Editing Æthelwulf, King of Wessex (section)

== King of Wessex ==
[[File:Æthelwulf - MS Royal 14 B V.jpg|thumb|Depiction of Æthelwulf in the late-13th-century ''Genealogical Chronicle of the English Kings'']]

When Æthelwulf succeeded to the throne of Wessex in 839, his experience as sub-king of Kent had given him valuable training in kingship, and he in turn made his own sons sub-kings.{{sfn|Yorke|1990|pp=168–69}} According to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', on his accession "he gave to his son Æthelstan the kingdom of the people of Kent, and the kingdom of the East Saxons [Essex] and of the people of Surrey and the South Saxons [Sussex]". However, Æthelwulf did not give Æthelstan the same power as his father had given him, and although Æthelstan attested his father's charters{{efn|To attest a charter was to witness a grant of land by the king. The attesters were listed by the scribe at the end of the charter, although usually only the most high-ranking witnesses were included.}} as king, he does not appear to have been given the power to issue his own charters. Æthelwulf exercised authority in the south-east and made regular visits there. He governed Wessex and Kent as separate spheres, and assemblies in each kingdom were only attended by the nobility of that country. The historian [[Janet Nelson]] says that "Æthelwulf ran a [[Carolingian Empire|Carolingian]]-style family firm of plural realms, held together by his own authority as father-king, and by the consent of distinct élites." He maintained his father's policy of governing Kent through ealdormen appointed from the local nobility and advancing their interests, but gave less support to the church.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1993|1pp=124–27|2a1=Nelson|2y=2004a}} In 843, Æthelwulf granted ten hides at [[Little Chart]] to Æthelmod, the brother of the leading Kentish ealdorman Ealhere, and Æthelmod succeeded to the post on his brother's death in 853.{{sfn|Brooks|1984|pp=147–49}} In 844, Æthelwulf granted land at [[Chartham#Horton|Horton]] in Kent to Ealdorman Eadred, with permission to transfer parts of it to local landowners; in a culture of reciprocity, this created a network of mutual friendships and obligations between the beneficiaries and the king.{{sfnm|1a1=Abels|1y=1998|1pp=32–33|2a1=S 319}} Archbishops of Canterbury were firmly in the West Saxon king's sphere. His ealdormen enjoyed a high status and were sometimes placed higher than the king's sons in lists of witnesses to charters.{{sfn|Abels|1998|p=271}} His reign is the first for which there is evidence of royal priests,{{sfn|Pratt|2007|p=64}} and [[Malmesbury Abbey]] regarded him as an important benefactor, who is said to have been the donor of a shrine for the relics of [[Aldhelm|Saint Aldhelm]].{{sfn|Kelly|2005|pp=13, 102}}

After 830, Ecgberht followed a policy of maintaining good relations with Mercia, and this was continued by Æthelwulf when he became king. London was traditionally a Mercian town, but in the 830s it was under West Saxon control; soon after Æthelwulf's accession, it reverted to Mercian control.{{sfn|Keynes|1993|pp=127–28}} King Wiglaf of Mercia died in 839 and his successor, [[Beorhtwulf of Mercia|Berhtwulf]], revived the Mercian mint in London; the two kingdoms appear to have struck a joint issue in the mid-840s, possibly indicating West Saxon help in reviving Mercian coinage, and showing the friendly relations between the two powers. Berkshire was still Mercian in 844, but by 849 it was part of Wessex, as Alfred was born in that year at the West Saxon royal estate in [[Wantage]], then in Berkshire.{{sfnm|1a1=Kirby|1y=2000|1pp=160–61|2a1=Keynes|2y=1998|2p=6|3a1=Booth|3y=1998|3p=65}}{{efn|The scholar James Booth suggests that the part of Berkshire where Alfred was born may have been West Saxon territory throughout the period.{{sfn|Booth|1998|p=66}} }} However, the local Mercian ealdorman, also called [[Æthelwulf of Berkshire|Æthelwulf]], retained his position under the West Saxon kings.{{sfn|Abels|1998|p=29}} Berhtwulf died in 852 and cooperation with Wessex continued under Burgred, his successor as King of Mercia, who married Æthelwulf's daughter Æthelswith in 853. In the same year, Æthelwulf assisted Burgred in a successful attack on Wales to restore the traditional Mercian hegemony over the Welsh.{{sfn|Kirby|2000|p=161}}

In 9th-century Mercia and Kent, royal charters were produced by religious houses, each with its own style, but in Wessex, there was a single royal diplomatic tradition, probably by a single agency acting for the king. This may have originated in Ecgberht's reign, and it becomes clear in the 840s when Æthelwulf had a Frankish secretary called Felix.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1994|1pp=1109–23|2a1=Nelson|2y=2004a}} There were strong contacts between the West Saxon and Carolingian courts. The ''[[Annales Bertiniani|Annals of St Bertin]]'' took particular interest in Viking attacks on Britain, and in 852 [[Lupus Servatus|Lupus]], the Abbot of [[Ferrières Abbey|Ferrières]] and a protégé of Charles the Bald, wrote to Æthelwulf congratulating him on his victory over the Vikings and requesting a gift of lead to cover his church roof. Lupus also wrote to his "most beloved friend" Felix, asking him to manage the transport of the lead.{{sfnm|1a1=Nelson|1y=2013|1pp=236–38|2a1=Stafford|2y=1981|2p=137}} Unlike Canterbury and the south-east, Wessex did not see a sharp decline in the standard of Latin in charters in the mid-9th century, and this may have been partly due to Felix and his continental contacts.{{sfn|Ryan|2013|p=252}} Lupus thought that Felix had great influence over the King.{{sfn|Nelson|2004a}} Charters were mainly issued from royal estates in counties which were the heartland of ancient Wessex, namely Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire, and [[Dorset]], with a few in Kent.{{sfn|Abels|1998|p=52}}

An ancient division between east and west Wessex continued to be important in the 9th century; the boundary was [[Selwood Forest]] on the borders of Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire. The two bishoprics of Wessex were Sherborne in the west and [[Bishop of Winchester|Winchester]] in the east. Æthelwulf's family connections seem to have been west of Selwood, but his patronage was concentrated further east, particularly on Winchester, where his father was buried, and where he appointed [[Swithun]] to succeed [[Helmstan]] as bishop in 852–853. However, he made a grant of land in Somerset to his leading ealdorman, Eanwulf, and on 26 December 846, he granted a large estate to himself in [[South Hams]] in west Devon. He thus changed it from [[royal demesne]], which he was obliged to pass on to his successor as king, to [[Bookland (law)|bookland]], which could be transferred as the owner pleased, so he could make land grants to followers to improve security in a frontier zone.{{sfnm|1a1=Yorke|1y=1995|1pp=23–24, 98–99|2a1=Nelson|2y=2004a|3a1=Finberg|3y=1964|3p=189}}