The king was also expected to father sons for posterity, to ensure the succession and the stability of the kingdom. His wife was rarely accorded the title of ‘Queen’ in Wessex, but was usually styled ‘Lady’. Succession was by primogeniture, supporting the right of the eldest son, although on several occasions the right of conquest prevailed over this.
As late as the 11th century, the Danes were still attempting to invade and conquer a by then united England, and they were ultimately successful, which is why our line of Anglo-Saxon monarchs is broken by four Danish interlopers. As a result of this, the succession in the 11th century was an ongoing problem, which was not finally resolved until 1066. In 1100, when Henry I married a princess of Saxon descent, the old and the new royal houses at last joined in blood.
This handbook is about the monarchy, and it begins with the first ruler who properly may be accorded the title of monarch, Egbert of Wessex. Egbert was acknowledged in his time as an outstanding sovereign, who, by the end of his reign, was recognised by other, lesser, kings as overlord of most of England. For this reason, we must begin with Egbert. Unfortunately, his supremacy did not long survive his death, and the authority of his immediate descendants, the great Alfred included, was more or less confined to Wessex. It was not until more than a century after Egbert’s death that the monarchy was properly established in England under King Athelstan.
King Egbert
FATHER: Ealhmund, King of Kent.
He was the son of Eafa of Wessex by a Kentish princess, whose identity is unknown. Ealhmund is known to have been reigning in Kent in 784 or 786. He died in 786 (?).
MOTHER: Unknown.
SIBLINGS: St Alburga.
She was either the daughter of Ealhmund by his unknown wife, or the daughter of that wife by another husband. She is called the half-sister of Egbert.
Alburga married Wulfstan, who was perhaps Ealdorman of Wiltshire. Upon her widowhood, she entered her husband’s religious foundation at Wilton, which she is said to have converted into a nunnery. She died and was buried there in c.800 or c.810. Egbert did not have any brothers.
EGBERT
He was born around 769/80. He became ‘Subregulus’ of Kent in 790/96, and succeeded Beorhtric as King of Wessex in 802. There is no record of his coronation. From 825 onwards, he had established his supremacy over all other rulers in England, and was effective overlord of all the south-eastern kingdoms. In 829, he succeeded Wiglaf as King of Mercia, although he was expelled the following year.
Egbert married(although no record exists of the date or the place):
Redburga
She is said to have been the sister of the King of the Franks (who, at that time, was Charlemagne), but her identity is uncertain, and hardly anything is known about her.
Issue of marriage:
1
King Ethelwulf(
2 Athelstan
He became ‘Subregulus’ of Kent, Essex, Sussex and Surrey in 839, and also reigned as King of East Anglia. He died in c.851.
Athelstan married a lady about whom no information exists, and had issue:
(i) Ethelweard
He was ‘Subregulus’ of Kent. He died, probably unmarried, in 850.
3 Edith
She became a nun at Polesworth Abbey, Co. Warwick, where she later became Abbess. She died and was buried there, but the year is not recorded.
EGBERT
He died on 4 February (or after c.June), 839, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral. His bones are now in one of the mortuary chests there.
He was succeeded by his son Ethelwulf.
King Ethelwulf
FATHER:
Egbert, King of Wessex(
MOTHER:
Redburga(
SIBLINGS: (
ETHELWULF
He was born around 795/810. He became ‘Subregulus’ of Kent, Essex, Sussex and Surrey in 825 or 828, and succeeded his father as King of Wessex on 4 February, 839. He was crowned, probably that same year, at Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey. In 855/6, he resigned Wessex to his son Ethelbald, and confined his own authority to Kent, Sussex and Essex as ‘Subregulus’.
Ethelwulf married firstly, in c.830 (although no record exists as to where):
Osburga
She was the daughter of Oslac of Hampshire or the Isle of Wight. She died in 846 or 852/5. (Osburga has sometimes been confused by historians with St Osburga, foundress of Coventry Abbey, who died c.1018).
Issue of marriage:
1 Athelstan(?)
Although some sources cite Athelstan as Ethelwulf’s eldest son, he has almost certainly been confused with Athelstan, son of King Egbert, as the details of his life are identical. It is therefore improbable that Ethelwulf actually had a son called Athelstan.
2
King Ethelbald(
3
King Ethelbert(
4
King Ethelbert I(
5
King Alfred(
6 Ethelswitha
She married, after 2 April, 853 (or 854/5), Burgred, King of Mercia ( d.874) at the Palace of Chippenham, Wiltshire. Shortly after her widowhood in 874, she became a nun. She went on a pilgrimage to Rome in 888/9, but died in Paris on the way there. She was buried at either Pavia or Ticino in Italy.
Ethelwulf married secondly, on 1 or 15 October, 856, at Verberie sur Oise, France:
Judith
She was the daughter of Charles II, King of the Franks, by Ermentrude, daughter of Odo, Count of Orléans. She was born in c.843/4, and was crowned Queen of Wessex on her wedding day.
In 860, she married secondly her stepson, King Ethelbald (
In c.863, she married thirdly Baldwin I, Count of Flanders ( d.c.879), at Auxerre, France, and had issue:
1 Charles (died young).
2 Baldwin II, Count of Flanders (
d.918), who married Elfrida of Wessex (
3 Rudolf, Count and Abbot of Cambrai.
4 Gunhilda, who married Wilfred I, Count of Barcelona ( d.897).
Judith died in c.870.
ETHELWULF
He died on 13 January (or late in the year), 858, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral.