Æscwine of Essex

Æscwine or Erkenwine (died 587) is listed in some Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies as the first king of Essex and father of Sledd.

His name Æscwine first appears in an East-Saxon genealogy which is imperfectly preserved in British Library Add.

Further information is supplied by works of historians writing in the 12th and 13th centuries, who appear to have used pre-Conquest material, viz., Henry of Huntingdon's Historia Anglorum, Roger of Wendover's Flores Historiarum and Matthew Paris's Chronica Majora.

On no known authority, Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris state that Erkenwine founded the kingdom in 527 and reigned from that year to 587, when he died and was succeeded by his son Sledd.

According to tradition, he is remembered for having rebelled against Octa, King of Kent, he defeated him in battle in 527 at a site near modern-day Millfields in Hackney, establishing the Kingdom of Essex.

Imaginary depiction of Æscwine from John Speed 's 1611 Saxon Heptarchy .