Æthelwulf of Wessex
Æthelwulf ( Ethelwulf ) (* 800, † 13 January 858 ) was King of Wessex from 839 to 858
Life
Æthelwulf was the son of King Egbert III. and his wife Redburga, probably a sister of Charlemagne. He was born in 795-806 and was first a monk at Winchester.
In the year 825 he conquered on behalf of his father Kent and drove King Baldred, whereupon also Surrey (East Anglia), Sussex and Essex were. He married 830 first marriage Osburga, succeeded his father on the throne after 839, and was crowned at Kingston upon Thames. Æthelwulf set his eldest son Æthelstan as a sub- king of Kent, Essex, Surrey and Sussex, while he reigned even over the old heartland of Wessex ( Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset and Devon ).
In the year 853 King of Mercia Burgred Æthelwulf asked for help in subduing the British in North Wales. Together both kings defeated the Welsh under Cyngen ap Cadell and reaffirmed their alliance in that Burgred Aethelwulf Æthelswith daughter married.
Æthelwulf 855 donated one-tenth of his kingdom and the church moved to Rome, where they stayed for a year with his son Alfred. The pious sentiments of the king is also apparent from the generous gifts he made the clergy.
While Aethelwulf absence Aethelbald conspired with Ealstan, Bishop of Sherborne and Eanwulf, Earl of Somerton, usurped the throne and was crowned at Kingston upon Thames to Bretwalda. After Aethelwulf woman Osburga died ( or contrary ), he was married 856 on the way home from Rome, the 12 -year-old Judith, a daughter of the Frankish king Charles II; Archbishop Hincmar of Reims performed the ceremony. In England arrived, he Aethelbald Reserve left on the throne in order to avoid a civil war and ruled only over the region in the central and eastern Wessex. The following year Æthelwulf founded in Malmsbury a silver shrine for the relics of the later canonized Bishop Aldhelm.
After his death on 13 January 858 in Stamridge he was first in Stemrugam (also Staeningham ) buried today Steyning in Sussex and later transferred to Old Minster, Winchester. Today, rest his bones in Winchester Cathedral.
In his will, he had decreed that his kingdom would be divided among the two oldest sons, Aethelbald got Wessex, while Aethelberht reigned over Kent, Essex, Surrey and Sussex.
Marriage and issue
In his first marriage he married Osburga 830 (* 810, † unknown); ( Presumably meaning " Danish" to understand natione Gothus erat ) daughter of Oslac which, according to Asher, " goth ", or more "Gothic " and jütischer origin was from the tribe of brothers Stuf and Wihtgar.
- Æthelstan ( Ethel Stan) († 851 ) Under King of Wessex and Kent
- Æthelswitha ( Ethelswitha ) ( † 888) ∞ 853 Burgred King of Mercia († 880 )
- Aethelbald ( Ethelbald ) (c. 834, † 860) ∞ 858 Judith of Franks (his stepmother, but he soon repudiated it )
- Aethelberht ( Ethelbert ) (c. 835, † 866)
- Æthelred I ( Ethelred ) (c. 837, † 871 fallen) ∞ Wulfthryth
- After her death venerated as a saint - from 901 nun Alfred the Great ( * 849; ; † 899) ∞ Ealhswith of Gaini († 902 * 852).
His second wife, he married Judith of 856 francs ( * 844, † 870), daughter of the West Frankish king Charles II the Bald and his first wife Irmentrud of Orléans. This marriage remained childless.
Swell
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (older Engl. Translation online in Project Gutenberg )
- Asser, Vita Alfredi (older Engl. Translation online at The Northvegr Foundation)
- Symeon of Durham, Historia regum Anglorum et Dacorum