Æthelwulf was King of Wessex from 839 to 858. He was defeated in 843 in battle against the Vikings at Carhampton in Somerset, but achieved a major victory at the Battle of Aclea in 851. He went on pilgrimage to Rome in 855, leaving his eldest surviving son Æthelbald to act as King of Wessex in his absence. Æthelwulf stayed a year in Rome; on his way back he married Judith, the daughter of the West Frankish King Charles the Bald. When Æthelwulf returned to England, Æthelbald refused to surrender the throne, and Æthelwulf agreed to divide the kingdom, taking the east and leaving the west in Æthelbald's hands. Before the twenty-first century Æthelwulf's reputation among historians was poor: he was seen as excessively pious and impractical, and his pilgrimage was viewed as a desertion of his duties. Now historians see him as a king who consolidated and extended the power of his dynasty, and dealt more effectively than most of his contemporaries with Viking attacks. He is regarded as one of the most successful West Saxon kings, who laid the foundations for the success of his son, Alfred the Great. (Full article...)
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