• General Notes

  [SUSANNA KEENE.FTW]
  
  1st king of all of England (s. of the Thames & Cotswalds) of
  Anglo-Saxon line.
  
  
  
  Studied statesmanship in exile at the Court of Charlemagne.
  
  
  REF: Univ of Hull db: The first King of all of England of the
  Anglo-Saxon line.  Reigned 802-839, began reign as Ecbert III
  King of Wessex.  In 800 at the death of KIng Brithric, Egbert
  was called by the voice of his countrymen to assume the gov't.
  of Wessex, & he subsequently succeeded in reducing all the
  Kingdoms of the Heptarchy under his sway. His reign, a long &
  glorious one, is memorable for the great victories he achieved
  over the Danes.  He is known both as Ecbert, KIng of England,
  and Ecbert III, King of Wessex.
  
  REF: Fighting Kings of Wessex, Baker: When his maternal uncle
  Eadberht Praen of Kent revolted from Mercian control in 798, he
  was captured, blinded & mutilated by Ceonwulf of Mercia,
  leaving Ecgbert as sole heir of the Kentish throne (thus
  uniting the rival houses of Ceawlin of Wessex & Aethilbert of
  Kent).  Upon Ceonwulf's invasion of Kent, Ecgbert took refuge
  in Gaul. When King Beorhtric of Wessex died (abt 802), Ecgbert
  had no serious competitors to the throne of Wessex either &
  promptly returned to England from the Continent. He waited on
  his claim to Kent, but on the very day he was elevated to King
  of Wessex, the Mercians crossed the Thames in force.  They were
  met by Alderman of Wiltshire Weohstan & held. Thus, Ecgbert was
  poised & ready to assume sovereignity of England.
  
  From same: In 825 Ecgbert seized Cornwall, before he could get
  back to Wessex, King Beornwulf of Mercia invaded Wessex.
  Ecgbert defeated him at Ellandune, & thereby restored the
  ancient kingdom borders of Wessex of Ine, holding all of
  England S of the Thames.  He then sent his son Aethilwulf into
  Kent to drive out Baldred, the Mercian regulus.  Not only Kent,
  Sussex & Surrey, but Essex too gave their submission to
  Aethilwulf. Suddenly Wessex was N of the Thames.  Then the King
  of the East Angles asked Ecgbert for protection vs. the
  Mercians; Beornwulf staked his chance on reducing East Anglia
  before Ecgbert could arrive; he failed.  Ecgbert arrived & slew
  Beornwulf & was suddenly the master of 1/3 of England. Four
  years of peace followed, then in 829 Ecgbert invaded & subdued
  Mercia and thus held all England up to the Humber; later in the
  year he invaded Northumbria, who offered him acceptable terms.
  Thus in three rapid, vigorous & complete campaigns, Ecgbert was
  master of all of England.  In 831, Ecgbert entered Wales &
  established some kind of supremacy or suzerainity.  He allowed
  Wiglaf of Mercia to return & hold the throne of Mercia.
  Ecgbert's hedgemony resulted in the unification of England as a
  political unit.  Although it would take a couple generations to
  build, never agin did the separate English kingdoms of the
  heptarchy regain full sovereignity & independence. From this
  time forward, England was one nation. His last campaign was to
  subdue Cornwall, which had revolted & joined the Danes in
  resistance to English rule. The A-S Chronicle says he won a
  great victory, & to be sure the Danes never  reached Wessex nor
  any points of strategic import, but it is equally true that
  Ecgbert never saw the Cornish Sea again.
  
  From same: We know nothing of Ecgbert's character other than
  his actions.  He seems to have been a man who acted strictly on
  the basis of practicalities, rather than passion.  He tended to
  the business at hand & got it done accordingly. As the Danes
  began their Viking raids, Ecgbert transformed England from
  weakened & disunited to a strong & united kingdom in sympathy
  with the Frankish empire of Charlemagne & his successors (& the
  last bastion of western Roman civilization) yet completely
  independent of it.

Details of Ecgbert's family with Redburga