Continuing my series of posts from the Companions' Facebook page, here is the most popular post from the past week commemorating the death of King Æþelwulf of Wessex in 858 AD. Here is the post:
King Æþelwulf of Wessex died on 13th January 858 AD. He was Alfred's father, and had taken his son to Rome as a small boy.
He was succeeded by four of his sons in turn, each dying without adult sons of their own to take the throne, until finally his youngest boy became king.
Æþelwulf was the son of Ecgberht, King of Wessex and he came to the throne, and descended from Ine’s brother. His mother Redburga was a Frankish princess who may have been an illegitimate daughter of Charlemagne, and Æþelwulf was born in the early 800s, possibly while Ecgberht was still in exile in Frankia.
He ruled as sub-king in Kent from 825 AD and succeeded his father in Wessex in 839 AD. He married Osburh, daughter of Oslac, a Hampshire ealdormann, and she may have been his second wife. This is suggested based on the age range of Æþelwulf’s sons.
Æþelwulf was the first West Saxon king to succeed his father for over 100 years, providing much needed stability However, he was less aggressive than his father had been and preferred to make alliances in most cases. This did not prevent him from annexing part of Berkshire in the 840s however. He married his daughter Æþelswið to the Mercian King Burghred in 853 AD and the allies attacked Powys driving out King Cyngen. In this year he also sent four year old Alfred to Rome where he met the Pope and later claimed he was consecrated by him as King.
More urgently Æþelwulf faced increasing Scandinavian raids. An attack on Southampton in 840 AD was driven off, but his men lost a fight at Portland in the same year and Æþelwulf lost a battle at Carhampton in 843 Ad. His men drove off a fleet at the mouth of the River Parrett in 848 AD and his son Æþelstan, sub-king in Kent, defeated another fleet at Sandwich using a navy. However the Vikings over-wintered at Sheppey in 851 AD and a large force moved in to attack London which was part of Mercia. Æþelwulf and his son Æþelbald defeated the host at Aclea, where according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle they
“made the greatest slaughter among the heathen army that we have heard reported to the present day, and there got the victory.”
In 855 AD Æþelwulf went to Rome with Alfred, presumably feeling the kingdom was safe to leave for a while; this proved ill advised. He dedicated a tenth of his lands to God and the Church and this may have upset his nobles who then supported Æþelbald in rebellion.
He married again on his way back from Rome, cementing the family relationship with Charles the Bald, king of the Franks by marrying his teenage daughter Judith on 1st October 856 AD. This was almost certainly a strategic alliance to support a military agreement. However, it also raised the possibility of more children to contest the throne, and when Æþelwulf gave Judith the title of queen (not used in Wessex) this may have made the possibility more real.
Æþelbald rose in rebellion, supported by some key figures among the nobility as well as the Bishop of Sherborne. Æþelwulf was unable to gather enough support to win his throne back and had to reach a compromise with his son, accepting the smaller kingdom of Kent for his rule and leaving Wessex to Æþelbald.
He died at Steyning in West Sussex on 13th January 858 AD, and was buried there. Alfred later had him reburied at Winchester. His reputation has not always been very positive, coming between Ecgberht who established the Wessex hegemony, and Alfred. However, his achievements were significant. He withstood the Viking attacks in 851 AD, created a viable fleet and no doubt inspired his successors to achieve and retain the independence of the last kingdom to stand against the invading Vikings.
https://www.facebook.com/yorkshiregesithas