Their combined reigns, with barely any record of external military action or internal dynastic strife, represent a long period of peaceful stability for the East Angles.

The coinage of Anglo-Saxon sceattas expanded in Ælfwald's time: evidence of East Anglian mints, markets, and industry are suggested where concentrations of such coins have been discovered.

Later versions of the Life reveal the high quality of written Old English produced in East Anglia during Ælfwald's reign.

He was a literate and devoutly Christian king: his letter written to Boniface in around 747 reveals his diplomatic skills and gives a rare glimpse into the life of a ruler who is otherwise shrouded in obscurity.

Showing Ælfwald as son of Ealdwulf, the pedigree continues back through Ethelric, Eni, Tytla, Wuffa, Wehha, Wilhelm, Hryp, Hrothmund, Trygil, Tyttman and Caser (Caesar) to Woden.

Æthelbald was driven to take refuge deep in the Fens at Crowland, where Guthlac, another descendant of the Mercian royal house, was living as a hermit.

[15][note 1] In the Life, Felix portrays Æthelbald's exile at Crowland and asserts Ælfwald's right to rule in East Anglia.

[17] Two Old English verse versions of the Life drawn on the work of Felix were written, which show the vigour of vernacular heroic and elegiac modes in Ælfwald's kingdom.

[26] A rectangular grid of streets linked the earlier quayside town northwards to an ancient trackway that ran eastwards.

[27] The quay at Gipeswic also continued to develop in a form that was similar to the quayside at Dorestad, south of the continental town of Utrecht, which was perhaps its principal trading partner.

[28] Gipeswic's street grid, parts of which have survived, was subdivided into rectangular plots or insulae and new houses were built directly adjacent to metalled roads.

[33] The R series, with bust and standard, derived from earlier Kentish types, is more densely distributed in central and eastern East Anglia, including the Ipswich area.

Besides, holy father, we would have thee know that we have sent across the bearer of the present letter with a devout intention; just as we have found him faithful to you, so wilt thou find that he speaks the truth in anything relating to us."

According to Richard Hoggett, a phrase in the letter, "in septenis monasteriorum nostorum sinaxis", has been interpreted incorrectly by historians to imply that there were at the time seven monasteries in Ælfwald's kingdom in which prayers were being read, a theory which has proved difficult for scholars to explain.