Ealdwulf succeeded his uncle
Æthelwold of East Anglia as king in 664; genealogical records do not show that Æthelwold had sons to succeed him. He was the last ruler of East Anglia known to Bede, who mentions him in his
Ecclesiastical History of the English People as being in the 17th year of his reign at the time of the
Council of Hatfield in 680. Little is known about his rule, other than he was king for 49 years. He died in 713; his age at death is uncertain, but estimates suggest he would have been unusually old for the period. before 925 A
plague swept across the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms during the 660s, leaving at one point
Boniface (originally called Brigilsus or Berhtgisl) of the East Anglian
diocese of
Dommoc the only English bishop left whose consecration was derived from
Canterbury.
Bisi, bishop of the East Angles, in declining health and no longer able to exercise his authority, was unable to prevent the
archbishop of Canterbury,
Theodore of Tarsus from dividing his diocese, creating a second East Anglian seat at
Helmham (taken to be
North Elmham or
South Elmham). Two new bishops were appointed,
Æcci to Dommoc and
Baduwine to
Elmham. According to the author Steven Plunkett it has been suggested by historians that the revenue of the East Anglian royal estates centred upon
Rendlesham (the 'Five-and-a-half Hundreds', or Wicklaw) were bestowed of Ealdwulf upon Ely at its foundation, since they formed the largest share of Bishop
Æthelwold of Winchester's re-endowment of Ely in around 970. The Papal Privileges may have been obtained at
Rome by Wilfrid in around 680 for Ely and
Peterborough. If true, they show a policy of reinforcing dynastic authority through ecclesiastical structures.
Coinage and commerce The first coins produced in East Anglia were minted during the reign of Ealdwulf. The issue and use of English coins during his reign followed its development in Kent, gold shillings or
thrymsas produced during the 660670s, and thereafter, by a debasement linked to the diminishing gold quality of Frankish coin, with silver
sceattas or pennies of various types. The distribution of findspots reveals foci of their use and possibly their issue at East Anglian centres of importance, especially in the north-west around
Hunstanton,
Bawsey in the
Thetford area, the edge of
the Fens around
Isleworth and
Exning, in the east around
Burgh Castle, and in the area around Rendlesham,
Ipswich and in the
River Gipping valley. The status of coinage was not yet as a true currency, nor overtly regnal. The pieces attributed to East Anglian production are found alongside others mainly of Kentish, East Saxon, and Frisian or
Netherlandish types, reflecting external communications with those centres. Gipeswic witnessed the full development of its first major expansion from the quayside north to the Cattlemarket area, with the established production of Frisian-inspired
Ipswich Ware pottery to the north-east of this area. The settlement's continental trade partners may have been
Domburg in
Walcheren, and
Dorestad, the large emporium on the
Rhine south of
Utrecht. This route gained importance as the Christian mission to
Frisia developed from the 680s.
Relations with Kent and Mercia Ealdwulf, along with
Æthelred of Mercia and
Aldfrith of Northumbria, were addressed by
Pope Sergius in a letter of 693, urging their acceptance of
Berhtwald of
Reculver as the successor to Theodore at Canterbury. The closing years of Ealdwulf's reign were coloured by the unsatisfactory rule of
Ceolred of Mercia, who was castigated by Boniface for what the historian
Barbara Yorke describes as "personal immorality and violation of church priviledges". At this time the Mercian royal hermit
Guthlac was living on the fenland island of
Crowland. His secluded retreat became a place of refuge for the Mercian royal counter-claimant, Æthelbald, who appears to have received encouragement and protection there from the East Anglian nobility. ==Marriage and family==