General Notes

Name Prefix:<NPFX> King
He was the king of Wessex, 802-827, and was the king of all
England, 827-836. The male line of kings descends fromhim to
Edward the confessor and the female line to the present tim
e. He
had a half-sister St. Alburga who married Wulfstan, who was
perhaps Ealdorman of Wiltshire.In 829 Egbert succeeded Wigl
af as
king of Mercia, although he was expelled the following year
. His
bones are now in one of the mortuary chest in Winchester
Cathedral.
(Research):d. 839, king of Wessex (802-39). His name also a
ppears as Ecgberht. He was descended from Cerdic and was ap
parently an unsuccessful aspirant for the crown of Wessex a
gainst Beohtric (reigned 786-802). He took refuge at the co
urt of Offa of Mercia, but the alliance of Offa and Beohtri
c drove him to the Frankish court, where he may have spen
t three years. At Beohtric's death he became king of Wessex
, apparently without opposition. In 815 he harried Cornwall
, returning to defeat the Britons there again in 825. He al
so defeated King Beornwulf of Mercia at Ellandune (or Ellen
dun) in 825. He sent his son Æthelwulf and an army to Kent
, which was then made a dependency of Wessex. East Anglia s
ought Egbert's protection and revolted against Mercia. Beor
nwulf was killed in battle, and Mercia submitted (828?) t
o Egbert. He then (829?) secured the nominal submission o
f Northumbria without a battle. Later historians called hi
m the first king of England, an anachronistic title, for th
ere was no conception of a kingdom of England in his day. T
he extent of his power varied from kingdom to kingdom and f
rom year to year. After 834 he had to defend his realm agai
nst the Danes, and in his last battle (838) he again defeat
ed the Britons of Cornwall, who had allied themselves wit
h the Danes. Egbert was succeeded by his son, Æthelwulf. 
Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Copyright (c) 2004.
Egbert , is regarded as the first King of England. He reign
ed from 802 to 829 (839?). He was born about 775 and fled f
rom his cousin Brethrick, taking refuse in the court of Cha
rlemagne, where he stayed for about twelve years, serving a
s one of his captains. On the death of Brethrick, who was p
oisoned by his wife, Egbert returned to England. In 802 a
t Winchester he was crowned King of the West Saxons. He sub
dued West Wales, or Cornwall, defeated the King of Mercia a
t Ellandune, annexed Kent and in 829 he became overlord o
f all the English kings and gave the name of England to th
e whole realm. There are still in existence some coins stru
ck by Egbert, though these are now extremely rare. In 835 E
gbert defeated a formidable army of Danes at Hingston Dow
n in Cornwall, when they attempted to invade England. He di
ed in 839, and was buried at Westminster. He married Lady R
eadberga (Redburga).  He was succeeded by his son, Ethelwul
f.