- Ethelwulf ble anglosaksisk konge i 839. Han etterfulgte sin far Egbert. Noe av det første han gjorde som konge var å splitte farens rike i to. Han ga det østre riket, som var Kent, Essex, Surrey og Sussex, til sin eldste sønn Ethelstan. Selv beholdt han den vestre del av Wessex, dvs Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset og Devon.
Han var meget kirkevennlig og ville foreta en pilgrimsferd. Biskop Ealstan fikk ham i stedet til å verge Wessex mot vikingene, som han seiret over flere ganger. Under hans regjeringstid var han plaget av vikinger. Han vant en viktig seier i slaget ved Acleah, antagelig ved Ockley. Han slo også, sammen med Mercias konge, den walisiske kongen Cyngen ap Cadell. Vikingene ble slått senere også av sønnen Ethelbald ved Sandwich i 851.
Etter sin første kones død etter 855, dro han sammen med sønnen Alfred på pilgrimsferd til Roma, hvor han forpliktet seg til å gi 300 gullmynter i årlige Peterspenger. Alfred ble konfirmert av paven, Leo 4.
På tilbakereisen var de innom Karls den skallede i Frankrike, og Ethelwulf ektet Karl's unge datter. Etter tilbakekomsten overlot han styret av Wessex til sin kraftige sønn Ethelbald, og nøyde seg med en beskjeden stilling som underkonge i Kent fra 856.
Kilder:
Dictionary of National Biography.
Mogens Bugge: Våre forfedre, nr. 218.
Bent og Vidar Billing Hansen: Rosensverdslektens forfedre, side 103.
Tekst til bilde av ring:
"Æthelwulf's ring, measuring about an inch across, richly decorated with religious symbols, and inscribed Æthelwulf Rex."
Æthelwulf, also spelled Aethelwulf or Ethelwulf; Old English: Æþelwulf, meaning "Noble Wolf", was King of Wessex from 839 until his death in 858. He was the only known child of King Egbert of Wessex.
He conquered the kingdom of Kent on behalf of his father in 825, and was sometime later made King of Kent as a sub-king to Egbert.
He succeeded his father as King of Wessex on Egbert's death in 839, at which time his kingdom stretched from the county of Kent in the east to Devon in the west. At the same time his eldest son Æthelstan became sub-king of Kent as a subordinate ruler.
He proved to be intensely religious, cursed with little political sense, and with too many able and ambitious sons.
In 843, he fought unsuccessfully at Carhampton against 35 ship companies of Danes, whose raids had increased considerably.
His most notable victory came in 851 at Acleah, possibly Ockley in Surrey or Oakley in Berkshire. Here, Æthelwulf and his son Æthelbald fought against the heathen, and according to the Chronicle it was the greatest slaughter of heathen host ever made.
Around 853, Æthelwulf and his son-in-law, Burgred, King of Mercia, defeated Cyngen ap Cadell of Wales and made the Welsh subject to him.
The Chronicle depicts more battles throughout the years, mostly against invading pirates and Danes. This was an era in European history when nations were being invaded by many different groups; there were Saracens in the south, Magyars in the east, Moors in the west, and Vikings in the north.
Before Æthelwulf's death, raiders had wintered on the Isle of Sheppey and pillaged at will in East Anglia. Over the course of the next 20 years the struggles of his sons were to be ceaseless, heroic, and largely futile.
Religion was always an important part of Æthelwulf's life. As early as the first year of his reign he planned a pilgrimage to Rome. Due to the ongoing and increasing raids he felt the need to appeal to the Christian God for help against an enemy so agile, and numerous, and profane.
In 853, Æthelwulf sent his son Alfred, a child of about four years, to Rome. In 855, about a year after the death of his wife Osburga, Æthelwulf followed Alfred to Rome, where he was generous with his wealth. He distributed gold to the clergy of St. Peter's and offered them chalices of the purest gold and silver-gilt candelabra of Saxon work. During the return journey in 856 he married Judith, a Frankish princess and a great-granddaughter of Charlemagne.
Upon their return to England in 856 Æthelwulf met with an acute crisis. His eldest surviving son Æthelbald (Athelstan had since died) had devised a conspiracy with the Ealdorman of Somerset and the Bishop of Sherborne to oppose Æthelwulf's resumption of the kingship on his return. While Æthelwulf was able to muster enough support to fight a civil war or to banish Æthelbald and his fellow conspirators, he instead chose to yield western Wessex to his son, while he himself retained central and eastern Wessex. The absence of coins in Æthelbald's name suggests that West Saxon coinage was in Æthelwulf's name until his death. He ruled there until his death on 13 January 858.
The restoration of Æthelwulf included a special concession on behalf of Saxon queens. The West Saxons previously did not allow the queen to sit next to the king. In fact they were referred to not as a queen but merely as the wife of the king. This restriction was lifted for Queen Judith, probably because she was a high-ranking European princess. [1]
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Abt 0800 - 0858 (58 years)
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