King Æthelwulf (Ethelwulf)> Of Wessex, Of The West Saxons-[1783] ^{2 3 4 5}

   Another name for Æthelwulf was Ethelwulf King Of Wessex.

   Ancestral File Number: 9GCX-J1.

  General Notes:

Æthelwulf (839-58 AD)

Æthelwulf was the son of Egbert and a sub-king of Kent. He assumed the throne of Wessex upon his father's death in 839. His reign is characterized by the usual Viking invasions and repulsions common to all English rulers of the time, but the making of war was not his chief claim to fame. Æthelwulf is remembered, however dimly, as a highly religious man who cared about the establishment and preservation of the church. He was also a wealthy man and controlled vast resources. Out of these resources, he gave generously, to Rome and to religious houses that were in need.
He was an only child, but had fathered five sons, by his first wife, Osburga. He recognized that there could be difficulties with contention over the succession. He devised a scheme which would guarantee (insofar as it was possible to do so) that each child would have his turn on the throne without having to worry about rival claims from his siblings. Æthelwulf provided that the oldest living child would succeed to the throne and would control all the resources of the crown, without having them divided among the others, so that he would have adequate resources to rule. That he was able to provide for the continuation of his dynasty is a matter of record, but he was not able to guarantee familial harmony with his plan. This is proved by what we know of the foul plottings of his son, Æthelbald, while Æthelwulf was on pilgrimage to Rome in 855.
Æthelwulf was a wise and capable ruler, whose vision made possible the beneficial reign of his youngest son, Alfred the Great.
ETHELWULF (r. 839-856) Ethelwulf was the son of Egbert. He succeeded his father in 839. At Ethelwulf's request, his four sons each became king in turn rather than risk weakness in the kingdom by allowing young children to inherit the mantle of leadership.
King of England, reigned AD 839-858. Remains of his bones are mixed in the chests above the choir of the Cathedral. Identification of the contents of these chests is impossible, however, because during the English civil war in the 17th century, Parliamentarian soldiers threw the original chests down to the ground and smashed them open. The bones were then used to smash the windows of the cathedral. At the restoration of the monarchy, the bones were gathered up and put into the present mortuary chests (obviously all mixed up).
Quoting Threlfall's Bradbury Ancestry, R-3144a-b:

"According to William of Malsbury Ethelwulf was slothful, loved quiet, and was only stirred to active exertion by the influence of his ministers Swithun and Ealhstan, Swithun giving him advice on ecclesiastical and Ealhstan on secular matters, the one managing the treasury, the other the army. . . . Ethelwulf seems only occasionally to have taken a personal part in resisting the invasions of the Danes. He was roused now and again to great and succesful events, and then returned to his quiet life, and left the work of meeting the constantly repeated attacks to the leaders of local forces. He was extremely religious, and his religion was no more enlightened than that of his people generally. He was lavish in his gifts to the church. . . . He lacked the power or the energy necessary to preserve the unity of his kingdom, and he declined to wage war against rebellion."

  Death Notes:

Threlfall cites "Florence" for the January date and "the Lambeth MS" for the June date.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Alt Death, 13 JAN 858 OR 13 JUN 858, County Kent (Now England). ⁶ Threlfall cites "Florence" for the January date and "the Lambeth MS" for the June date.

• Alt Buried, aft 13 Jan 858 or aft 13 June 858, Winchester, England. ⁶

• Misc: After Battle of Ellandune, sent by father to "gain him the kingdom of Kent", Abt 825, County Of Kent (Now England). ⁷ Ecgberht sent Ethelwulf "with Ealhstan, Bishop of Sherbourne, and the ealdorman Wulfheard, to gain him the kingdom of Kent."

• Misc: Kent, Surrey and Sussex committed to him by Ecgberht, Abt 828, Counties Of Kent, Surrey And Sussex (Now England). ⁷ "The West Saxons chased Baldred across the Thames, and Kent, Surrey and Sussex submitted to Ecgberht, who, p;robably in 828, committed these counties to his son Ethelwulf, who certainly had a share in the kingship in that year."

• Misc: Joined father in compact made with Archbishop Ceolnoth at Kingston, 838, Kingston. ⁷

• Misc: Became King of Wessex on death of his father, 839, Wessex (Now England). ⁷

• Misc: Defeated at Charmouth by crews of 35 Danish ships, 842, Charmouth (Now England). ⁸

• Misc: Crushed Welsh uprising, Abt 853, Wales. ⁹ "The invasions of the Northmen encouraged the Welsh to rise against their conquerors, and in 853, Burhred of Mercia, the successor of Beohrtwufl, sent his West-Saxon overlord to come and help him against them. Ethelwulf accordingly marched into Wales and brought the Welsh to submission. On his return from this expedition, he gave his daughter Ethelswith in marriage to Burhred at Chippenham. This marriage was a step towards the extinction of the existance of Mercia as a separate kingdom."

• Misc: Went on pilgrimage to Rome, visiting Charles the Bald on the way, 855, England To Rome, Through The Kingdom Of The West Franks. ¹⁰

• Misc: Returned from Rome to France, Bef Jul 856, Rome To France. ¹

• Misc: Returned to England and found Wessex in revolt, After 1 Oct 856, Wessex (Now England). ¹ "During his absence, his son Ethelbald, Bishop Ealhstan, and Eanwulf, Ealdorman of Somerset, conspired to keep him out of the land . . . . The marriage to Judith, which was probably considered as likely to lead to a change in the succession to the injury of Ethelbald and the other West-Saxon ethelings, was the primary cause of the conspiracy . . . ."

• Misc: Gave up kingdom of West Saxons to Ethelbald, keeping only Kent for himself, After 1 Oct 856, County Kent (Now England). ¹¹ "Ethelwulf was joyfully received in Kent, and the Kentishmen urged him to let them do battle with his son. He shrank from such a war, and at a meeting of the witan gave up the kingdom of the West-Saxons to Ethelald, and kept only the under-kingdom of Kent for himself. In this kingdom, he set hi squeen Judith beside him on a royal throne without exciting any anger."

Æthelwulf married Queen Osburh> Of Wessex-[1784] [MRIN:393], daughter of Chief Butler Oslac Of Wessex-[1790] and Mrs Of Wessex-[1791], about 830. (Queen Osburh> Of Wessex-[1784] was born about 810 in Wessex, England and died in 846.)

Æthelwulf also married Judith-[11217] [MRIN:3349], daughter of Emperor Charles "The Bald" Ii Of The Holy Roman Empire-[2362] and Countess Ermentrude (Irmtrud) Of Orleans-[1656], on 1 Oct 856 in Verberie On The Oise, France.¹ (Judith-[11217] was born about 843 ¹.)

  Marriage Notes:

Threlfall says "there is reason to believe that Ethelwulf's English wife, Osburh, was still living" when he married Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, in France.

They were married by Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims. After the marriage, he "placed a crown upon the bride's head and blessed her as queen, though it was contrary to West-Saxon custom that the king's wife should be crowned or called queen . . . ."