WESSEX, Æthelred I of

Other Events and Attributes:

• Relation to Me: 37 GGF
• Name: King Æthelwulf of Wessex
• Royalty & Nobility: Between 839 and 858; King of Wessex

Notes:

Regarded as historians as king who consolidated and extended the power of his dynasty, commanded respect on the continent, and dealt more effectively than most of his contemporaries with Viking attacks. He is regarded as one of the most successful West Saxon kings, who laid the foundations for the success of his son, Alfred the Great.

On his way back from Rome, Æthelwulf stayed for several months with Charles the Bald, King of the Franks and married Charles' twelve-year-old daughter, Judith. After Æthelwulf's death Æthelbald married his stepmother, to the later horror of Asser, the biographer of his youngest brother, Alfred the Great. Asser denounced the union as being "against God's prohibition and Christian dignity, and also contrary to the practice of all pagans",[1] but the marriage does not appear to have been condemned at the time. Æthelbald and Æthelberht appear to have been on good terms: when Æthelbald died in 860 Æthelberht became king of both Wessex and Kent, and they were never again divided.

Buried:
Steyning then Old Minster, Winchester; remains may now be in Winchester Cathedral[

+ Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: England's first Saxon overlord.
• Relation to Me: 38 GGF
• Name: Ecgberht, Ecgbert, or Ecgbriht
• Royalty & Nobility: Between 802 and 839; King of Wessex
• Wars: 825; The battle of Ellendun - one of the most important battles in Anglo-Saxon history. Egbert defeated Beornwulf of Mercia at Ellendun—now Wroughton, near Swindon
• Wars: 829; Defeat of Mercia - Egbert invaded Mercia and drove Wiglaf, the king of Mercia, into exile. This victory gave Egbert control of the London Mint, and he issued coins as King of Mercia.

Notes:

Little is known of the first 20 years of Egbert's reign, but it is thought that he was able to maintain the independence of Wessex against the kingdom of Mercia, which at that time dominated the other southern English kingdoms. In 825 Egbert defeated Beornwulf of Mercia, ended Mercia's supremacy at the Battle of Ellandun, and proceeded to take control of the Mercian dependencies in southeastern England. In 829 Egbert defeated Wiglaf of Mercia and drove him out of his kingdom, temporarily ruling Mercia directly. Later that year Egbert received the submission of the Northumbrian king at Dore. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle subsequently described Egbert as a bretwalda, or "Ruler of Britain".

Egbert was unable to maintain this dominant position, and within a year Wiglaf regained the throne of Mercia. However, Wessex did retain control of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey; these territories were given to Egbert's son Æthelwulf to rule as a subking under Egbert. When Egbert died in 839, Æthelwulf succeeded him; the southeastern kingdoms were finally absorbed into the kingdom of Wessex after Æthelwulf's death in 858.

+ Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]