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[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 21, Ed. 1, Tree #1186, Date of Import: Apr 26, 1999]
First of the Wessex rulers to become King of England. Honor passed to
him on the death of King Offa, of Mercia. He was the first Saxon king
recognized as sovereign of all England(828-839). He was the son of a
Kentish noble but claimed descent from Cerdic(reigned 519-534), founder
of Wessex, the kingdom of the West Saxons in southern England. Egbert
lived in exile at the court of Charlemagne. Egbert regained his kingdom
in 802. He conquered the neighboring kingdoms of Kent, Cornwall, and
Mercia, and by 830 he was also acknowledged as sovereign of East Anglia,
Sussex, Surrey, and Northumbria and was given the title of
Bretwalda(Anglo-Saxon, "ruler of the British"). During succeeding years
Egbert led expeditions against the Welsh and the Vikings. The year
before his death he defeated a combined force of Danes and Welsh at
Hingston Down in Cornwall. He was succeeded by his son Ethelwulf, the
father of Alfred