Mul of Kent

Mul (Old English: Mūl, literally "mule") (died 687) was an Anglo-Saxon ruler of the Kingdom of Kent in England

Mul
King of Kent
Reign686–687
PredecessorEadric of Kent
SuccessorSwæfheard
Died687
FatherCenberht
Gravesite at St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury of four Kentish kings. Mul's is the one on the farthest right.

Biography

The name Mul is very unusual and it has been postulated that it derives from the Latin mulus meaning mule, a word which is known to have entered the Old English vocabulary; presumably it was a nickname which became habitual.[1] Mul's father was Coenberht, making him a member of the House of Wessex (a descendant of Cynric) and his brother was Caedwalla of Wessex. Mul is described as briefly ruling as King of the Kingdom of Kent following its conquest by Caedwalla in 686. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relates that in 686, "Caedwalla and Mul, his brother, ravaged Kent and Wight." Mul’s reign is also mentioned in a charter of Swæfheard.[2]

Death

Mul seems to have only ruled a year before the local population rose up in revolt against him in 687, chasing him and his followers into a building near the local church and setting it on fire, burning them to death.[3] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that "Mul was burned in Kent, and 12 other men with him; and that year Caedwalla again ravaged Kent." The same Chronicle notes that in 694 the people of Kent came to terms with Ine of Wessex, Caedwalla's successor, and granted him a sum "because they had burned Mul earlier".

Footnotes
  1. Davis, K. Rutherford. 1982. Britons and Saxons: The Chiltern Region 400-700. London: Phillimore.
  2. Swæfheard (Suabhardus)
  3. Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens, Little, Brown Book Group, 2012, page 221

See also
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Eadric		 King of Kent
686–687		 Succeeded by
Swæfheard, Swæfberht, Oswine
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