Notes

EGBERT 827 – 839
Egbert (Ecgherht) was the first monarch to establish a stable and extensive rule over all of Anglo-Saxon England. Following his conquest of Mercia in 827, he controlled all of England south of the Humber. After further victories, he is recognised by the title Bretwalda, “ruler of the British”. He is buried at Winchester in Hampshire.

AETHELWULF 839-856
King of Wessex, son of Egbert and father of Alfred the Great. In 851 Aethelwulf defeated a Danish army at the battle of Oakley while his eldest son Althelstan fought and beat the Danes at sea off the coast of Kent, in what is believed to be the first naval battle. Athelwulf travelled to Rome with his son Alfred to see the Pope in 855.

AETHELBALD 856 – 860
Æthelbald was born around 834. He was crowned, after forcing his father to abdicate upon his return from pilgrimage to Rome. 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 is buried at Sherbourne Abbey in Dorset.

AETHELBERT 860 – 866
Became king following the death of his brother Æthelbald. Like his brother and his father, Aethelbert was crowned at Kingston-upon-Thames. He is buried at Sherborne Abbey.

AETHELRED I 866 – 871
He struggle with the Danes who had occupied York in 866. When the Danish Army moved south Wessex, so together with his brother Alfred, they fought several battles with the Vikings. Aethelred suffered serious injuries during the next major battle; he died of his wounds shortly after at Witchampton in Dorset, where he was buried.

ALFRED THE GREAT 871 – 899
Born at Wantage in Berkshire around 849, Alfred was well educated and is said to have visited Rome on two occasions. He had proven himself to be a strong leader in many battles, and as a wise ruler managed to secure five uneasy years of peace with the Danes, before they attacked Wessex again in 877. Alfred was forced to retreat to a small island in the Somerset Levels and it was from here that he masterminded his comeback, perhaps ‘burning the cakes‘ as a consequence. With major victories at Edington, Rochester and London, Alfred established Saxon Christian rule over first Wessex, and then on to most of England. To secure his hard won boundaries Alfred founded a permanent army and an embryonic Royal Navy. To secure his place in history, he began the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles.



EDWARD (The Elder) 899 – 924
Succeeded his father Alfred the Great. Edward retook southeast England and the Midlands from the Danes. Following the the death of his sister Aethelflaed of Mercia, Edward unites the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia. In 923, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles record that the Scottish King Constantine II recognises Edward as “father and lord”. The following year, Edward is killed in a battle against the Welsh near Chester. His body is returned to Winchester for burial.

ATHELSTAN 924 – 939
Son of Edward the Elder, Athelstan extended the boundaries of his kingdom at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937. In what is said to be one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on British soil, Athelstan defeated a combined army of Scots, Celts, Danes and Vikings, claiming the title of King of all Britain. The battle saw for the first time individual Anglo-Saxon kingdoms being brought together to create a single and unified England. Athelstan is buried in Malmesbury, Wiltshire.

EDMUND 939 – 946
Succeeded his half-bother Athelastan as king at the tender age of 18, having already fought alongside him at the Batlle of Brunanburh two years earlier. He re-established Anglo-Saxon control over northern England, which had fallen back under Scandinavian rule following the death of Athelstan. Aged just 25, and whilst celebrating the feast of Augustine, Edmund was stabbed by a robber in his royal hall at Pucklechurch near Bath. His two sons, Eadwig and Edgar, were perhaps considered too young to become kings.

EADRED 946 – 955
The son of Edward the Elder by his third marriage to Eadgifu, Eadred succeeded his brother Edmund following his premature death. He followed in the family tradition of defeating Norsemen, expelling the last Scandinavian King of York, Eric Bloodaxe, in 954. A deeply religious man, Eadred suffered a serious stomach ailment that would eventually prove fatal. Eadred died in his early 30s, unmarried and without an heir, at Frome in Somerset. He is buried in Winchester.