High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! AEthelberht (also AEthelbert, Aethelberht, Aethelbert, or Ethelbert) (c. 560 - 24 February 616) was King of Kent from about 580 or 590 until his death. In his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the eighth-century monk Bede lists Aethelberht as the third king to hold imperium over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In the late ninth century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle AEthelberht is referred to as a bretwalda, or "Britain-ruler". He was the first English king to convert to Christianity.