Person:Egbert of Wessex (1)

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Egbert (also spelled Ecgberht, Ecgbert or Ecgbriht; 769 or 771 – 839) was King of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839. His father was Ealhmund of Kent. In the 780s Egbert was forced into exile by Offa of Mercia and Beorhtric of Wessex, but on Beorhtric's death in 802 Egbert returned and took the throne.

Little is known of the first 20 years of Egbert's reign, but it is thought that he was able to maintain Wessex's independence against the kingdom of Mercia, which at that time dominated the other southern English kingdoms. In 825 Egbert defeated Beornwulf of Mercia and ended Mercia's supremacy at the Battle of Ellandun, and proceeded to take control of the Mercian dependencies in southeastern England. In 829 Egbert defeated Wiglaf of Mercia and drove him out of his kingdom, temporarily ruling Mercia directly. Later that year Egbert received the submission of the Northumbrian king at Dore. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle subsequently described Egbert as a bretwalda, or "Ruler of Britain".

Egbert was unable to maintain this dominant position, and within a year Wiglaf regained the throne of Mercia. However, Wessex did retain control of Kent, Sussex and Surrey; these territories were given to Egbert's son Æthelwulf to rule as a subking under Egbert. When Egbert died in 839, Æthelwulf succeeded him; the southeastern kingdoms were finally absorbed into the kingdom of Wessex after Æthelwulf's death in 858.

1. ↑ Egbert of Wessex, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. (Online: Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.).
2.   Anglo-Saxon Bishops, Kings & Nobles, Eng. 104, p. 342-43.
3.   The Royal Line of Succession, A16A225, p. 5-6.
4.   Keiser und Koenig Hist., Gen. Hist. 25, pt 1, p. 96-97.
5.   Hist. of the anglo-Saxons, Eng. 36, v. 1, p. 362-71.
6. ↑ (SHEP)A Short History of the English People, p.xxxiv.
7.   Ecgbeorht, King of Wessex, in Lundy, Darryl. The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.
8.   ECGBERHT, son of EALHMUND Under-King of Kent & his wife --- ([769/80]-4 Feb or [Jun] 839, bur Winchester Cathedral), in Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families.
9. ↑ Ecgbeorht, in Baldwin, Stewart, and Todd Farmerie. The Henry Project (King Henry II ): Ancestors of King Henry II.
10.   Only one of the above sources (Gen. Hist. 25) shows Edith as a child in this family claiming her as a founder of a cloister. On 18 July 1941 another child by the name of Alice was sealed to this couple, it being claimed she was the wife of Louis III, King of France. None of the above sources indicate a child bythat name in this family, but even if there was she could not have been the wifeof Louis III, since he was born in 860 and died 22 years of age. It is not likely he would have married a woman some 45 to 50 years his senior. Even if she hadbeen born right after her father's death, she would still be 21 years older than Louis III.