We’ve all heard of Sutton Hoo, I’m sure.

But who was the man behind the famous masked helmet?

The great ship burial is thought to belong to an Anglo-Saxon leader, most likely King Rædwald of East Anglia, laid to rest around 620–625 CE.

His burial, packed with treasure, armour, and symbols of power, gives us one of the clearest windows into early medieval England.

Rædwald was king of the East Angles in the early 7th century, ruling around 599–624 CE. He’s remembered as one of the most powerful Anglo-Saxon rulers of his day and is even listed in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History as holding the title of bretwalda, or overlord of other English kingdoms.

What makes him fascinating is that he lived in a time of religious change.

He was baptised as a Christian in Kent, but when he returned home, he kept both a Christian altar and a pagan shrine…covering his bases with both gods, as it were.

That tension between old faith and new shows just how unsettled England was in the conversion period.

Most historians now agree that the great ship burial at Sutton Hoo…with its rich grave goods, weapons, and that famous helmet…was very likely his.