WESSEX

Part Two[*]

King of the West Saxons

726 – 740 Æthelheard

740 – 756 Cuthred

756 – 757 Sigeberht

757 – 786 Cynewulf

786 – 802 Beorhtric

During the last years of his thirty-seven year reign, Ine’s grip on power seems to have weakened. He was personally challenged by young rivals, and Surrey and Sussex would appear to have been slipping out of West Saxon control. Following Ine’s abdication and retirement to Rome, Wessex was ruled by a sequence of five obscure kings about whose descent the West Saxon king-list and genealogy of Alfred the Great, that serves as a preface to Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Manuscript A, offers only the broadest of claims: “whose kin reaches to Cerdic”.[*]

Æthelheard, the first of them, succeeded Ine in 726: ”And in that same year Æthelheard and the ætheling Oswald fought.[*]” The Chronicle proceeds to trace the pretender Oswald’s descent from, Cerdic’s grandson (or great-grandson), Ceawlin.[*] With no indication that it was violent, the death of “the ætheling Oswald” is reported in 730.[*]

Bede, writing about “the present state of the English nation” (HE V, 23), in 731, states that all the: “southern provinces, as far as the boundary formed by the river Humber, with their several kings, are subject to Æthelbald, king of the Mercians.” Presumably the disturbed situation at the time of Ine’s abdication had provided Æthelbald with the opportunity to extend his authority into Wessex – it is possible that it was his support that enabled Æthelheard to defeat Oswald and secure his position, though at the cost of accepting Æthelbald as his overlord.

The rivers Thames and (Lower) Avon, loosely, marked the boundary between Mercia and Wessex. Under the year 733, the Chronicle announces: “Æthelbald captured Somerton”. Somerton (in Somerset), was in West Saxon territory, indeed, Æthelweard (II, 14) calls it a “royal vill”. Somerset wasn’t the only area where Æthelbald appropriated territory from the West Saxons – he gave the monastery of Cookham, in Berkshire, to the church of Canterbury (S1258).[*]

When Æthelheard died, in 740, he was succeeded by Cuthred – who was “his brother”, according to Symeon of Durham (HR). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports, s.a. 743: “In this year Æthelbald, king of the Mercians, and Cuthred, king of the West Saxons,[*] fought against the Welsh.”[*] It seems reasonable to suppose that Cuthred was obliged to accompany Æthelbald, his overlord, on this campaign.

The Chronicle, s.a. 748, makes the rather enigmatic comment: “Cynric, ætheling of the West Saxons, was slain” —

— and records, s.a. 750, that Cuthred: “fought against Æthelhun, the proud ealdorman.”

Cuthred was evidently not content to let Wessex remain under Mercian suzerainty. In its report of Cuthred’s accession, the Chronicle comments: “and he warred boldly against Æthelbald, king of the Mercians[*]”, then s.a. 752: “Cuthred, king of the West Saxons, in the 12th year of his reign, fought at Beorhford against Æthelbald, king of the Mercians, and put him to flight.[*]” [*]

Henry of Huntingdon goes to town:

In his thirteenth year, Cuthred, since he could no longer bear the arrogant demands and insolence of King Æthelbald, attacked him with bannered legions at Beorhford, preferring liberty to any hope of life. With him he took Æthelhun, the ealdorman mentioned above, who was now reconciled to him. Supported by this man’s strength and advice, he was enabled to enter the hazard of war. Then together with the Mercians, Æthelbald, the king of kings, led out numerous forces of Kentish men, East Saxons and Angles. When their battle-lines were disposed, they marched directly forward, and as they approached, Æthelhun, who led the way bearing the banner of the king of Wessex, that is, the golden dragon, pierced through the enemy standard-bearer’s body. Upon this, a shout was raised, and Cuthred’s followers were greatly encouraged, and immediately the lines engaged one another. Then rose up the terrible thunder of battle – the clash of arms, the sound of blows, the cries of the dying. The greatest and most important battle began, which would decide whether it would be the Mercians or the men of Wessex who would be subject to the victors long into the future. You would have seen the battle-lines that were heaving with breastplates, pointed with swords, bristling with lances, coloured with banners, glittering with gold, in a short time become moistened with blood, destitute of lances, broken up by disaster, bespattered with brains, frightful to behold. The boldest and strongest on both sides flocked towards their banners, fighting it out with swords and Amazonian battle-axes, rank rushing desperately against rank. No thought of flight. Certain hope of victory on both sides. The Mercians urged on by the swelling passion of pride. The men of Wessex roused up by the horror of servitude. Wherever the said ealdorman thrust himself into the line, a path of death was opened, as his dreadful axe, like lightning, split open bodies and armour. Wherever the mighty King Æthelbald rushed in, the enemy was slaughtered, while, to his invincible sword, armour was like clothing and bones like flesh. As two fires started from different directions consume whatever stands in their way, so it was when the king and the ealdorman came towards one another. Each adopted a furiously threatening stance, stretched out his right hand, summoned up his strength in arms, and their opposing weapons injured them both with immense blows. But God, who resists the proud, and from whom strength, courage, and greatness of soul proceed, put an end to King Æthelbald by His grace, and removed from his heart its usual confidence. He failed to gather up his courage and his strength, and though his men still continued to fight, Almighty God caused him to be afraid and to be the first to take flight.
HA IV, 19

It seems likely that Wessex remained independent for the remainder of Cuthred’s reign. His last recorded exploit appears s.a. 753 in the Chronicle, when he: “fought against the Welsh.” (In this instance, “the Welsh” would be the Cornish Britons.)

Cuthred died in 756, and was succeeded by one Sigeberht. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that, the next year: “Cynewulf and the West Saxon witan deprived Sigeberht, his kinsman,[*] of his kingdom, for his unrighteous deeds – except Hampshire; and that he held until he slew the ealdorman who had longest remained with him.[*] And then Cynewulf drove him into Andred [the Weald]; and he there abode until a herdsman stabbed him at Pryfetesfloda [Privett]; and [thus] he avenged the ealdorman Cumbra.”

It may be that Cynewulf owed his position to Æthelbald’s support, since he immediately appears as witness to a charter in which Æthelbald grants land in Wiltshire to a certain Abbot Eanberht (S96) – Æthelbald is styled: “king, not only of the Mercians but also of the neighbouring peoples”. Clearly, Æthelbald was Cynewulf’s overlord. However, later the same year, 757, Æthelbald was assassinated, and Mercia underwent a period of instability as Offa established his authority. Cynewulf capitalized on the situation. He evidently recovered territory previously lost to Mercia – he could grant land freely in Wiltshire (as demonstrated by S260, dated 758), and in 760 he took the monastery of Cookham, Berkshire, which Æthelbald had given to the church of Canterbury, into his own ownership.[*] He also annexed land from the Mercian sub-kingdom of the Hwicce – in S265, Cynewulf grants land at North Stoke, Somerset, to the monastery at Bath (both North Stoke and the monastery being north of the Avon, in the territory of the Hwicce).

The Chronicle mentions that: “Cynewulf fought often in great battles against the Britons”. The Britons in question being the Cornish. In a charter dated 766 (S262), Cynewulf makes a land-grant to the minster at Wells: “for the love of God and for the expiation of my sins, and also, which is sad to say, because of some harassing of our enemies, the Cornish people”.

Despite his appearance in the witness-list of a charter of Offa’s dated 772 (S108), concerning Sussex (which Offa annexed), Cynewulf would appear to have retained his independence. In 779, as reported by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: “Cynewulf and Offa fought around Bensington [Benson, Oxfordshire], and Offa took the town.” A charter issued after Offa’s death (S1258, of 798) states that Offa had: “seized from King Cynewulf the oft-mentioned monastery, Cookham, and many other towns, and brought them under Mercian rule.” Bath returned to Mercian control – indeed, in 781, the bishop of the Hwicce (i.e. the bishop of Worcester) was obliged to do a deal with Offa, in which the king gained direct control of the monastery, its environs, and some additional land on the south side of the Avon that had previously been bought, by the bishop, from Cynewulf (S1257). Charters (S144, undated; S127, dated 787) also show that Offa took-over Surrey. Nevertheless, Cynewulf remained his own man – when papal legates arrived in Britain in 786, a synod was held under the auspices of both Offa and Cynewulf.

Later the same year (786), however: “Cyneheard slew King Cynewulf, and he [too] was there slain, and 84 men with him”. In fact, the Chronicle had previously (s.a. 755, for 757), in an untypically elaborate entry, told this story at length. Cyneheard, “the ætheling”, was the brother of Cynewulf’s predecessor, Sigeberht, and it would seem he had his eye on Cynewulf’s throne. Cynewulf had decided to drive him out of Wessex, but Cyneheard:

… learned that the king, with a small company, was on a visit to a woman at Merantune [unidentified]; and he there beset him, and surrounded the chamber before the men who were with the king became aware of him. And when the king perceived this, he went to the door, and then gallantly defended himself, until he caught sight of the ætheling, and then rushed out on him, and sorely wounded him;[*] and they were all fighting against the king, until they had slain him. And when by the woman’s cries the king’s thegns had discovered the tumult, they ran thither, whoever was ready, and with all speed.[*] And to each of them the ætheling offered money and life; and not one of them would accept it; but they continued fighting, until they all lay dead, save one, a British hostage, and he was sorely wounded. When, in the morning, the king’s thegns who had remained behind heard that the king was slain, they rode thither – and Osric his ealdorman, and Wigfrith his thegn, and the men whom he had previously left behind – and found the ætheling in the stronghold where the king lay slain; and they had locked the gates against them, and they went thereto. And he [the ætheling] then offered them their own choice of money and land, if they would grant him the kingdom; and made known to them that their kinsmen were with him, who would not forsake him. And they then said that to them no kinsman was dearer than their lord, and that they would never follow his slayer. And they then offered their kinsmen that they might depart uninjured; and they [the kinsmen] said that the same had been offered to their companions who before had been with the king. They then said that they no more minded it “than did your companions who were slain with the king”.[*] And they [the king’s men] then were fighting about the gates, until they made their way in and slew the ætheling and the men who were with him, all save one, who was the ealdorman’s godson; and he saved his life, although he was often wounded. And Cynewulf reigned 31 winters,[*] and his body lies at Winchester, and the ætheling’s at Axminster; and their direct paternal kin goes to Cerdic.

In 786: “Beorhtric succeeded to the kingdom of the West Saxons, and he reigned 16 years, and his body lies at Wareham; and his direct paternal kin goes to Cerdic.” In 789, Beorhtric married Offa’s daughter, Eadburh, and together the two kings expelled Egbert, who would later succeed Beorhtric, from England. There were obviously close ties between Offa and Beorhtric, but it is not clear if this went as far as Beorhtric recognizing Offa as his overlord.

An addition, written in Old English, in the margin of Manuscript F of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle identifies Egbert’s father as Ealhmund, the king of Kent who, it appears, had been ruling immediately before Offa annexed the kingdom in 784/5. Perhaps Egbert had taken refuge in Wessex, with Cynewulf, at the time of that annexation. Commenting in retrospect, s.a. 836 (for 839), the Chronicle says: “before he [Egbert] was king, Offa, king of the Mercians, and Beorhtric, king of the West Saxons, had driven him from the land of the English into the land of the Franks, for 3 years”, and Manuscripts A, B and C continue: “Beorhtric assisted Offa because he had his daughter for his queen.”[*] Scholarly opinion seems to be divided about whether Offa was or wasn’t Beorhtric’s overlord, and crucial to the argument is the interpretation of Egbert’s expulsion. Frank Stenton sees Egbert and Beorhtric fighting for the West Saxon throne: “Offa intervened in the struggle on Beorhtric’s side, married a daughter to him in 789, and helped him drive Egbert out of the country”. Professor Stenton describes Beorhtric as “a protected dependant” of Offa, and calls him “Offa’s protégé”. Barbara Yorke writes: “After Cynewulf was killed in 786 Offa was able to increase his control over Wessex. The new king Beorhtric either came to the throne with Offa’s help or came under Offa’s influence soon afterwards.” Professor Yorke, too, is of the opinion that “Offa helped Beorhtric” to exile Egbert. Simon Keynes, though, cautions: “one should not forget that Egbert was the son of Ealhmund, who had been recognised as a king of Kent towards the end of the period of Kentish independence from Mercia (776–c.785). Egbert might thus have been perceived as a potential threat to Offa’s position in the southeast, and Beorhtric would have been in the best position to secure his removal from England. Of course a West Saxon chronicler might be expected to put the best construction on the events; but his statement that it was Beorhtric who helped Offa (and not vice versa) might reasonably be construed as an indication that, in this instance, the king of the West Saxons was performing a favour for his father-in-law, without any implication of political subordination thereafter.” D.P. Kirby talks of the “continuing independence” of the West Saxons during Beorhtric’s reign, and P.H. Sawyer states: “Offa’s friendly relations with Beorhtric did not, however, amount to an overlordship”.[*]

Following its announcement of King Beorhtric’s marriage, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (s.a. 787, for 789) notes:

And in his days [i.e. 786x802] first came 3 ships of Northmen. —

— And then the reeve rode thereto, and would drive them to the king’s town, for he knew not what they were, and they there slew him. —

— Those were the first ships of Danish men that sought the land of the English race. V ►

Offa died in 796. Beorhtric seems to have been on good terms with his brother-in-law, Offa’s son and successor, Ecgfrith, whom he persuaded to restore a parcel of land in Wiltshire, previously seized by Offa, to Malmesbury Abbey (S149). Ecgfrith died after ruling for less than five months. A charter of, Ecgfrith’s successor, Cenwulf, dated 799 (S154), refers to a peace treaty of that year, between the Mercians and the West Saxons. The snag, however, is that, in the surviving text, the two kings said to have made the treaty are Cenwulf and Egbert, who succeeded Beorhtric in 802. Plainly, either the date is incorrect or the West Saxon king’s name is incorrect.[*]

Beorhtric died in 802. According to a tale related by Asser, biographer of Alfred the Great, Beorhtric’s wife (Offa’s daughter, Eadburh) accidentally poisoned him[*].

802 – 839 Egbert

Son of Ealhmund.

West Saxon genealogies present Egbert (i.e. Ecgberht) as a descendant of Ingild, the brother of King Ine.[*] Egbert’s father, Ealhmund, is identified by a margin note in Manuscript F of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the King Ealhmund ruling Kent in 784. Egbert was driven out of England by Offa, king of Mercia, and Beorhtric, king of Wessex (and Offa’s son-in-law), into exile with the Franks.[*] The Chronicle reports that, in 802:

… King Beorhtric and Ealdorman Worr died; and Egbert succeeded to the kingdom of the West Saxons; and that same day Ealdorman Æthelmund rode over [the border] from the Hwicce at Cynemæresford [Kempsford, Gloucestershire]; then Ealdorman Weohstan met him with the Wiltshire men; and there was a great fight, and both the ealdormen were slain, and the Wiltshire men [i.e. the West Saxons] got the victory.

Although the rest of the English provinces south of the Humber were under the sway of Cenwulf, king of Mercia, there is no evidence to suggest that he ever had any authority over Egbert and the West Saxons.[*]

West Saxon genealogies claim that Egbert was a descendant of Ine’s brother, but some modern scholars are sceptical. For instance, Heather Edwards writes:

If the family were West Saxon, it is difficult to see why Ealhmund should have sought power in Kent, thereby embroiling himself quite unnecessarily with Offa, who was mounting determined attacks on Kent both before and after Ealhmund’s reign. If the family were Kentish, then Ealhmund’s position is perfectly natural, and there is no great difficulty in accounting for Egbert’s: by 802 the native Kentish rulers had been wholly dispossessed, so it is not surprising that a Kentish ætheling should turn up elsewhere, while the evidence that Egbert gained power by conquest precludes any necessity to assume that he had any prior support within Wessex.[*] In the years since the reign in Kent of his putative father, Ealhmund, he may well have operated as an independent war leader (like the West Saxon Cædwalla, or St Guthlac, earlier), with his own following of fighting men at whose head he achieved his successful coup in Wessex.
… when Offa and Beorhtric expelled Egbert (between 789 and 796), Beorhtric helped Offa because he had married Offa’s daughter [Anglo-Saxon Chronicle s.a. 836]. Evidently Beorhtric had no personal quarrel with Egbert, so Egbert cannot at this time have been perceived as a possible claimant to the West Saxon kingship. Offa was the one who wanted rid of him, and the most likely reason for this is that Egbert was a potential contender for the throne in Kent. The claim in Æthelwulf’s genealogy of a West Saxon descent for Æthelwulf and his father is no evidence for the truth of this assertion. It would have been extraordinary if the family had not claimed descent from Cerdic, as West Saxon kings traditionally did. It may well be that the genealogy was drawn up during Egbert’s reign as part of his attempts to legitimize his dynasty and secure the peaceful succession of his son.
‘Egbert, king of the West Saxons’ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)

After announcing his accession, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is silent about Egbert’s activities until 815, when: “King Egbert harried in West Wales [i.e. Cornwall] from eastward to westward.” And then, another decade later, in 825: “there was a fight of the Welsh [i.e. Cornish Britons] and Devonians, at Gafulford [probably Galford, Devon]”. The Chronicle doesn’t mention the outcome of the battle, but perhaps the Devonshire men (West Saxons of course) had been defeated, requiring Egbert’s personal intervention – the texts of two Winchester charters (S272, S273) state: “The beginning of this document was written in the army when Egbert, king of the Gewisse [i.e. West Saxons], advanced against the Britons at the place called Creodantreow [unidentified], in the year of our Lord’s incarnation 825, indiction 3, on 19th August.”

Maybe Beornwulf, king of Mercia, decided to take advantage of Egbert’s preoccupation with the Cornish to launch an invasion of Wessex. After its report of the battle at Gafulford, the Chronicle continues:

… and in the same year [825], King Egbert and King Beornwulf fought at Ellendun [generally identified with Wroughton, Wiltshire];[*] and Egbert gained the victory, and a great slaughter was there made. —

Henry of Huntingdon:

… Egbert engaged in battle against Beornwulf, king of Mercia, at Ellendun. Whence it is said: “Ellendun’s stream was reddened with blood, was stopped up with the fallen, was filled with stench.” After enormous slaughter had been perpetrated on both peoples there, Egbert was the mournful victor.
HA IV, 29

Henry of Huntingdon is adept at using his imagination to flesh-out the spare reports of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. In The Lost Literature of Medieval England (1952), Chapter 2 (pp.32–4), however, R.M. Wilson suggests that the above is the last of six instances of Henry introducing a quote, translated into Latin, from a now lost Old English poem on famous battles. (The first five battles occurred within the short period 616–655, and all involved Northumbria.)

— He then sent Æthelwulf his son, from the army, and Ealhstan his bishop, and Wulfheard his ealdorman, to Kent with a large force, and they drove Baldred the king north over the Thames; —

— and the people of Kent, and those of Surrey, and the South Saxons, and the East Saxons, turned to him [Egbert], because they had formerly been unjustly forced from his kinsmen. —

— And the same year the king of the East Angles, and the nation, sought Egbert for peace and as protector, from dread of the Mercians;[*] and in this same year the East Angles slew Beornwulf, king of the Mercians.

Beornwulf’s successor, Ludeca, was killed, probably by the East Angles, in 827. He was succeeded by Wiglaf. In 829 Egbert expelled Wiglaf and took direct control of Mercia – he minted coins at London inscribed: ECGBERHT REX M (Egbert, king of the Mercians). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle originated in the Wessex of Egbert’s grandson, Alfred, and it crows: “King Egbert subdued the kingdom of the Mercians, and all that was south of the Humber, and he was the eighth king who was Bretwalda.” The Chronicle takes the previous holders of this accolade from a list of seven kings, each of whom had acquired the overlordship of all the English kingdoms south of the Humber, given by Bede (HE II, 5). At any rate, having established himself as master of south-Humbria, Egbert promptly: “led an army to Dore against the Northumbrians, and they there offered him obedience and concord; and thereupon they separated.”[*] The following year (830), however, the Chronicle reports that: “Wiglaf again obtained the kingdom of the Mercians … and in the same year King Egbert led an army against the North Welsh [i.e. the Welsh proper, rather than the Cornish Britons], and he reduced them to humble obedience.”[*]

The mechanism by which Wiglaf recovered his throne is not recorded. If it was by force of arms, it hardly seems likely that Egbert would have been campaigning in Wales later the same year.[*] Henry of Huntingdon (HA IV, 29) maintains that: “King Egbert, moved by pity, conceded to Wiglaf that he should hold the kingdom of Mercia under him.”[*] Charters, however, indicate that Wiglaf ruled independently – and, indeed, raise the possibility that, for a time, he managed to re-establish Mercian overlordship of Essex.[*] On the other hand, Wiglaf apparently didn’t resume the production of coins after his restoration, which could be because Egbert did not allow him to. Perhaps Egbert, realizing he had overstretched himself, was obliged to reach an accommodation with Wiglaf, which enabled the latter to resume his reign as, to all intents and purposes, an independent ruler.[*]

Whatever influence Egbert had in Wales, Northumbria and East Anglia evaporated following Wiglaf’s restoration. All was not lost, however. At some stage, Egbert amalgamated the eastern provinces that had submitted to him – Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Essex – into a sub-kingdom of Wessex, with his son Æthelwulf as king.[*]

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that, in 835: “heathen men ravaged Sheppey [an island off the north coast of Kent].” The “heathen men” were, of course, Vikings. The next year, 836: “King Egbert fought against the crews of 35 ships at Carrum [Carhampton, Somerset], and there was great slaughter made, and the Danes held possession of the battle place.” And in 838: “a great ship-army came to the West Welsh [i.e. the Cornish Britons], and they combined together, and warred against Egbert, king of the West Saxons. When he heard that, he then went thither with an army, and fought against them at Hengestesdun [Hingston Down], and there put to flight both the Welsh and the Danes.[*]” The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle evidently uses the term ‘Danes’ in a generic sense – all Vikings are Danes. It appears that the Vikings who targeted the North Sea and Channel coasts of England were, in the main, from the area around Denmark, but it was, in the main, their more northerly cousins, from Norway, whose adventuring took them around the top of Scotland and into the Irish Sea.[*] Presumably the ‘Danes’ mentioned in the two raids on the West Country were Irish Sea based Vikings. V ►

Hingston Down was apparently the Cornish Britons’ last attempt to secure their independence – there is certainly no record that they tried again. Though the attempt had failed, native kings were evidently allowed, for the time being, to rule there. The last certainly attested king of Cornwall (recorded by the Annales Cambriae) is one Dungarth, who drowned in 876.

In 839: “King Egbert died… And that Egbert reigned 37 winters and 7 months; and Æthelwulf son of Egbert succeeded to the kingdom of the West Saxons; and he gave his son Athelstan the kingdom of the people of Kent, and of the East Saxons, and of Surrey, and of the South Saxons.[*]”

839 – 858 Æthelwulf

Son of Egbert.

855 – 860 Æthelbald

Son of Æthelwulf.

860 – 865 Æthelberht

Son of Æthelwulf.

Æthelwulf succeeded his father, Egbert, as king of Wessex in 839, having previously ruled Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Essex, which Egbert had combined to form an eastern sub-kingdom of Wessex. On his accession to the throne of the main kingdom, Æthelwulf entrusted the rule of the sub-kingdom to his own son, Athelstan (Æthelstan). It was a time of escalating Viking activity. In 840 (837 ASC): “Ealdorman Wulfheard fought at Hamtun [Southampton] against the crews of 33 ships, and there made great slaughter, and gained the victory; and that year Wulfheard died. And in the same year Ealdorman Æthelhelm fought against a Danish army at Port [Portland] with the Dorset men, and for a good while put the army to flight;[*] but the Danes held possession of the battle place, and slew the ealdorman.” In 841 (838 ASC): “Ealdorman Hereberht was slain by heathen men, and many with him among the Marsh-dwellers [Romney Marsh, Kent]; and again, in the same year, in Lindsey, and in East Anglia, and among the people of Kent, many men were slain by the [heathen] army.[*]” In 842 (839 ASC): “there was a great slaughter at London, and at Cwantawic, and at Rochester.”

A year later, 843 (ASC 840), Æthelwulf himself: “fought at Carrum [Carhampton, Somerset] against the crews of 35 ships, and the Danes held possession of the battle place.”[*]

In 848 (ASC 845): “Ealdorman Eanwulf, with the men of Somerset, and Bishop Ealhstan [of Sherborne], and Ealdorman Osric, with the men of Dorset, fought at the mouth of the Parrett against the Danish army; and there made great slaughter, and gained the victory.”[*]

It would appear that the increased Viking threat gave rise to a new, cooperative, relationship between the West Saxons and the Mercians. Æthelwulf and Beorhtwulf, king of Mercia, issued stylistically related coins, and even shared moneyers. The often disputed border territory of Berkshire seems to have been transferred to Wessex by diplomatic means – there are no recorded battles, and the Mercian ealdorman of Berkshire (another Æthelwulf) retained his position afterwards. There would seem to be a five year window during which the transfer took place – in a charter dated 844 (S1271), Beorhtwulf is evidently still in control, but, according to Asser (§1), Æthelwulf’s famous son, Alfred (Alfred the Great), was born at Wantage in 849.

At this point, correct chronology is restored in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,[*] although it seems that the entry s.a. 851 actually begins in late-850:

In this year Ealdorman Ceorl, with the men of Devonshire, fought against the heathen men at Wicganbeorg [unidentified],[*] and there made great slaughter, and gained the victory. —

— And the heathen men for the first time stayed over winter in Thanet.[*] And in the same year [now 851] came three-and-a-half hundred ships to the mouth of the Thames, and stormed Canterbury and London, and put to flight Beorhtwulf, king of the Mercians, with his army, and then went south over the Thames into Surrey; and there King Æthelwulf and his son Æthelbald, with the army of the West Saxons, fought against them at Aclea [unidentified], and there made the greatest slaughter among the heathen army that we have heard tell of until this present day, and there gained the victory.[*] And in the same year King Athelstan and Ealdorman [dux] Ealhhere fought in ships and slew a great army at Sandwich in Kent,[*] and took 9 ships, and put the others to flight.[*]

King Beorhtwulf died in 852, and was succeeded by Burgred. In 853:

… Burgred, king of the Mercians, and his witan, asked King Æthelwulf to help him reduce the Welsh to obedience. He [Æthelwulf] then did so, and went with an army over Mercia against the Welsh, and made them all obedient to him [to Burgred].[*]… in the same year, Ealhhere with the men of Kent, and Huda with the men of Surrey, fought in Thanet against a heathen army, and at first gained the victory, and there was many a man slain and drowned on each side; and the ealdormen both dead.[*] And then after Easter, King Æthelwulf gave his daughter to King Burgred, from Wessex to Mercia.[*]

©Trustees of the British Museum — The pictured gold finger-rings are in the British Museum. The one on the left (2.8 cm dia.) was found at Laverstock, Wiltshire, in 1780. Its inscription reads *Æthelwulf Rex* (King Æthelwulf). The ring on the right (2.6 cm dia.) was found near Aberford, West Yorkshire, in 1870. Scratched inside the bezel is an inscription that reads *Æthelswith Regina* (Queen Æthelswith) – Æthelswith being Æthelwulf’s daughter, wife of King Burgred. It is unlikely that the rings were worn by Æthelwulf and Æthelswith themselves – they were probably given as presents or symbols of office.

For the winter of 854/5: “the heathen men for the first time stayed over winter in Sheppey.” The Chronicle has no record of Viking activity for the next five years. V ►

Returning to the eventful year of 853, Manuscripts A, B and C of the Chronicle carry an additional entry: “King Æthelwulf sent his son Alfred [Ælfred] to Rome. Then at that time, the lord Leo was pope of Rome [Leo IV 847–55]; and he hallowed him king, and took him for his episcopal son [i.e. as his godson in confirmation].” Æthelweard and Asser say the same thing, though Asser adds (§8) that Alfred, who was four years-old in 853, was accompanied by: “an honourable escort both of nobles and commoners.” Unlikely as it seems, it appears that Alfred did, indeed, make this journey to Rome. In the surviving extract of a letter written to Æthelwulf (generally accepted as being authentic), Pope Leo says:

We have now graciously received your son Alfred, whom you were anxious to send at this time to the thresholds of the Holy Apostles, and we have decorated him, as a spiritual son, with the dignity of the belt [cingulum – ‘sword’ may be meant] and the vestments of the consulate, as is customary with Roman consuls, because he gave himself into our hands.[*]

The ceremony described by Leo does not appear to amount to Alfred’s being anointed king, as asserted by the Chronicle, and subsequently by Asser and Æthelweard – after all, Alfred certainly had three older, hence senior, living brothers (Æthelbald, Æthelberht, Æthelred) at this time, so the possibility of his succeeding to the throne would have looked pretty remote – and it would seem that a little polish has been applied to the story by the anonymous West Saxon writer who compiled the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle during Alfred’s reign.

The Chronicle records that, in 855: “Æthelwulf gave by charter the tenth part of his land over all his kingdom for the glory of God and his own eternal salvation; and in the same year went to Rome …” Switching now to Asser, who gives a considerably more detailed account than the Chronicle:

… he [Æthelwulf] went to Rome with much honour; and taking with him his son, the aforesaid Alfred, a second time on the same journey, because he loved him more than his other sons, he remained there a whole year.[*] —

The Annals of St Bertin, s.a. 855:

Charles [Charles the Bald, king of West Francia] also gave an honourable reception to King Æthelwulf of the Anglo-Saxons who was hastening on his way to Rome. Charles gave him all the supplies a king might need and had him escorted right to the boundary of his realm with all the courtesies due to a king.

The biography of Pope Benedict III (855–858) in the Liber Pontificalis (Book of the Popes) notes that Æthelwulf arrived at Rome “with a multitude of people”, and lists the valuable gifts he donated to St Peter, including “a fine gold crown weighing 4 pounds” and “sword bound with fine gold”. William of Malmesbury says (GR II §109) that Æthelwulf: “nobly repaired the English School [in Rome], which, according to report, was first founded by Offa, king of the Mercians, and had been burnt down some time back.”[*]

— After this he returned to his own country, bringing with him Judith, daughter of Charles [the Bald], king of the Franks. —

The Annals of St Bertin, s.a. 856:

In July Æthelwulf king of the western English, on his way back from Rome, was betrothed to King Charles’ daughter Judith. On the Kalends [i.e. the 1st] of October, in the palace of Verberie, he received her in marriage. After Hincmar, bishop of Rheims, had consecrated her and placed a diadem on her head, Æthelwulf formally conferred on her the title of queen, which was something not customary before then to him or to his people. When the marriage had been sealed by mutual exchange of royal gear and gifts, Æthelwulf sailed with Judith to Britain where his kingdom lay.

Judith was twelve or thirteen years-old at this time. The mother of Alfred, and as far as is known all of Æthelwulf’s children, was called Osburh: “an extremely devout woman, noble in mind, noble also by descent; she was daughter to Oslac, the famous cupbearer of King Æthelwulf”, says Asser (§2). Presumably Osburh had died by, or during, the time of Æthelwulf’s sojourn in Rome.

— In the meantime, however, whilst King Æthelwulf was residing this short time beyond sea, a base deed was done in the western part of Selwood, contrary to the practice of all Christians. For King Æthelbald, Ealhstan, bishop of the church of Sherborne, and Eanwulf, ealdorman of Somerset, are said to have formed a conspiracy to the end that King Æthelwulf, on his return from Rome, should not again be received in his kingdom. This unfortunate occurrence, unheard-of in all previous ages, is ascribed by many to the bishop and ealdorman alone, since, say they, it resulted from their counsels. Many also ascribe it solely to the insolence of the king [i.e. Æthelbald], because he was headstrong in this matter and in many other perversities, as I have heard related by certain men, and as was proved by the result of that which followed. —

— For on his return from Rome, Æthelwulf’s son aforesaid, with all his counsellors, or rather waylayers, attempted to perpetrate the crime of repulsing the king from his own kingdom; but neither did God suffer it, nor did the nobles of all Wessex [Saxonia] consent thereto. For to prevent this irremediable danger to Wessex of a war between father and son, or rather of the whole nation waging civil war more fiercely and cruelly from day to day, as they espoused the cause of the one or the other – by the extraordinary clemency of the father, seconded by the consent of all the nobles, the kingdom which had hitherto been undivided was parted between the two, the eastern districts being given to the father, and the western to the son. Thus where the father ought by just right to have reigned, there did his unjust and obstinate son bear rule; for the western part of Wessex is always superior to the eastern. —

Barbara Yorke:

Asser’s words are not without ambiguity and it is not clear whether ‘the eastern districts’ are Kent, Sussex, Surrey and the East Saxons or the eastern portion of the Wessex heartlands. It has usually been assumed that Æthelwulf took back the former from his son Æthelberht …
Wessex in the Early Middle Ages (1995), Chapter 3 (p.99)

Frank Stenton:

… to avoid a civil war he [Æthelwulf] agreed to a division of the kingdom, leaving Wessex to Æthelbald and taking for himself Kent and the other parts of south-eastern England which Egbert had annexed in 825.
Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition (1971) Chapter 8 (p.245)

D.P. Kirby:

This cannot be right… What the evidence suggests … is that, if there was a division of the kingdom, it was West Saxon territory itself which Æthelwulf partitioned with Æthelbald, Æthelbald continuing to reign in west Wessex, beyond Selwood perhaps, while Æthelwulf ruled east and central Wessex, leaving Æthelberht in Kent; in other words, a territory and position comparable to Æthelberht’s in the south-east was carved out for Æthelbald in the south-west.
The Earliest English Kings Revised Edition (2000), Chapter 9 (pp.166–7)

— When Æthelwulf, therefore, returned from Rome, the whole nation, as was fitting, so rejoiced in the arrival of the ruler that, if he had allowed them, they would have expelled his unruly son Æthelbald, with all his counsellors, from his share of the whole kingdom. But he [Æthelwulf], as I have said, acting with great clemency and prudent counsel, would not have it done thus, lest the kingdom should be exposed to peril. He likewise bade Judith, daughter of King Charles, whom he had received from her father, take her seat by his own side on the royal throne, without any dispute or enmity from his nobles even to the end of his life, though contrary to the perverse custom of that nation. For the nation of the West Saxons does not allow the queen to sit beside the king, nor to be called “queen”, but only “king’s wife”; which hostility, nay infamy, the old persons of that land say arose from a certain headstrong and malevolent queen of the nation, who did all things so contrary to her lord and to the whole people that not only did the hatred which she brought upon herself bring to pass her exclusion from the queenly throne, but also entailed the same corruption upon those who came after her, since, in consequence of the extreme malignity of that queen, all the inhabitants of the land banded themselves together by an oath never in their lives to let any king reign over them who should bid his queen take her seat on the royal throne by his side…

Now King Æthelwulf lived two years after his return from Rome; during which, among many other good deeds of this present life, reflecting on his departure according to the way of all flesh, that his sons might not quarrel unreasonably after their father’s death, he ordered a will, or rather a letter of instructions, to be written, in which he commanded that his kingdom should be duly divided between his two eldest sons [Æthelbald and Æthelberht]; his private heritage between his sons, his daughter, and his relatives; and the money which he left behind him between [the welfare of] his soul and his sons and nobles.[*]
Vita Alfredi §§ 11–13 & 16

Æthelwulf died in 858 – on 13th January according to a between-the-lines addition, in red ink, to the main manuscript (Oxford, Corpus Christi College MS 157) of the chronicle traditionally attributed to Florence of Worcester – and was, say the Annals of St Neots (which apparently make use of a very early version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle), buried at Steyning, in Sussex. If that be the case, then his remains had been moved by the time Manuscript A was written-up:

… his body lies at Winchester, and he reigned eighteen years and a half. [Here there is a genealogy, tracing Æthelwulf’s descent back, via Woden, to Adam.] … And then Æthelwulf’s two sons succeeded to the kingdom; Æthelbald to the kingdom of the West Saxons, and Æthelberht to the kingdom of the people of Kent, and to the kingdom of the East Saxons, and to Surrey, and to the kingdom of the South Saxons. And then Æthelbald reigned 5 years.[*]

Though the Chronicle does not record Æthelbald’s plot against his father, nor the subsequent division of territory between them (Asser is the only authority for those events), its attribution of a reign of five years to Æthelbald (since he died in 860) is an acknowledgement of the fact that he had ruled in Wessex since 855.

Asser:

But when King Æthelwulf was dead, his son Æthelbald, contrary to God’s prohibition and the dignity of a Christian, contrary also to the custom of all pagans, ascended his father’s bed, and married Judith, daughter of Charles, king of the Franks, incurring much infamy from all who heard of it.[*] During two years and a half of lawlessness he held after his father the government of the kingdom of the West Saxons.
Vita Alfredi §17

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records no incidents for the period of Æthelbald’s reign.

Æthelbald’s brother, Æthelberht, had been ruling the eastern sub-kingdom (comprising Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Essex) since at least 855 (though there is the possibility that he had to stand down in favour of his father, Æthelwulf, between 856 and 858). When Æthelbald died, in 860: “Æthelberht succeeded to all the kingdom”, i.e. Wessex and the eastern territories were unified under his sole rule.

The Frankish Annals of St Bertin note, s.a. 860, that a Danish fleet, which had been on the river Somme, crossed the Channel: “to attack the Anglo-Saxons by whom, however, they were defeated and driven off. They then made for other parts.” Presumably this is the same event recorded by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: “there came a great ship-army to land, and took Winchester by storm. And Ealdorman Osric with the Hampshire men, and Ealdorman Æthelwulf with those of Berkshire, fought against the army, and put them to flight, and held possession of the place.”[*]

The Chronicle reports, s.a. 865, that: “a heathen army stayed in Thanet, and made peace with the people of Kent, and the people of Kent promised them money for peace; and during the peace and the promise of money,[*] the army stole itself away by night, and ravaged all eastern Kent.”[*]

Asser (§19): “So Æthelberht governed his kingdom five years in peace and love and honour; and went the way of all flesh [in 865], to the great grief of his subjects. He rests interred in honourable wise at Sherborne, by the side of his brother [Æthelbald].” V ►

865 – 871 Æthelred

Son of Æthelwulf.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle announces Æthelred’s accession to the West Saxon throne s.a. 866, however it does so before stating: “And in the same year came a great heathen army to the land of the English, and took winter quarters among the East Angles[*]”. It must have been in the autumn of 865, therefore, that Æthelred succeeded his brother Æthelberht.

The East Angles “made [i.e. bought] peace”, and in the autumn of 866: “the army went from the East Angles, over the mouth of the Humber, to the city of York in Northumbria”. Having killed two Northumbrian kings, the Danes installed a compliant Englishman on the throne of Northumbria. In the autumn of 867: “the same army went into Mercia to Nottingham, and there took up winter quarters. And Burgred, king of the Mercians, with his witan, asked Æthelred, king of the West Saxons, and Alfred [Ælfred] his brother, to help him fight against the army. And they went with a force of West Saxons into Mercia as far as Nottingham, and there found the army in the works [i.e. fortress], and there besieged them.[*] But there was no hard battle there; and the Mercians made peace with the army.”[*]

In the autumn of 868: “the army went again to the city of York, and sat there one year.” In the autumn of 869: “the army rode over Mercia into East Anglia, and took winter quarters at Thetford”. This time, the Danes killed the king of the East Angles, “and subdued all that land” (possibly establishing a puppet regime there).

Chronicle year 871 (i.e. campaigning-year autumn 870 – autumn 871) is sometimes called the ‘year of battles’. Asser, in the main, provides the more detailed account:

… the pagan army of hateful memory left East Anglia [late-870], and, entering the kingdom of the West Saxons, came to the royal vill called Reading, situated on the south bank of the Thames, in the district called Berkshire; and there, on the third day after their arrival, two of their earls, with a great part of the army, rode forth for plunder, while the others made a rampart between the rivers Thames and Kennet, on the right-hand [i.e. southern] side of the same royal vill. They were encountered by Æthelwulf, ealdorman of Berkshire, with his men, at a place called Englefield. Both sides fought bravely, and made long resistance to each other.[*] At length one of the pagan earls was slain,[*] and the greater part of the army destroyed; upon which the rest saved themselves by flight, and the Christians gained the victory and held the battle-field. —

— Four days afterwards, King Æthelred and his brother Alfred, uniting their forces and assembling an army, marched to Reading. When they reached the fortress gate, they cut to pieces and overthrew all the pagans whom they found outside the fortress. But the pagans fought no less valiantly and, rushing like wolves out of every gate, waged battle with all their might. Both sides fought long and fiercely, but at last, sad to say, the Christians turned their backs, the pagans obtained the victory and held the battle-field, the aforesaid Ealdorman Æthelwulf being among the slain. —

— Roused by this grief and shame, the Christians, after four days, with all their forces and much spirit, advanced to battle against the aforesaid army, at a place called Ashdown, which in Latin means mons fraxini [‘hill of the ash’, i.e. the Berkshire Downs]. The pagans, dividing into two bands, arranged shield-walls of equal size – for they then had two kings and many earls – giving the middle part of the army to the two kings, and the other to all the earls. —

— The Christians, perceiving this, divided their army also into two bands, and with no less zeal formed shield-walls. But Alfred and his men, as I have been told by truthful eye-witnesses, arrived more quickly and promptly at the place of battle; for his brother King Æthelred was still in his tent at prayer, hearing Mass and declaring firmly that he would not depart thence alive till the priest had finished Mass, and that he was not disposed to abandon the service of God for that of men; and according to these sentiments he acted. This faith of the Christian king availed much with the Lord, as I shall show more fully in the sequel.
Now the Christians had determined that King Æthelred, with his men, should attack the two pagan kings, and that his brother Alfred, with his troops, should take the chance of war against all the pagan earls. Things being so arranged on both sides, the king still continued a long time in prayer, and the pagans, prepared for battle, had hastened to the field. Alfred, who was then second in command, could no longer oppose the the enemy lines, unless he either retreated or charged upon them without waiting for his brother. At length, courageously, like a wild boar, he led the Christian troops against the hostile army, as he had previously proposed, although the king had not yet arrived. Relying upon God’s counsel and supported by His aid, having closed up his shield-wall in due order, he straightway advanced his standards against the foe. —

— But here I must inform those who are ignorant of the fact that the field of battle was not equally advantageous to both parties, since the pagans had seized the higher ground, and the Christian array was advancing up-hill. In that place there was a solitary low thorn-tree, which I have seen with my own eyes, and round this the opposing forces met in strife with deafening uproar from all, the one side bent on evil, the other on fighting for life, loved ones and fatherland. When both armies had fought bravely and fiercely for a long while, the pagans, being unable by God’s decree longer to endure the onset of the Christians, the larger part of their force being slain, betook themselves to shameful flight. One of the two pagan kings and five earls were slain, and many thousands on the pagan side fell, slain in that place – scattered everywhere, far and wide, over the whole plain of Ashdown. Thus there fell King Bagsecg, Earl Sidroc the Elder and Earl Sidroc the Younger, Earl Osbern, Earl Fræna, and Earl Harald; and the whole pagan army continued its flight, not only until night, but until the next day, even until they reached the fortress from which they had sallied. The Christians followed, slaying all they could reach, until it became dark.
After 14 days had elapsed King Æthelred and his brother Alfred joined their forces, and marched to Basing [in Hampshire] to fight with the pagans. Having thus assembled, battle was joined, and they held their own for a long time, but the pagans gained the victory, and held possession of the battle-field.
Vita Alfredi §§35–40

Whether by design or by accident, the following episode, that appears at this stage in the Chronicle’s account, is absent from Asser’s text:

And 2 months after, King Æthelred and Alfred his brother fought against the army at Meretun [unidentified]; and they were in two bands; and they put both to flight, and far in the day were victorious; and there was great slaughter on each side, but the Danes held possession of the battle place; and there was Bishop Heahmund [of Sherborne] slain, and many good men. And after this fight there came a great [Viking] summer-force to Reading.[*]

Returning to Asser’s narrative:

That same year [871], after Easter, the aforesaid King Æthelred, having vigorously, honourably, and with good repute governed his kingdom 5 years through many tribulations, went the way of all flesh, and was buried in Wimborne Minster, where he awaits the coming of the Lord and the first resurrection with the just.[*]
That same year the aforesaid Alfred, who had been up to that time, during the lifetime of his brothers, only of secondary rank, now, on the death of his brother, by God’s permission undertook the government of the whole kingdom, amid the acclamations of all the inhabitants of the kingdom …
Vita Alfredi §§41–42

In ‘The Life of Alfred Prior to his Accession to the Throne’ (Lecture III in The Life and Times of Alfred the Great, 1902), Charles Plummer writes: “Heahmund, bishop of Sherborne, fell in the battle of Meretun, the last engagement in which Æthelred took part. So little was his warlike activity held to derogate from his episcopal character, that his death in battle against heathen foe won him the title of martyr, and a place in the calendar. His day is March 22, and that would almost certainly be the day on which he fell; and this fits in well with the statement of the Chronicle that the battle of Meretun was before Easter, which fell on April 15 in 871. Reckoning backward from this we get January 22 for the English defeat at Basing, January 8 for the victory of Ashdown, January 4 for the abortive attack on the Danish lines at Reading, December 31 [870] for the successful engagement at Englefield, and December 28 for the descent of the Danes on Reading. (pp.92–3).

Wessex/Mainline continued ►