The following is a list of the kings of East Anglia of whom there is record:—Wehha; Wuffa; Rædwald, son of Tytili and grandson of Wuffa (reigning 617); Eorpwald, son of Rædwald (d. 627 or 628); Sigeberht, brother of Eorpwald; Ecgric, brother of Sigeberht (both slain before 644); Anna, son of Ene and grandson of Tytili (d. 654); Æthelhere, brother of Anna (d. 655); Æthelwald, a third brother; Aldwulf (succ. 663, d. 713), son of Æthelric and grandson of Ene; Elfwald, son of Aldwulf (d. 749); Hun Beonna and Alberht; Æthelberht (792); Edmund (870).
After the death of Ragnar Loðbrok’s sons East Anglia was occupied by the Danish king Guthrum, who made a treaty with Alfred settling their respective boundaries, probably about 880. Guthrum died in 890. A later king named Eohric took up the cause of Æthelwald, the son of Æthelred I., and was slain in the fight with the Kentish army at the Holm in 905. A war broke out with King Edward the Elder in 913; in 921 a king whose name is unknown was killed at the fall of Tempsford, and in the same year the Danes of East Anglia submitted to Edward the Elder. From this time, probably, East Anglia was governed by English earls, the most famous of whom were Æthelstan, surnamed Half-King (932-956) and his sons, Æthelwold (956-962), and Æthelwine, surnamed Dei amicus (962-992).
See Bede, Hist. Eccl. (ed. C. Plummer, Oxford. 1896), ii. 5, 15, iii. 7, 8, 18-20, 22, iv. 3, 5, 23; Saxon Chronicle (ed. Earle and Plummer, Oxford, 1899), s. a. 823, 838, 866, 870, 880, 885, 890, 894, 905, 921; Historia Brittonum (San-Marte, 1844), s. 59; H. Sweet, Oldest English Texts, p. 171 (London, 1885).
(F. G. M. B.)
EASTBOURNE, a municipal borough (1883) in the Eastbourne parliamentary division of Sussex, England, 61 m. S.S.E. of London by the London, Brighton & South Coast railway. Pop. (1891) 34,969; (1901) 43,344; (local census, 1909) 49,286. It is situated 3 m. N.E. of Beachy Head, the loftiest headland on the English Channel coast. It once consisted of three parts—the village of East Bourne, a mile inland; South Bourne, lying back from the shore; and Seahouses, facing the beach. The church of St Mary, the ancient parish church of East Bourne, is a fine transitional Norman building; and there are numerous modern churches and chapels. The principal buildings and institutions are the town hall and municipal buildings, the Princess Alice Memorial and other hospitals, a free library and, among many high-class schools, Eastbourne College for boys, founded in 1867. There is a fine pier with pavilion, and a marine parade nearly 3 m. in extent, arranged in terraced promenades. Devonshire Park of 13 acres is pleasantly laid out, and contains a pavilion and a theatre. The duke of Devonshire is the principal landowner. Golf links are laid out on the neighbouring downs. A Roman villa was formerly seen close to the shore, but it is not now visible. The corporation consists of a mayor, 8 aldermen and 24 councillors. In 1910 the corporation promoted a bill in parliament to add the Hampden Park district in the parish of Willingdon to the borough and to make Eastbourne, with this extension, a county borough.
EAST CHICAGO, a city of Lake county, Indiana, U.S.A., on Lake Michigan, about 19 m. S.E. of the business centre of Chicago. Pop. (1890) 1255; (1900) 3411 (1331 foreign-born); (1910) 19,098. It is served by several railways, including the Pennsylvania, the Wabash, the Chicago Terminal Transfer (whose shops are here), the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Chicago, Indiana & Southern, and the Indiana Harbor railways. East Chicago covers an area whose greatest dimensions are 4 by 3½ m. That part of the city along the lake, known as Indiana Harbor, dates from 1901 and has grown very rapidly because of its position at the southernmost part of the Calumet District, and because of the meeting here of railway and lake commerce. A good harbour has been constructed, a new ship canal connecting the harbour with the Calumet river. East Chicago is industrially virtually a part of “Greater” Chicago; among its manufactures are iron and steel, cement, lumber, boilers, hay presses, chains, chemicals and foundry products. East Chicago was chartered as a city in 1893.
EASTER, the annual festival observed throughout Christendom in commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The name Easter (Ger. Ostern), like the names of the days of the week, is a survival from the old Teutonic mythology. According to Bede (De Temp. Rat. c. xv.) it is derived from Eostre, or Ostâra, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month answering to our April, and called Eostur-monath, was dedicated. This month, Bede says, was the same as the mensis paschalis, “when the old festival was observed with the gladness of a new solemnity.”