• General Notes

  TITLE:  King of WESSEX / ENGLAND
  NOTE:
  King from 802-839, he was first King of Wessex, but after defeating the Britons (Celts) of Wales and Cornwall, he was acknowledged ruler of Kent, Surrey, Essex, and East Anglia as well.He was educated at theCourt of Charlemagne, who had founded schools withthe most learned menof Europe, including Alcuin of England.
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  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, along & glorious one, is memorable for the great victories he achieved over the Danes. He is known both as Ecbert, KIng of England, and EcbertIII, King of Wessex.
  REF: Fighting Kings of Wessex, Baker: When his maternal uncle Eadberht Praen of Kent revolted from Mercian control in798, 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 also Essex too gave their submission to Aethilwulf. Suddenly Wessex was N of the Thames.Then the King of theEast Angles asked Ecgbert for protection vs.theMercians; 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 allEnglandup to the Humber;later in the year he invaded Northumbria, which offered him acceptable terms. Thus in three rapid, vigorous &complete campaigns, Ecgbert wasmaster 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 of generations to build,never again 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 theDanes 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 othert han hisactions.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 (King) Egbert's family with (Queen) Raedburh De CAROLINGIANS