Æthelwulf, king of the West Saxons

Events

Date of Birth: unknown.

Place of Birth: unknown.

Date of Death: early in 858.

Place of Death: unknown.

The date is given by Nelson. Baldwin states that the date was probably 13 January.

Place of Burial: Steyning, Sussex (later transferred to Winchester).

The place is given by Nelson.

Relationships

Father: Ecgberht (died 839), king of the West Saxons.

This relationship is given by Nelson and by Edwards. It is recorded in Anglo-Saxon charters S278, S279, S323, S358, S384, and S1438; in Asser’s Vita Alfredi 1.7; in Æthelweard’s Chronicle (iii.3, iii.4); in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle s.a. 784 (F), s.a. 823 (A,D,E,F), s.a. 836 (A,C), s.a. 855 (A,D); and in other sources.

Mother: unknown.

Spouse: Osburh.

This relationship is given by Nelson.

Spouse: Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald. Married 1 October 856 at Verberie, near Senlis.

Children (by Osburh):

(Complete source citations for the children on this page are currently outside the scope of this project. Most information below comes from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography articles and Baldwin.)

Æthelbeald (died 860), king of the West Saxons. Married Judith, his father’s widow.

Æthelswith married Burgred, king of Mercia, in 853.

Æthelbeorht (died 865), king of the West Saxons.

Æthelred I (died shortly after Easter, 871), king of the West Saxons.

Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxons. Married Ealhswith.

References

Anglo-Saxons.net [Gives transcriptions of Old English charters]

Asser. Life of King Alfred (William Henry Stevenson ed.) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1904).

Baldwin, Stewart. “Æthelwulf” in The Henry Project. [accessed 8 June 2014]

British Library Digitised Manuscripts.

“Æthelwulf 1” on the Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England website. [accessed 9 June 2014]

Edwards, Heather. “Ecgberht (d. 839)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Giles, J.A. (trans. and ed.) “Ethelwerd’s Chronicle” in Old English Chronicles (London: George Bell & Sons, 1906).

Miller, Sean. “Æthelbald (d. 860)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Miller, Sean. “Æthelbert (d. 865)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Miller, Sean. “Æthelred I (d. 871)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Nelson, Janet L. “Æthelwulf (d. 858)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Nelson, Janet L. “Osburh (fl. 839)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Plummer, Charles (ed.) Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel: A Revised Text (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892-1899).

Wormald, Patrick. “Alfred (848/8-899)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).