The House of Kent, or the Kentish Dynasty, was a leading noble family of England during and after the Viking age. They descend from Sidroc, one of the leaders of the "Great Heathen Army." In 1035, Olaf V Jarl became King of England, making them the first English dynasty to rule England as a single kingdom.
Establishment[]
When the Vikings entered southeastern England in late 872, Kent was originally to be the property of Bagsek, a chieftain loyal to Halfdan Ragnarsson. Bagsek held the rank of king, not jarl, indicating the large number of followers who he commanded; and it may be that he wished to rule Kent as an independent kingdom alongside the two larger kingdoms of Jorvik and Ostangeln, ruled by Halfdan and his brother Ivar. But the region was also where Ethelred the Pious of Wessex made his last stand in the spring of 873, and it saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war. In February, Ethelred led a daring attack on Lundun, where Bagsek was in command. He was captured in the battle, and in the confusion of the following months was killed in captivity.
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Bagsek's warriors divided after his capture, but the largest group joined Sidroc Jarl, later known as Sidroc I, a chieftain who had fought under Bagsek. Sidroc led one wing of the army at the Battle of Headcorn on 20 May - the last stand of the Anglo-Saxons. He took control of Kent in the aftermath of the battle, aligning himself to Halfdan in Jorvik rather than Ivar, who had set his capital at Norvik in Ostangeln. Halfdan acknowledged Sidroc as the local ruler of Kent and entrusted him with defending that part of the kingdom. Ivar tried to take the jarldom with a show of force in 874 and a full-blown attack in 876, but Sidroc stayed by his king and threw back the attack, meanwhile extending his territory into parts of Essex and Sussex.
Both of the founders of the jarldom were remembered in later legend. Bagsek is the main antagonist in the first part of the Alfredssaga, and his capture and death are a major turning point in the story. Sidroc Jarl, the antagonist for most of the saga, then gains his position through skulduggery. He pursues the renegade king Alfred of Wessex all over his lands, and Alfred usually gets the better of him.
Jarls of Kent[]
- Bagsek (r. 872-873) - Bagsek ruled as King of Kent before his death in English captivity. It is probable that his chieftain Sidroc, who took Kent thereafter, had some kind of family connection with him, and he is remembered as a co-founder of the dynasty.
- Sidroc I (r. 873-891) - The era of the first Jarl was defined by constant tension between the two Norse kingdoms of England. He was constantly raising men to fight for his king at the Ostanglian border.
- Olaf I (r. 891-898) - Apparently a nephew rather than a son of Sidroc, Olaf took over after the first jarl's death. He married an Anglo-Saxon princess, and his descendants boasted of their connection to the former kings of Wessex.
- Sidroc II (r. 898-940) - Sidroc was baptized early in his reign, one of the first prominent Christian nobles of post-conquest England. He and his family became patrons of the Archbishop of Canterbury, donating some land and treasure to support his ministry.
- Olaf II (r. 940-976) - Olaf II is best known for rebuilding Canterbury Cathedral in 955. He was also jarl during the Bloodaxe War. He led armies for King Thorkell of Jorvik and defended Lundun, on the border of his jarldom, when it was besieged by Harald Bluetooth of Denmark. Olaf joined the king in suing for peace in 973. He was forced to transfer his allegience from Jorvik to Ostangeln, now ruled by Bluetooth. He also lost territory: the land that his family had taken a century earlier passed to direct royal rule, so the jarldom of Kent returned to its ancient borders.
- Sidroc III (r. 976-978)
- Olaf III (r. 978-985)
- Olaf IV (r. 985-1002) - Although he married Gunhilde, daughter of the king of Jorvik, Olaf loyally supported his sovereign Sweyn Forkbeard when he came to England to make war on that northern kingdom.
- Sidroc IV (r. 1002-1033) - Sidroc IV's rule spanned the reigns of the Danes Sweyn and Cnut in England. Under Cnut, some land in the jarldom passed to the ownership of the City of Lundun. This did not affect the de jure territory of the jarldom: Kent functioned as a vassal state rather than a feudal manor, and the jarl certainly did not own all the land in his territory; but nevertheless it began to weaken the lord's power as another major landowner grew more powerful. To counterbalance this, Sidroc worked to expand his influence through politics. He ruled as regent of the kingdom during one of Cnut's absences in Denmark and Sweden.
- Olaf V (Jarl 1033-1038, King 1038-1072) - When Olaf V inherited the jarldom, all of England was already growing restive as King Cnut's death looked imminent. Thanks to the work done by his father, he had a circle of southern nobles who saw him as a natural leader, and who urged him to seize the throne when Cnut's son Sweyn II was crowned in Denmark.
Kings of England[]
The Englebrog was first used by supporters of the dynasty to express solidarity with the Church.
Olaf of Kent's elevation to the kingship meant an end to the autonomy of Kent itself. The title Jarl of Kent continued to be given to certain members of the royal family, but now its bearers had much less power within their territory. But the line of kings continued to be known as the House of Kent in memory of their origins.
- Olaf I (r. 1037-1072) - Olaf came to power in the Cnutsson's War. In the last phase of this war he had to make common cause with the pagans of northern England in order to drive off Sweyn Cnutsson, the king of Denmark. The early part of his reign was consumed with the so-called Welsh Rebellion, which actually involved most of the kings of Wales, Kernow, and eastern Ireland. Olaf succeeded in conquering northern Wales and putting a loyal ally on the throne of Dublin, but was unable to completely overpower the southern parts of Wales and Kernow; there, he had to settle for a nominal recognition of England's overlordship. Olaf spent the rest of his reign cultivating a good relationship with Alba and keeping peace between England's Christians and pagans.
- Sidroc I (r. 1072-1075) - Olaf's firstborn was quickly acclaimed king by the nobles of England, but he did not live very long.
- Woldemar I (r. 1075-1091) - Olaf's second son, Woldemar was a child at the time of his father's accession. The existence of two healthy heirs had been one of the arguments in favor of giving Olaf the crown, so Woldemar was acclaimed king with little fuss after his brother's death. He is remembered as a peaceful sovereign who reigned over a prosperous time in England's history.
- Woldemar II (r. 1091-1110)
- Woldemar III (r. 1110-1154) - He persecuted Engand's pagans, sparking an exodus across the ocean to Iceland and Widland.
- Olaf II (r. 1154-1167)
Cadet jarldom[]
- Sidroc V Jarl (r. 1092-1136): The second son of King Woldemar I, who like many other members of his House was also named Sidroc, was made Jarl of Kent shortly after his brother Woldemar II inherited the throne in 1091. Unlike the Jarls of the last two generations, he succeeded in making the jarldom hereditary, and for several generations thereafter Kent was ruled by a cadet branch of the royal line. This together with Kent's growing wealth from the wool trade made Sidroc into the unquestioned second-most powerful man in England.
- Olaf VI Jarl (r. 1136-1155): Sidroc's son Olaf inherited the jarldom in 1136, establishing the hereditary principle in Kent.