Editing Æthelwulf, King of Wessex (section)

== Death and succession ==
Æthelwulf died on 13 January 858. According to the ''[[Annals of St Neots]]'', he was buried at [[Steyning]] in [[Sussex]], but his body was later transferred to Winchester, probably by Alfred.{{sfn|Smyth|1995|p=674, n. 81}}{{efn|Some of Æthelwulf's bones may be in Winchester Cathedral. One of six mortuary chests near the altar has his name, but the bones were mixed up when they were thrown around by parliamentary soldiers during the [[English Civil War]].{{sfn|Notes & Queries about the Mortuary Chests}} }} As Æthelwulf had intended, he was succeeded by Æthelbald in Wessex and Æthelberht in Kent and the south-east.{{sfn|Keynes|Lapidge|1983|p=72}} The prestige conferred by a Frankish marriage was so great that Æthelbald then wedded his step-mother, Judith, to Asser's retrospective horror; he described the marriage as a "great disgrace", and "against God's prohibition and Christian dignity".{{sfn|Nelson|2004a}} When Æthelbald died only two years later, Æthelberht became King of Wessex as well as Kent, and Æthelwulf's intention of dividing his kingdoms between his sons was thus set aside. In the view of Yorke and Abels, this was because Æthelred and Alfred were too young to rule, and Æthelberht agreed in return that his younger brothers would inherit the whole kingdom on his death,{{sfnm|1a1=Yorke|1y=1990|1pp=149-50|2a1=Abels|2y=2002|2pp=90–91}} whereas Kirby and Nelson think that Æthelberht just became the trustee for his younger brothers' share of their father's bequest.{{sfnm|1a1=Kirby|1y=2000|1pp=167–69|2a1=Nelson|2y=2004a}}

After Æthelbald's death, Judith sold her possessions and returned to her father, but two years later she eloped with [[Baldwin I, Count of Flanders|Baldwin, Count of Flanders]]. In the 890s their son, also called [[Baldwin II, Count of Flanders|Baldwin]], married Alfred's daughter, [[Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders|Ælfthryth]].{{sfn|Nelson|2004a}}