e divorced himself from his mother-in-law, and returned to
the profession of Christianity [f]: his whole people returned with
him. Eadbald reached not the fame or authority of his father, and
died in 640, after a reign of twenty-five years, leaving two sons,
Erminfred and Ercombert.
[FN [b] Will. Malm. p.10. [c] Wilkins Leges Sax. p. 13. [d] Bede,
lib. 2. cap. 5. [e] Ibid. lib. 2. cap. 6. Chron. Sax. p. 26.
Higden, lib. 5. [f] Brompton, p. 739.]

Ercombert, though the younger son, by Emma, a French princess, found
means to mount the throne. He is celebrated by Bede for two exploits;
for establishing the fast of Lent in his kingdom, and for utterly
extirpating idolatry, which, notwithstanding the prevalence of
Christianity, had hitherto been tolerated by the two preceding
monarchs. He reigned twenty-four years, and left the crown to Egbert,
his son, who reigned nine years. This prince is renowned for his
encouragement of learning, but infamous for putting to death his two
cousin germans, sons of Erminfred, his uncle. The ecclesiastical
writers praise him for bestowing on his sister, Domnona, some lands in
the Isle of Thanet, where she founded a monastery.

The bloody precaution of Egbert could not fix the crown on the head of
his son, Edric. Lothaire, brother of the deceased prince, took
possession of the kingdom, and, in order to secure the power in his
family, he associated with him Richard, his son, in the administration
of the government. Edric, the dispossessed prince, had recourse to
Edilwach, King of Sussex, for assistance, and being supported by that
prince, fought a battle with his uncle, who was defeated and slain.
Richard fled into Germany, and afterwards died in Lucca, a city of
Tuscany. William of Malmesbury ascribes Lothaire's bad fortune to two
crimes; his concurrence in the murder of his cousins, and his contempt
for relics [g].
[FN [g] Will. Malm. p. 11.]

Lothaire reigned eleven years; Edric, his successor, only two. Upon
the death of the latter, which happened in 686, Widred, his brother,
obtained possession of the crown. But as the succession had been of
late so much disjointed by revolutions and usurpations, faction began
to prevail among the nobility, which invited Ceodwalla, King of
Wessex, with his brother, Mollo, to attack the kingdom. These
invaders committed great devastations in Kent; but the death of Mollo,
who was slain in a skirmish [h], gave a short breathing-time to t