Eadbald is King of Kent from 616 until his death in 640.
He is the son of King Æthelberht and his wife Bertha, a daughter of the Merovingian king Charibert.
Æthelberht makes Kent the dominant force in England during his reign and becomes the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to Christianity from Anglo-Saxon paganism.
Eadbald's accession is a significant setback for the growth of the church, since he retains his indigenous paganism and does not convert to Christianity for at least a year, and perhaps for as much as eight years.
He is ultimately converted by either Laurentius or Justus, and separates from his first wife, who had been his stepmother, at the insistence of the church.
Eadbald's second wife is Emma, who may have been a Frankish princess.
She bears him two sons, Eormenred and Eorcenberht, and a daughter, Eanswith.
Eadbald's influence is less than his father's, but Kent is powerful enough to be omitted from the list of kingdoms dominated by Edwin of Northumbria.
Edwin's marriage to Eadbald's sister, Æthelburg, establishes a good relationship between Kent and Northumbria which appears to have continued into Oswald's reign.
When Æthelburg flees to Kent on Edwin's death in about 633, she sends her children to Francia for safety, fearing the intrigues of both Eadbald and Oswald.
The Kentish royal line makes several strong diplomatic marriages over the succeeding years, including the marriage of Eanflæd, Eadbald's niece, to Oswiu, and of Eorcenberht to Seaxburh, daughter of King Anna of East Anglia.
Eadbald dies in 640, and is succeeded by Eorcenberht.
Eormenred may have been his oldest son, but if he reigned at all it was only as a junior king.
