616/7 ? to 623 ? Sexred Son of Sæberht . Joint king with Saeward and a third brother ; killed in battle against the West Saxons
616/7 ? to 623 ? Saeward Son of Sæberht . Joint king with Sexred and a third brother ; killed in battle against the West Saxons
616/7 ? to 623 ? ( another son of Sæberht name unknown ) Joint king with Sexred and Saeward ; killed in battle against the West Saxons
623 ? to ante c. 653 Sigeberht the Little
c. 653 to 660 Sigeberht the Good Apparently son of Sæward . Saint Sigeberht ; Saint Sebbi ( Feast Day 29 August )
660 to 664 Swithhelm
664 to 683 Sighere son of a Sigeberht , probably 'the Good ' . Joint-king with Sæbbi
664 to c. 694 Sæbbi Son of Sexred . Joint-king with Sighere ; abdicated in favour of his son Sigeheard
c. 694 to c. 709 Sigeheard Joint-king with his brother Swaefred
c. 695 to c. 709 Swæfred Son of Sæbbi . Joint-king with his brother Sigeheard
c. 709 Offa Joint-king during latter part of reign of Swæfred and perhaps Sigeheard
c. 709 ? to 746 Saelred Representing distant line descended from Sledd . Probably joint-king with Swaefbert
c. 715 to 738 Swæfbert Probably joint-king with Saelred
746 to 758 Swithred Grandson of Sigeheard
758 to 798 Sigeric Son of Saelred . Abdicated
798 to 812 Sigered Son of Sigeric . Mercia defeated by Egbert of Wessex , sub-kingdom of Essex subsumed into Wessex ; from 812 to about 825 held it only as dux
List of kings
The following list of kings may omit whole generations .
The Kingdom of the East Saxons (; ), today referred to as the Kingdom of Essex , was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and (for a short while) Kent. Kings of Essex were frequently subservient to foreign overlords. The last king of Essex was Sigered and in 825, he ceded the kingdom to Ecgberht, King of Wessex.