Anna of East Anglia was King of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. Anna was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles. He was praised by Bede for his devotion to Christianity and was renowned for the saintliness of his family: his son Jurmin and all his daughters – Seaxburh, Æthelthryth, Æthelburh and possibly a fourth, Wihtburh – were canonised. Little is known of Anna's life or his reign, as few records have survived from this period. Following the attack in 651 by Penda on the monastery at Cnobheresburg, which Anna richly endowed, he was forced by Penda to flee into exile. He may have travelled to the western kingdom of the Magonsæte and returned in about 653, but East Anglia was attacked again by Penda soon afterwards and at the Battle of Bulcamp the East Anglian army, led by Anna, was defeated by the Mercians, and Anna and his son Jurmin were both killed. He was succeeded by his brother, Æthelhere. Botolph's monastery at Iken may have been built in commemoration of the king. After Anna's reign, East Anglia seems to have been eclipsed by its more powerful neighbour, Mercia. (Full article...)