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Ethelwulf (Aethelwulf) av Wessex

Ethelwulf (Aethelwulf) av Wessex

Male Abt 0800 - 0858  (58 years)

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  • Name Ethelwulf (Aethelwulf) av Wessex 
    Birth Abt 0800  Wessex, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    • Som barn ble Ethelwulf gitt undervisning av blant annet Svithun av Winchester. [1]
    Gender Male 
    Occupation Abt 0839  Wessex, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Konge av Wessex og Kent. 
    • 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]
    Ethelwulf's ring.jpg
    Ethelwulf's ring.jpg
    Kong Ethelwulf av Wessex's ring.
    Death 13 Jan 0858  England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Burial Aft 13 Jan 0858  Winchester Cathedral, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    • 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. [1]
    Ethelwulf's tombstone.jpg
    Ethelwulf's tombstone.jpg
    Æthelwulf's first tombstone, in the church porch at Steyning; the two incised crosses indicate a royal burial.
    Person ID I4851  My Genealogy
    Last Modified 14 Apr 2017 

    Father Egbert (Ecgbert) av Wessex, "Egbert 3",   b. Abt 0775, Wessex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 04 Feb 0839, Wessex, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 64 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Mother Redburga (Redburh/Raedburg) av Wessex,   b. Abt 0788, Wessex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Abt 0858, Wessex, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 70 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Marriage Bef 0800 
    Family ID F2630  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Osburga av Isle of Wight,   b. Abt 0810, Isle of Wight, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Between 0853 and 0855, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 43 years) 
    Marriage Bef 0829 
    • ca.856
    Children 
     1. Edmund av Wessex   d. Abt 0870  [Birth]
     2. Ethelstan (Aethelstan) av Wessex,   b. Abt 0829   d. Between 0851 and 0855 (Age 22 years)  [Birth]
     3. Ethelbald (Aethelbald) av Wessex,   b. Abt 0834   d. 20 Dec 860, Sherborne, Dorset, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 26 years)  [Birth]
     4. Ethelbert (Aethelbert) av Wessex,   b. Abt 0835, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Abt 0865, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 30 years)  [Birth]
     5. Ethelred (Aethelred) av Wessex, "Ethelred 1",   b. Abt 0837, Berkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 23 Apr 871, Reading, Berkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 34 years)  [Birth]
     6. Ethelswith (Aethelswyth) av Wessex,   b. Abt 0838   d. Abt 0888, Italia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 50 years)  [Birth]
    +7. Alfred (Aelfred) av Wessex,   b. Abt 0849, Wantage, Oxfordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 Oct 0899, Winchester, Hampshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 50 years)  [Birth]
    Family ID F2517  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 3 Mar 2015 

    Family 2 Judith av Flandern,   b. Between 0843 and 0844, Roches, Frankrike Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Abt 0870, Roches, Frankrike Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 27 years) 
    Marriage 01 Oct 0856  Verberie, Oise, Picardie, Frankrike Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    • 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.
      [1]
    Family ID F2515  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 3 Apr 2016 

  • Photos
    Ethelwulf av Wessex.jpg
    Ethelwulf av Wessex.jpg
    Kong Ethelwulf av Wessex (ca.800-ca.858).

  • Sources 
    1. [S754] Wikipedia (Reliability: 1).


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