[1][2] The Kentish Royal Legend (also known as the Mildrith legend[3]) suggests that he was the younger son of Eadbald and Emma of Austrasia, and that his older brother Eormenred was deliberately passed over, although another possibility is that they ruled jointly.
According to Bede (HE III.8), Eorcenberht was the first king in Britain to command that pagan "idols" (cult images) be destroyed and that Lent be observed, marking a key point in the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England.
It has been suggested that these orders may have been officially committed to writing, in the tradition of Kentish law-codes initiated by Æthelberht, but no such text survives.
Eorcenberht married Seaxburh of Ely,[5] daughter of king Anna of East Anglia.
They had two sons, Ecgberht and Hlothhere, who each consecutively became king of Kent, and two daughters who both were eventually canonized: Saint Eorcengota became a nun at Faremoutiers Abbey on the continent, and Saint Ermenilda became abbess at Ely.