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You need to explain what "c." means to folks who won't know. Handily, we have a nice little article on circa that you can link to. Generally, we do something like (reigned from circa (c.) 624, assassinated c. 627 or 632).
"Shortly after his conversion, he was killed by Ricberht, a pagan noble, and so became the first English king to suffer death as a consequence of his Christian faith, though the motive for his assassination was probably political as well as religious." Very convoluted sentence here, suggest breaking it up into smaller sentences.
I'm generally NOT a fan of using abbreviations like "c." in the body of the text. Abbreviations like that are jargony, and are better replaced with full words such as "about" "around" "near" etc.
"...Rædwald was not only king of the East Angles within the Wuffing dynastic succession, but..." the "within the Wuffing dynastic succession" is just plain redundant here and should be cut.
"This suggests that Eorpwald was the younger sibling and only became his heir after his elder brother Rægenhere was slain in 616." ... "his heir" who's heir? Last name mentioned is Eorpwald...
This section is chronologically out of step here, as you've already discussed him being put on the throne - I'd strongly suggest abandoning the idea of subsections here in the "background" section and just integrating it totally chronologically.
"While Edwin was in exile ..." this is the first mention of any exile for Edwin - wouldnt' it make more sense to mention that above when you're mentioning Raedwald putting Edwin on the throne? It makes the reason why Raedwald did so much more understandable...
"...it had been foretold to him that he would one day become a greater king than any Englishman before him, were he to consider accepting Christian teaching...." Two problems here - no such thing as "Englishmen" here and the phrasing is awkward. Suggest "he had a dream where he was told if he converted to Christianity, he would become the greater than any that ruled before him."
"If the account of that conversation contains truth, it signified that Rædwald foresaw Northumbria's future power and intended that Edwin should succeed to the highest authority after him." Opinion, and needs citing.
I'm unclear why this long digression on Edwin/Paulinus is in here. Also, this is the first I've heard about York being an important bishopric in the Roman British church! This whole second paragraph is quite honestly useless as far as telling us more about Eorpwald and should be cut. IT's also uncited and a bit POV ("The first conversion of Anglo-Saxon Northumbria was therefore within the Roman Church.")
Whole of the second paragraph here is uncited - and contains opinion that needs citing. Much of this is unneeded as far as telling us about Eorpwald - if folks want to know, they can find it out from Edwin's article.
"The conversion had the general political benefit of bringing the entire eastern seaboard from Northumbria to Kent, with the exception of the Essex under the dominion of Edwin and his Christian allies." Opinion, and needs a citation.
The long latin quotation is really unneeded unless you're providing a translation, as most folks reading this won't have enough Latin to even begin to translate it.
"The attribution of these three years to the supposed rule of Ricberht is a banner of convenience, though the fact that his name was remembered at all, when East Anglian history of this period is dependent upon very fragmentary records, indicates that he was a person of some importance." two things here - one "banner of convience"? Needs a plainer explanation. Second, this is opinion and needs citation.
"Acknowledging that no material evidence exists to support the theory that Eorpwald or other members of his famly are buried there, Martin Carver has speculated that historians could use regal lists and other sources of information to identify the occupants of the different mounds and has used Eorpwald's relationship as the son of Rædwald to place him in either Mound 1 or 2." Long awkward sentence, suggest breaking down into two or three sentences for clarity
Referencing - I'd expect a bit more information from Yorke, and Kirby's Earliest English Kings. Also, you've got Yorke's Kings and Kingdoms in the references, but not in the Sources.
There is nothing on the struggle that Kirby postulates between Eorpwald and his half-brother Sigeberht - who was eventually driven into exile in Gaul. Kirby notes that this struggle probably contributed to the fact that Edwin was able to secure the primary position in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Strongly suggest incorporating information from Kirby's Earliest English Kings pp. 63-67.
I've put the article on hold for seven days to allow folks to address the issues I've brought up. Feel free to contact me on my talk page, or here with any concerns, and let me know one of those places when the issues have been addressed. If I may suggest that you strike out, check mark, or otherwise mark the items I've detailed, that will make it possible for me to see what's been addressed, and you can keep track of what's been done and what still needs to be worked on. Ealdgyth - Talk14:32, 11 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]