Following his father’s death in 858, he married his widowed stepmother Judith, but under pressure from the church the marriage was annulled after only a year. He was crowned at Kingston-upon-Thames in southwest London, after forcing his father to abdicate upon his return from pilgrimage to Rome. The second son of Aethelwulf, Æthelbald was born around 834. A highly religious man, Athelwulf travelled to Rome with his son Alfred to see the Pope in 855. In 851 Aethelwulf defeated a Danish army at the battle of Oakley while his eldest son Aethelstan fought and defeated a Viking fleet off the coast of Kent, in what is believed to be “the first naval battle in recorded English history”.

King of Wessex, son of Egbert and father of Alfred the Great. A year before he died aged almost 70, he defeated a combined force of Danes and Cornish at Hingston Down in Cornwall. After further victories in Northumberland and North Wales, he is recognised by the title Bretwalda ( Anglo-Saxon, “ruler of the British”). Following his conquest of Mercia in 827, he controlled all of England south of the Humber. After returning from exile at the court of Charlemagne in 802, he regained his kingdom of Wessex.

There have been 63 monarchs of England and Britain spread over a period of approximately 1200 years.Įgbert (Ecgherht) was the first monarch to establish a stable and extensive rule over all of Anglo-Saxon England.

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