Egbert of Wessex
Egbert
King of Wessex
Egbert’s name, spelled Ecgbriht, from the 827
entry in the C manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle
Reign
802 — 839
Died
839
Buried
Winchester
Predecessor
Beorhtric
Successor
Æthelwulf
Offspring
Æthelwulf
Father
Ealhmund
Egbert (also spelled Ecgberht) (died 839)
was King of Wessex from 802 until 839. His
father was Ealhmund of Kent. In the 780s Eg-
bert 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 twenty 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 at the battle of Ellendun, and pro-
ceeded to take control of the Mercian de-
pendencies 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 re-
ceived the submission of the Northumbrian
king at Dore, near Sheffield. The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle subsequently described Egbert as
a bretwalda, or "Ruler of Britain".
Egbert was unable to maintain this domin-
ant position, and within a year Wiglaf re-
gained the throne of Mercia. However,
Wessex did retain control of Kent, Sussex and
Surrey; these territories were given to Eg-
bert’s son Æthelwulf to rule as a subking un-
der Egbert. When Egbert died in 839, Æthel-
wulf succeeded him; the southeastern king-
doms were finally absorbed into the kingdom
of Wessex after Æthelwulf’s death in 858.
Family
The earliest version of the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, the Parker Chronicle, begins with
a genealogical preface tracing the ancestry
of Egbert’s son Æthelwulf back through Eg-
bert, Ealhmund (thought to be Ealhmund of
Kent), and the otherwise unknown Eoppa and
Eafa to Ingild, brother of king Ine of Wessex,
who abdicated the throne in 726. It continues
back to Cerdic, founder of the House of W