Ecgberht Wessex (775 - 839)

Born 0775 in Wessex, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 0839 at about age 64 in Wessex, England

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Biography

Ecgberht Wessex is a member of the House of Wessex.

Origins

Ecgberht was probably the son of Ealhmund, king of Kent. The name of his mother is not known. That of his father is recorded in a genealogy compiled during the reign of Alfred the Great for Ecgberht's son Aethelwulf, Alfred's father.^[1] It is also given in other Anglo-Saxon sources, including the opening section of Asser's life of King Alfred.^[2] These sources give Ealhmund's father as Eafa of Wessex. Some scholars believe that this Ealhmund was a different Ealhmund from Ealhmund king of Kent: see the discussion in Ecgberht's entries in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography^[3] and the Henry Project^[4] and on Ealhberht's WikiTree profile. That Ecgberht had close Kentish family associations seems confirmed by a statement in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles that his relatives had been wrongfully driven out of South-East England.^[5]

An addition in the margin to the year 786 entry in the Canterbury manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles states that in that year Ealhmund was in Kent, and that he was Ecgberht's father.^[6]

Earlier Life

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, before he became king, Ecgberht was driven into exile among the Franks for three years by Offa of Mercia and Beorhtric of Wessex,^[4][5] who ruled Wessex from 786 to 802.^[7]

Alison Weir, with no sourcing, states that Ecgberht became sub-king of Kent at some point in the period 790 to 796.^[8]

Marriage and Offspring

Ecgberht married. There is no clear evidence for his wife's name,^[9] though a late source names her as "Rædburh, regis Francorum sororia" - Rædburh, sister of the king of the Franks.^[10] and this is hesitantly reflected in Medlands.^[11] If she was a member of the Frankish royal family, the marriage probably took place while Ecgberht was in exile. They had at least one child:

• Æthelwulf^[3][4][11]

Some latish sources ascribe a daughter, Eadgyth. She is said in a manuscript of Polesworth Abbey, Warwickshire to have been the sister of "Athulphi" (Æthelwulf) and a nun of the abbey.^[11] In another source, which Dugdale says in his Monasticon Anglicanum was in the possession of John Ferrers of Tamworth in 1640, she is described as a daughter of Ecghbert.^[12] There are no reliable sources for her, and no good source for Ecgberht having a daughter called Eadgyth. This alleged daughter may be legendary.

Accession and Early Reign

In 802 king Beorhtric of Wessex died, and Ecgberht gained his kingdom.^[5] The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography^[3] speculates that Ecgberht gained the Wessex throne by conquest, on the basis that

• both Beorhtric and one of his leading Ealdorman died the same day according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, which might imply they died violently, but this is not what the Chronicles actually say: it states that they died in the same year;^[5]
• and that Beorhtric had combined with Offa of Mercia to drive Ecgberht into exile, so it was unlikely that Beorhtric would have named Ecgberht as successor.

There is no contemporary source to confirm that Ecgberht became king of Wessex by conquest.

Of the first two decades of Ecgberht's reign little is known except that he campaigned against the Cornish. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles record an extensive campaign in 815.^[5] Writing in the 13th century, the chronicler Roger of Wendover mentions earlier campaigns in the years 809 to 811.^[3] He must have established a significant degree of control over Cornwall, as he handed over a tenth of it for use by the Church.^[13]

Defeat of Mercia and Extension of Wessex Power

In 825 Ecgberht defeated the Mercians, who had hitherto had substantial control over south-east England, at Ellendun in Wiltshire. He then sent his son Æthelwulf to Kent, where he expelled king Baldred. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles record that the people of Kent and Surrey, along with the East and South Saxons (the people of Essex and Sussex) accepted the lordship of Ecgberht, from whose relatives they had been wrongly "forced away". The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles go on to say that the East Angles sought Ecgberht's help against Mercia. The East Anglians won a victory against the Mercians, the Mercian king Beornwulf dying in battle.^[5] Coinage confirms that Ecgberht gained control of Kent, though the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography thinks it likely the process of securing south-east England took a bit longer than is implied by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. By 830 Ecgberht made his son Æthelwulf sub-king of Kent.^[3]

In 829 Ecgberht briefly conquered Mercia, defeating its king Wiglaf, and may have been regarded in consequence as the "Bretwalda" or acknowledged senior Anglo-Saxon ruler in England, with Northumbria submitting to him.^[5] The recognition of Ecgberht as Bretwalda may be pro-Wessex exaggeration in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles^[3] and the list they give of Bretwaldas ignores the period of Mercian supremacy:^[13] but in any event Ecgberht's triumph was short-lived. In 830 Wiglaf regained Mercia and secured its independence.^[3][5][13]

Last Years of his Reign

In 830 Ecgberht campaigned in Wales: the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles state that he completely reduced the Welsh,^[5] though this again may be exaggeration.

The 830s saw Viking attacks. There was a raid on the isle of Sheppey in 835, and the next year Vikings defeated Ecgberht at Carhampton, Somerset. In 838 Vikings combined with Cornish forces but Ecgberht defeated them at Hingston, a little west of the river Tamar.^[5]

In 838, in a Council at Kingston, Ecgberht came to a favourable agreement with Ceolnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury: some estates were restored to Ceolnoth but Ecgberht gained a much larger amount of land that had belonged to minsters in Kent.^[3]

Ecgberht died in 839. His son Æthelwulf succeeded him as king of Wessex, while Æthelwulf's son Athelstan became sub-king of Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Essex.^[3][5] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles give the length of his reign as 37 years and seven months.^[5] William of Malmesbury gives his burial place as Winchester.^[11] His remains are believed to among those in royal mortuary chests in Winchester Cathedral.^[14][15]

Research Notes

Children

Ecgberht has previously been shown on WikiTree as father of Ceowulf Manneson. While this is found in some trees on the web, there is no evidence for the relationship. Ceowulf's name alone makes it extremely unlikely that he was a son of a king of Wessex, and the House of Wessex did not use patronymics.

Alison Weir^[8] states that Athelstan was son of Ecgberht rather than a grandson. It is more generally believed that Athelstan was son of Ecgberht's son Æthelwulf: see Athelstan's profile for sourcing.

Sources

1. ↑ The Henry Project, entry for Ealhmund
2. ↑ Asser. Life of King Alfred, translated by Albert S Cook, Ginn and Company, 1906, p. 1, Internet Archive
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Heather Edwards for 'Ecgberht [Egbert] (d. 839), print and online 2004
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} The Henry Project, entry for Ecgbeorht
5. ↑ ^{5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11} Michael Swanton (editor and translator). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, new edition, Phoenix Press, 2000, pp. 58-63
6. ↑ Michael Swanton, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, p. 52
7. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Heather Edwards for 'Beorhtric', print and online 2004
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Alison Weir. Britain's Royal Families, new Pimlico edition, Vintage Books, 2008, pp. 4-5
9. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Janet L Neslon for 'Æthelwulf', print and online 2004
10. ↑ The Henry Project, entry for Æthelwulf
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3} Charles Cawley. 'ECGBERHT, son of EALHMUND', entry in "Medieval Lands" database (accessed 4 July 2021)
12. ↑ William Dugdale. Monasticon Anglicanum, Vol. II, James Bohn, 1846, pp. 365-366, Google Books
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1 13.2} Frank Stenton. Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 1971, pp. 231-235
14. ↑ 'The riddle of Winchester Cathedral's skeletons', BBC News website, 18 May 2019, accessed 29 June 2021
15. ↑ Wikipedia: Burial_places_of_British_royalty

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Heather Edwards for 'Ecgberht [Egbert] (d. 839), print and online 2004
• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 17, pp. 148-151, entry for 'EGBERT, ECGBERHT, or ECGBRYHT (d. 839)', Wikisource
• The Henry Project, entry for Ecgbeorht
• Cawley, Charles. "Medieval Lands": A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families © by Charles Cawley, hosted by Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (FMG). See also WikiTree's source page for MedLands. Entry for ECGBERHT, son of EALHMUND
• Kirby, D P. The Earliest English Kings, revised edition, Routledge, 2000, especially pp. 155-161
• Wikipedia: Ecgberht, King of Wessex