Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Abt 0839, Wessex, England; Konge av Wessex og Kent.

Notes:

Birth:
Som barn ble Ethelwulf gitt undervisning av blant annet Svithun av Winchester.

Occupation:
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.

Buried:
Han ble gravlagt i Steyning. Senere ble hans legeme flyttet til Winchester-katedralen i London.

He was buried first at Steyning and later re-interred in the Old Minster in Winchester. His bones now rest in one of several mortuary chests in Winchester Cathedral.

Ethelwulf married Osburga av Isle of Wight before 0829. Osburga (daughter of Oslac av Isle of Wight and Judith) was born about 0810 in Isle of Wight, England; died between 0853 and 0855 in Kent, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
ca.856

1. Edmund av Wessex died about 0870.
2. Ethelstan (Aethelstan) av Wessex was born about 0829; died between 0851 and 0855.
3. Ethelbald (Aethelbald) av Wessex was born about 0834; died on 20 Dec 860 in Sherborne, Dorset, England; was buried after 20 Dec 0860 in Sherborne, Dorset, England.
4. Ethelbert (Aethelbert) av Wessex was born about 0835 in England; died about 0865 in England; was buried about 0865 in Sherborne, Dorset, England.
5. Ethelred (Aethelred) av Wessex, "Ethelred 1" was born about 0837 in Berkshire, England; died on 23 Apr 871 in Reading, Berkshire, England; was buried after 23 Apr 0871 in Wimborne, Dorset, England.
6. Ethelswith (Aethelswyth) av Wessex was born about 0838; died about 0888 in Italia; was buried about 0888 in Italia.
7. Alfred (Aelfred) av Wessex was born about 0849 in Wantage, Oxfordshire, England; died on 26 Oct 0899 in Winchester, Hampshire, England; was buried after 26 Oct 0899 in Winchester, Hampshire, England.

Ethelwulf married Judith av Flandern on 01 Oct 0856 in Verberie, Oise, Picardie, Frankrike. Judith (daughter of Karl (Charles) av Vest-Franken, "Karl 2" and Irmentrud (Ermentrude) av Orleans) was born between 0843 and 0844 in Roches, Frankrike; died about 0870 in Roches, Frankrike. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
In 855 King Æthelwulf of Wessex made a pilgrimage to Rome, and on his way back in 856 he stayed at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles the Bald.
In July Æthelwulf became engaged to Charles's daughter, Judith, who was no more than fourteen, while Æthelwulf was about fifty years old, and on 1 October 856 they were married at Verberie in northern France. This was a childless marriage.

The marriage was a diplomatic alliance. Both men were suffering from Viking attacks, and for Æthelwulf the marriage had the advantage of associating him with Carolingian prestige. In Wessex it was not customary for kings' wives to be queens, but Charles insisted that his daughter be crowned queen.

Æthelwulfs marriage provoked a rebellion by Æthelwulf's eldest surviving son, Æthelbald, probably because he feared displacement by a higher born half brother. However father and son negotiated a compromise under which Æthelwulf received the eastern districts of the kingdom and Æthelbald the western. It is not known whether this meant that Æthelwulf took Kent and Æthelbald Wessex, or whether Wessex itself was divided.

Judith had no children by Æthelwulf, who died on 13 January 858. He was succeeded by Æthelbald, who married Judith, his step-mother, probably to enhance his status because she was the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Abt 0802, Wessex, England; Konge av Wessex og Kent.

Notes:

Occupation:
Forente de 7 kongeriker:

Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, Mercia, Øst-Anglia og Northumberland til ett; kongeriket Anglia.

Egbert var etterkommer til vestsaksernes høvding Cerdic.

Han ble som ung jaget av kong Offa av Mercia og oppholdt seg i flere år hos Karl den store. Egbert kom ca.802 tilbake til England og ble konge.

Kongen av Mercia gjorde et innfall i 825, men led nederlag. Deretter undertvang Egbert seg Kent, Sussex og Essex, mye med hjelp av sin sønn Ethelwulf. Østanglerne underkastet seg også, og Mercia og Northumberland måtte i 829 anerkjenne ham som overherre. Dette år betegnes som de 7 rikers forening.

Egbert var gift med Redburh (Redburgia).

De saksiske germanerne kom fra Sachsen i Tyskland ved slutten av 400-tallet og fordrev de keltiske brittene. Slekten skal visstnok kunne føre sine aner tilbake til Odin (Woden)!

England ble oppdelt i kongerikene Northumbria, East Anglia, Mercia, Essex, Sussex, Wessex og Kent.

På 600-tallet hadde Northumbria den ledende stillingen i England, mens Mercia dominerte på 700-tallet.

Wessex-slekten var konger av Wessex og Kent fra 519 til 927 og konger av England fra 927 til 1013 og fra 1042 til 1066.

Etter et kort mellomspill med kong Harald Godwinson ble England erobret av Vilhelm Erobreren.

Kilder:
Wikipedia.
Dictionary of National Biography.
Mogens Bugge: Våre forfedre, nr. 219.
Bent og Vidar Billing Hansen: Rosensverdslektens forfedre, side 8-9, 103.

Died:
Begravet i Winchester-katedralen i London.

Egbert married Redburga (Redburh/Raedburg) av Wessex before 0800. Redburga was born about 0788 in Wessex, England; died about 0858 in Wessex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Mulig søster av Karl den store av Frankrike.

Ealhmund married NN Aethelbertsdatter. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]