King Sexræd
626 ᛦ
During the turbulent times of the English Heptarchy, the seven Saxon kingdoms had begun their unfortunate conversions to the foreign faith of Christianity. The Kingdom of the East Saxons was not unaffected by this, with the bishop Mellitus tending to the Christians in the Essex city of London.
King Sæbert, father of Sexræd and Sæward, abandoned his troth to the Æsir in 604, becoming the first Christian king of Essex. When he died in 616, his two sons took over as kings and ruled the East Saxons jointly. Neither of them accepted Christianity, but openly and proudly continued hailing the Æsir and rightly restricting Christianity among their people.
When the kings happened upon Mellitus, Bishop of London, they were quite annoyed when he would give the Eucharist to Christians but not to his kings. Allegedly, they said to him:
“Why do you not offer us the white bread that you used to give to our father, and which you still give to the people?”
Mellitus told them that unless they would be baptized in the name of Christ, the “white bread” would “do them no good”. They responded that they did not need to bathe, but they did want some of the bread being handed out to their people. The bishop continued to refuse, until the kings became very angry and banished him from their kingdom altogether.
While these heroes were later killed in battle with the West Saxons, their dauntlessness in the face of encroaching Christianity is admirable. When the world around them, and even their own father, abandoned the holy Æsir, King Sexræd and King Sæward stood loyal and true!
May we all find the courage to keep on the path that is true!
Hail King Sexræd!