General Notes

Name Prefix:<NPFX> King
He became "subregulus" of Kent, Essex, Sussex and Surrey i
n 825
or 828 and succeeded his father as King of Wessex on 4 Fe
b 839.
He was crowned, probably that same year, at
Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey. In 855/6, he sesigned Wesse
x to
his son Ethelbald and confined his own authority to Kent, S
ussex
and Surrey as "subregulus'.
(Research):(e´thelwoolf, a´-) , d. 858, king of Wessex (839
-56), son and successor of Egbert; father of Æthelbert , Æt
helred , and Alfred . He was lord of Kent, Surrey, Sussex
, and Essex before his father's death in 839. As king of We
ssex he was compelled to defend his realm against constan
t Danish attacks, and he won a notable victory over them a
t Aclea in 851. He also campaigned against the Welsh. A ma
n of great piety, he went with his son Alfred to Rome in 85
5. In 856 he took as his second wife Judith, daughter of Ch
arles II (Charles the Bald) of France. Learning before hi
s return to England that his son Æthelbald, who had ruled i
n his absence, would resist his resumption of the kingship
, Æthelwulf left his son as king of Wessex and himself rule
d only in Kent and its dependencies, where Æthelbert succee
ded him. 
Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Copyright (c) 2004.