Editing Æthelwulf, King of Wessex (section)

== Family ==
Æthelwulf's father Ecgberht was king of Wessex from 802 to 839. His mother's name is unknown, and he had no recorded siblings. He is known to have had two wives in succession, and so far as is known, [[Osburh]], the senior of the two, was the mother of all his children. She was the daughter of Oslac, described by [[Asser]], biographer of their son Alfred the Great, as "King Æthelwulf's famous butler",{{efn|Keynes and Lapidge comment: "The office of the butler (''pincerna'') was a distinguished one, and its holders were likely to have been important figures in the royal court and household".{{sfn|Keynes |Lapidge|1983|pp=229–30}} }} a man who was descended from [[Jutes]] who had ruled the [[Isle of Wight]].{{sfn|Nelson|2004a}}{{sfn|Nelson|2004b}} Æthelwulf had six known children. His eldest son, [[Æthelstan of Kent|Æthelstan]], was old enough to be appointed King of Kent in 839, so he must have been born by the early 820s, and he died in the early 850s.{{efn|Æthelstan was sub-king of Kent ten years before Alfred was born, and some late versions of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' make him the brother of Æthelwulf rather than his son. This has been accepted by some historians but is now generally rejected. It has also been suggested that Æthelstan was born of an unrecorded first marriage, but historians generally assume that he was Osburh's son.{{sfnm|1a1=Hodgkin|1y=1935|1pp=497, 721|2a1=Stenton |2y=1971|2p=236, n. 1|3a1=Abels|3y=1998|3p=50|4a1=Nelson|4y=2004b}} }} The second son, Æthelbald, is first recorded as a [[Anglo-Saxon charters|charter]] witness in 841, and if, like Alfred, he began to attest when he was around six, he would have been born around 835; he was King of Wessex from 858 to 860. Æthelwulf's third son, Æthelberht, was probably born around 839 and was king from 860 to 865. The only daughter, Æthelswith, married Burgred, King of Mercia, in 853.{{sfn|Abels|1998|p=50}} The other two sons were much younger: [[Æthelred of Wessex|Æthelred]] was born around 848 and was king from 865 to 871, and Alfred was born around 849 and was king from 871 to 899.{{sfn|Miller|2004}} In 856, Æthelwulf married Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, King of [[West Francia]] and future [[Carolingian Empire|Carolingian Emperor]], and his wife [[Ermentrude of Orléans|Ermentrude]]. Osburh had probably died, although it is possible that she had been repudiated.{{efn|Nelson states that it is uncertain whether Osburh died or had been repudiated,{{sfn|Nelson|2004a}} but Abels argues that it is "extremely unlikely" that she was repudiated, as [[Hincmar]] of Rheims, who played a prominent role in Æthelwulf's and Judith's marriage ceremony, was a strong advocate of the indissolubility of marriage.{{sfn|Abels|1998|p= 71, n. 69}} }} There were no children from Æthelwulf's marriage to Judith, and after his death, she married his eldest surviving son and successor, Æthelbald.{{sfn|Nelson|2004a}}