Wikipedia
Æthelwulf ( Old English for "Noble Wolf") was King of Wessex from 839 to 858. In 825 his father, King Egbert, defeated King Beornwulf of Mercia, ending a long Mercian dominance over Anglo-Saxon England south of the Humber. Egbert sent Æthelwulf with an army to Kent, where he expelled the Mercian sub-king and was appointed sub-king. After 830, Egbert maintained good relations with Mercia, and this was continued by Æthelwulf when he became king in 839, the first son to succeed his father as West Saxon king since 641.
The Vikings were not a major threat to Wessex during Æthelwulf's reign. In 843 he was defeated in a battle against the Vikings at Carhampton in Somerset, but achieved a major victory at the Battle of Aclea in 851. In 853 he joined a successful Mercian expedition to Wales to restore the traditional Mercian hegemony, and in the same year his daughter Æthelswith married King Burgred of Mercia. In 855 Æthelwulf went on pilgrimage to Rome. In preparation he gave a "decimation", donating a tenth of his personal property to his subjects; he appointed his eldest surviving son Æthelbald to act as King of Wessex in his absence, and his next son Æthelberht to rule Kent and the south-east. Æthelwulf spent a year in Rome, and on his way back he married Judith, the daughter of the West Frankish King Charles the Bald.
When Æthelwulf returned to England, Æthelbald refused to surrender the West Saxon throne, and Æthelwulf agreed to divide the kingdom, taking the east and leaving the west in Æthelbald's hands. On Æthelwulf's death in 858 he left Wessex to Æthelbald and Kent to Æthelberht, but Æthelbald's death only two years later led to the re-unification of the kingdom.
In the twentieth century Æthelwulf's reputation among historians was poor: he was seen as excessively pious and impractical, and his pilgrimage was viewed as a desertion of his duties. Historians in the twenty-first century see him very differently, as a king who consolidated and extended the power of his dynasty, commanded respect on the continent, and dealt more effectively than most of his contemporaries with Viking attacks. He is regarded as one of the most successful West Saxon kings, who laid the foundations for the success of his son, Alfred the Great.
Æthelwulf (died 858) was King of Wessex from 839 until his death.
Æthelwulf may also refer to:
- Æthelwulf of Elmham (died after 781), Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Elmham
- Æthelwulf of Selsey (died c. 824), Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Selsey
- Æthelwulf of Berkshire (before 825–871), Saxon Ealdorman who won the Battle of Reading
- Adulf (died c. 680), Anglo-Saxon cleric and saint
- Athulf (died after 1013), Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Hereford