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All About Anna of East Anglia
Anna (or Onna; killed 653 or 654) was king of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death
He was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles
He was one of the three sons of Eni who ruled the kingdom of East Anglia, succeeding some time after Ecgric was killed in battle by Penda of Mercia
Anna 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, �thelthryth, �thelburh 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
In 631 he may have been at Exning, close to the Devil's ***
In 645 Cenwalh of Wessex was driven from his kingdom by Penda and, due to Anna's influence, he was converted to Christianity while living as an exile at the East Anglian court
Upon his return from exile, Cenwalh re-established Christianity in his own kingdom and the people of Wessex then remained firmly Christian
Around 651 the land around Ely was absorbed into East Anglia, following the marriage of Anna's daughter �thelthryth
Anna richly endowed the monastery at Cnobheresburg
In 651, in the aftermath of an attack by Penda on Cnobheresburg, Anna was forced to flee into exile, perhaps to the western kingdom of the Magons�te
He returned to East Anglia in about 653, but soon afterwards the kingdom was attacked again by Penda 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
Anna was succeeded by his brother, �thelhere
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.