View source for Pybba of Mercia

{{short description|King of Mercia (570?–606/615)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
| type         = monarch
| name         = Pybba
| succession   = [[King of Mercia]]
| image        =Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - Pybba Creoding (British Library Cotton MS Tiberius A VI, folio 12v).jpg

| caption=Pybba's name in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]''
| reign        = c. 593–606/615 AD
| predecessor  = [[Creoda of Mercia|Creoda]]
| successor    = [[Cearl of Mercia|Cearl]]
| house        = [[Iclingas]]
| house-type   = Dynasty
| spouse       = 
| issue        = [[Penda of Mercia|Penda]]<br />[[Eowa of Mercia|Eowa]]<br />Coenwalh
| father       = [[Creoda of Mercia|Creoda]]
| death_date   = 606/615 AD
| place of burial = 
}}
[[File:Britain peoples circa 600.svg|thumb|Peoples of Britain in AD 600]]
'''Pybba''' (570?–606/615) (also '''Pibba''', '''Wibba''', or '''Wybba''') was an early [[List of monarchs of Mercia|King]] of [[Mercia]]. He was the son of [[Creoda of Mercia|Creoda]] and father of [[Penda of Mercia|Penda]] and [[Eowa of Mercia|Eowa]]. Unusually, the names Pybba and Penda are probably of British Celtic origin rather than Germanic.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Higham|first1=Nicholas J.|last2=Ryan|first2=Martin J.|year=2013|title=The Anglo-Saxon World |publisher=Yale University Press |publication-date=2013 |isbn = 978-0-300-12534-4}}, p. 143</ref>

His dates are sometimes given in genealogies as birth in 570, the beginning of his reign in 593, and death in either 606 or 615, but with no apparent evidence; the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' merely mentions him as the father of Penda, with no additional detail.

Pybba is said by the ''[[Historia Brittonum]]'' to have had 12 sons.<ref name=HB>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/nennius-full.html ''Historia Brittonum''], Chapter 65.</ref> [[Cearl of Mercia|Cearl]], a Mercian king, is mentioned by [[Bede]], and may have been Pybba's successor, but his relationship to Pybba, if any, is unknown. Pybba's son Penda eventually became king; the ''Chronicle'' gives the date of this as 626, although Bede suggests it was not until after the [[battle of Hatfield Chase]] in 633.

Besides Penda and Eowa (who the author of the ''Historia Brittonum'' said were the sons of Pybba who were the best known to him<ref name=HB/>), Pybba also apparently had a son named Coenwalh. Every king from Penda until [[Ceolwulf I of Mercia|Ceolwulf]], who was deposed in 823, was said to be a descendant of Pybba, either through Penda, Eowa, or Coenwalh (perhaps excluding [[Beornrad of Mercia|Beornrad]], who ruled briefly and whose background is unknown).

Pybba also is said to have had a daughter. Though unnamed, she was possibly the first wife of [[Cenwalh]], King of Wessex (648–674).<ref>Beda: ''HE 3,7''</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of monarchs of Mercia]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{PASE|70668|Pybba 1}}

{{s-start}} {{s-reg}}
{{succession box |
 before = [[Creoda of Mercia|Creoda]] |
 title = [[List of monarchs of Mercia|King of Mercia]] |
 years = c. 593&nbsp;– 606 or 615 |
 after = [[Cearl of Mercia|Cearl]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Kings of Mercia}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:570s births]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon warriors]]
[[Category:Mercian monarchs]]
[[Category:6th-century English monarchs]]
[[Category:7th-century English monarchs]]
[[Category:7th-century deaths]]
[[Category:Iclingas]]


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