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Alric of Kent

son of Wihtred, king of Kent

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ706398 ↗
Source-derived summary

Alric (Old English: Alrīc; 8th century) was a king of the Saxon kingdom of Kent, jointly with Æðelberht II and Eadberht I.

Alric acceded with his two brothers on the death of his father Wihtred, according to Bede, but is otherwise unknown. Kelly observed that the reign of 762 to 796 attributed to him by William of Malmesbury “is evidently fantasy, inspired by a desire to account neatly for all the brothers mentioned by Bede”.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Alric of Kent” as son of Wihtred, king of Kent. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Alric, Kent and Wihtred.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current 75-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 0750. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Alric, Kent and Wihtred providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Alric of Kent”, the useful work is to connect “son of Wihtred, king of Kent” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q706398. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Alric of Kent”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Alric of Kent primary sources, Alric of Kent archive and Alric research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alric of Kent”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Alric of Kent” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.