Æthelwulf_of_Berkshire

Æthelwulf of Berkshire

Æthelwulf of Berkshire

Saxon ealdorman (before 825 – 871)

Æthelwulf of Berkshire (before 825 – 4 January, 871) was a Saxon ealdorman. In 860 he and other men of Berkshire fought off a band of pirates near Winchester, Hampshire.[1] Later he mustered a force of 1400 men against an army of Danes, won the 31 December 870 Battle of Englefield on behalf of the then kingdom of Wessex.[2] He received a land grant in 843/44 from Brihtwulf, king of Mercia; and lost his life at the Battle of Reading.[3][4]

Æthelweard, in his account of the battle, reveals a curious fact about Æthelwulf, master of the art of the ambush: he was a Mercian and not a West Saxon. Not only this, Æthelweard says:

"In fact, the body of the dux (leader) mentioned above was carried away secretly and taken into Mercia to the place called Northworthig, but Derby in the Danish tongue."[5]

References

  1. [1]
    Guy Points (2013). The Combined Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. Guy Points. pp. 30–. ISBN 978-0-9557679-2-0.
  2. [2]
    Timothy Venning (2014). The Kings & Queens of Anglo-Saxon England. Amberley Publishing Limited. pp. 119–. ISBN 978-1-4456-2459-4.
  3. [3]
    N.J. Higham; D.H. Hill (2013). Edward the Elder: 899–924. Routledge. pp. 113–. ISBN 978-1-136-34941-6.
  4. [4]
    Timothy Venning (2013). The Anglo-Saxon Age. Pen and Sword. pp. 72–. ISBN 978-1-78346-894-2.
  5. [5]
    Paul Hill (2009). The Viking Wars of Alfred the Great, p. 41. ISBN 978-1-59416-087-5.
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