Editing Ecgberht, King of Wessex (section)

=== Subregulus ===

In some cases a king will appear on a charter as a ''subregulus'' (subking or underking), making it clear that he has an overlord.<ref name = BlairRBaEE_14>Hunter Blair, ''Roman Britain'', pp. 14–15.</ref><ref name = Campbell_95_2>P. Wormald, "The Age of Bede and Æthelbald", in Campbell et al., ''The Anglo-Saxons'', pp. 95–98</ref> Cynewulf appears as "King of the West Saxons" on a charter of Offa's in 772,<ref name = CS_108>{{cite web|url = http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=108|title = Anglo-Saxons.net: S 108|publisher = Sean Miller|access-date = 8 August 2007 }}</ref> and in 779, he was defeated in [[battle of Bensington]] by Offa, but there is nothing else to suggest Cynewulf was not his own master, and he is not known to have acknowledged Offa as overlord.<ref name = Stenton_208>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 208–210.</ref> Offa did have influence in the southeast of the country: a charter of 764 shows him in the company of [[Heahberht of Kent]], suggesting that Offa's influence helped place Heahberht on the throne.<ref name = Kirby_165>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp. 165–169</ref> The extent of Offa's control of Kent between 765 and 776 is a matter of debate amongst historians, but from 776 until about 784 it appears that the Kentish kings had substantial independence from Mercia.<ref name = Kirby_165 /><ref name = Stenton_207>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 207.</ref>

Another Ecgberht, [[Ecgberht II of Kent]], ruled in that kingdom throughout the 770s; he is last mentioned in 779, in a charter granting land at [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]].<ref name=Kirby_165 /> In 784 a new king of Kent, Ealhmund, appears in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''. According to a note in the margin, "this king Ealhmund was Egbert's father [i.e. Ecgberht of Wessex], Egbert was Æthelwulf's father". This is supported by the genealogical preface from the A text of the ''Chronicle'', which gives Ecgberht's father's name as Ealhmund without further details. The preface probably dates from the late ninth century; the marginal note is on the F manuscript of the ''Chronicle'', which is a Kentish version dating from about 1100.<ref name = Swanton_58>Swanton, ''The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', pp. 58–63.</ref>

Ealhmund does not appear to have long survived in power: there is no record of his activities after 784. There is, however, the extensive evidence of Offa's domination of Kent during the late 780s, with his goals apparently going beyond overlordship to outright annexation of the kingdom,<ref name = "Kirby_165" /> and he has been described as "the rival, not the overlord, of the Kentish kings".<ref name = Kirby_167>Wormald, "Bede, the ''bretwaldas'' and the origins of the ''Gens Anglorum''", in Wormald et al., ''Ideal and Reality'', p. 113; quoted in Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p. 167., and n. 30.</ref> It is possible that the young Ecgberht fled to Wessex in 785 or so; it is suggestive that the ''Chronicle'' mentions in a later entry that [[Beorhtric]], Cynewulf's successor, helped Offa to exile Ecgberht.<ref name = Kirby_165 />

Cynewulf was murdered in 786. His succession was contested by Ecgberht, but he was defeated by Beorhtric, maybe with Offa's assistance.<ref name = Fletcher_114>Fletcher, ''Who's Who'', p. 114.</ref><ref>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 141.</ref> The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' records that Ecgberht spent three years in Francia before he was king, exiled by Beorhtric and Offa. The text says "iii" for three, but this may have been a scribal error, with the correct reading being "xiii", which is thirteen years. Beorhtric's reign lasted sixteen years, and not thirteen; and all extant texts of the ''Chronicle'' agree on "iii", but many modern accounts assume that Ecgberht did indeed spend thirteen years in Francia. This requires assuming that the error in transcription is common to every manuscript of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''; many historians make this assumption but others have rejected it as unlikely, given the consistency of the sources.<ref name = F_S>E.g. Fletcher assumes that Ecgberht spent essentially all Beorhtric's reign in Francia; see Fletcher, ''Who's Who'', p. 114. Similarly, Swanton annotates "3 years" with "in fact thirteen years . . . this error is common to all MSS."  See note 12 in Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', pp. 62–63. Naismith suggests that Ecgberht's exile may have occupied the thirteen-year period from 789, the year of Beorhtric's marriage with Offa's daughter, to 802, the year of his coming to power: see Naismith, p. 3. On the other hand, Stenton accepts the figure as three: see Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 220. Stenton adds in a footnote that "it is very dangerous to reject a reading which is so well attested".</ref> In either case Ecgberht was probably exiled in 789, when Beorhtric, his rival, married the daughter of Offa of Mercia.<ref name = Stenton_220>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 220.</ref>

At the time Ecgberht was in exile, Francia was ruled by Charlemagne, who maintained Frankish influence in Northumbria and is known to have supported Offa's enemies in the south. Another exile in Gaul at this time was Odberht, a priest, who is almost certainly the same person as [[Eadberht III Præn|Eadberht]], who later became king of Kent. According to a later chronicler, [[William of Malmesbury]], Ecgberht learned the arts of government during his time in Gaul.<ref name=Kirby_176>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp. 176–177.</ref>