Æthelred of Wessex

King Æthelred of Wessex (Old English: Æþelræd, sometimes rendered as Ethelred) (c. 840 – 23 April 871) was the fourth son of King Æthelwulf, and an older brother of Alfred the Great. He succeeded his brother, Æthelberht (Ethelbert), as King of Wessex and Kent in 865.^[1] He married Wulfrida and had two sons, Æthelwold, the elder, and Æthelhelm, the younger.

Æthelred was not able to control the increasing Danish raids on England. On 4 January 871 at the Battle of Reading, Ethelred suffered a heavy defeat.^[2] Although Æthelred was able to re-form his army in time to win a victory at the Battle of Ashdown,^[3] he suffered another defeat on 22 January at the Battle of Basing,^[4] and was killed at the Battle of Merton on 23 April 871.

Æthelred is buried at Wimborne in Dorset.^[5] Following his death, he was popularly regarded as a saint, but never canonised. He was succeeded by his brother, King Alfred the Great.^[6]

See also

• House of Wessex family tree
• List of monarchs of Kent
• Chronology of Kentish Kings

Notes

References

Printed

• Asser, John; Simon Keynes, Michael Lapidge (1983). Alfred the Great. Penguin Classics. ISBN 0140444092. 
• Babington, Anthony (1978). The rule of law in Britain from the Roman occupation to the present day. Published by B. Rose. ISBN 0859921085. 
• Chisholm, Hugh (1910). The Encyclopædia Britannica (11th Edition ed.). 
• Johnson, Rossiter; Charles Francis Horne, John Rudd (1905). The Great Events by Famous Historians. The National Alumni. 
• Lyon, Henry R. (1967). Alfred the Great. Volume XIV. Oxford University Press. 
• Oman, Charles W. C. (1972). A History of England. Ayer Publishing. ISBN 0836999207. 
• Oman, Charles W. C. (1910). England before the Norman Conquest. Methuen. 
• Stephen, Leslie; George Smith, Sidney Lee, Robert Blake (1889). Dictionary of national biography. Smith, Elder, & Co.