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Æthelberht, King of Wessex
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== Reign == The separation of Wessex and Kent was soon reversed as Æthelbald died childless in 860 and Æthelberht succeeded to the whole kingdom of Wessex and Kent. Æthelred and Alfred may have been intended to succeed in Wessex, but they were too young as the preference was for adults as kings, especially when Wessex was under threat from the Vikings.{{sfnm|1a1=Abels|1y=1998|1p=92|2a1=Miller|2y=2004b |3a1=Williams|3y=1979|3pp=145–46}} During Æthelberht's rule over the whole kingdom, Wessex and its recent south-eastern conquests became a united kingdom for the first time. Unlike his father and grandfather, Æthelberht did not appoint another member of his family as under-king of Kent. A Kentish [[Anglo-Saxon charters|charter]] issued in the first year of his reign (S 327) was the first to include a full complement both of West Saxon and Kentish attesters, although he then returned to locally attested charters.{{sfnm|1a1=Abels|1y=1998|1pp=93–94|2a1=Miller|2y=2004b}} The historian [[Simon Keynes]] sees this charter as: {{blockquote|a highly significant development. It is exceptional in naming not only the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Rochester (which is all that we might have been led to expect in a Kentish charter), but also the bishops of Sherborne, Winchester, Selsey and (most remarkably) London;{{efn|Selsey in Sussex was part of greater Wessex, but London was then a Mercian town.}} it is also exceptional in carrying the attestations of no fewer than ten ealdormen, from both the western and eastern parts of the kingdom. When placed in the context of other ninth-century West Saxon charters, this charter seems to reflect an assembly of a kind not previously seen and a kind of assembly which itself reflected the new arrangements for the unification of Wessex and the south-east.{{sfn|Keynes|1993|pp=128–29}}}} According to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', Æthelberht reigned "in good harmony and in great peace" and "in peace, love and honour".{{sfn|Huscroft|2019|p=24}} He appears to have been on good terms with his younger brothers and in a charter of 861 (S 330) he granted land to [[St Augustine's, Canterbury]], in return for the abbot's continuing loyalty to him, Æthelred, and Alfred. Some historians believe that the three brothers agreed that each would succeed to the throne in turn.{{sfn|Abels|2002|p=91}} In two charters in 862 and 863 (S 335 and S 336) Æthelred makes grants as king of the West Saxons and Æthelberht is not mentioned. In Keynes's view, Æthelberht may have delegated some power in Wessex, perhaps in his own absence. However, a charter of Æthelberht dated December 863 (S 333) is attested by Æthelred and Alfred as ''filius regis'' (king's son).{{sfn|Keynes|1994|pp=1129–30}} Æthelberht granted immunity from royal and judicial services to Sherborne church in honour of the souls of his father Æthelwulf and his brother Æthelbald.{{sfnm|1a1=Smyth|1y=1995|1pp=378–79|2a1=Robertson|2y=1939|2pp=16–19}} Unlike most charters, which were in Latin, this one is in [[Old English]], and historians disagree whether this reflects a trend towards greater use of the vernacular as better suited to recording legal documents or support for Alfred's later claim that knowledge of Latin had declined disastrously when he came to the throne in 871.{{sfnm|1a1=Smyth|1y=1995|1p=553|2a1=Yorke|2y=1995|2p=192}} Æthelberht's reign began and ended with raids by the Vikings. In 860, a Viking army sailed from the [[Somme (river)|Somme]] to England and sacked Winchester, but they were then defeated by the men of Hampshire and Berkshire. Probably in the autumn of 864, another Viking army camped on [[Isle of Thanet|Thanet]] and were promised money in return for peace, but they broke their promise and ravaged eastern Kent. These attacks were minor compared with events after Æthelberht's death, when the Vikings almost conquered England.{{sfnm|1a1=Kirby|1y=2000|1pp=172–73|2a1= Huscroft|2y=2019|2p=24}}
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