Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Abt 0865, Wessex, England; Konge over Wessex og Kent.

Notes:

Birth:
Wantage

Occupation:
Lå i stadig strid med vikingene som hadde satt seg fast i nord og øst.

Han var også bretwalda, angelsaksisk overherre, og regnes av den grunn med blant de tidligste kongene av hele England.

Han var sønn av Ethelwulf av Wessex, og etterfulgte sin eldre bror Ethelbald.

Ethelred var ikke i stand til å ta sikre riket mot danske angrep, som var et stadig økende problem.
Den 4.januar 871 kjempet han mot en dansk hær i slaget ved Reading. Ethelred tapte slaget, men påførte danskene store tap.

Den 23.april samme år falt han i slaget ved Merton.

Han ble etterfulgt av sin bror Alfred den store.

Died:
Falt i slaget ved Morton.

Han ble gravlagt i Wimborne i Dorset.

Ethelred ble av en del regnet som en helgen rett etter sin død, men dette ble aldri akseptert av Den katolske kirke.

The first Battle of Reading was a battle on 4 January 871 at Reading in what is now the English county of Berkshire. It was one of a series of battles, with honours to both sides, that took place following an invasion of the then kingdom of Wessex by an army of Danes led by Bagsecg and Halfdan Ragnarsson in an attempt to conquer Wessex.

The Danes had established a camp at Reading, defended by the Thames and Kennet rivers on two sides, and by a rampart on the western side. Three days after their arrival, a party of Danes rode out towards nearby Englefield, where a West Saxon force under the command of Æthelwulf, the Ealdorman of the shire, was waiting for them. In the ensuing Battle of Englefield many of the Danes were killed, and the rest driven back to Reading.
Four days later, Æthelwulf had been joined by the main West Saxon army, led by King Æthelred and his brother, Alfred the Great. The entire Saxon force marched on Reading. The assault was directed mainly at a gateway through the ramparts, and fierce and bloody fighting followed, before the attack was repulsed. Among the many dead of both sides was Æthelwulf. The Saxon forces were forced to retreat, allowing the Danes to continue their advance into Wessex.

Following the Battle of Reading, Æthelred and Alfred reformed their army, and a few days later won a famous victory at the Battle of Ashdown, forcing the Danes to retreat to Reading once more. Two weeks later the Danes won the Battle of Basing, and then, on 22 March, the Battle of Marton. In April Æthelred died, to be succeeded by Alfred. The Danish army remained in Reading until late in 871, when they retreated to winter quarters in London, and much of King Alfred's 28-year reign was taken up with the Danish conflict.

Ethelred married Wulfthryth before 0868. Wulfthryth was born about 0843 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]