EGBERT, styled the Great, king of the Weak Saxons, was, accord ing to the Saxon Chronicle, the son of Alckmund, whose deacent is traced up through Esa, 6r Eata, and Eoppa, to Inigisil, or Ingild, the brother of the great Ina, and the undoubted descendant of Cerdic. The 'Chronicle' states Alckmund to have reigned iu Kent; but this point, as well as the whole of the genealogy of Egbert, must be con sidered as doubtful. All that can be certainly affirmed is, that he was of the blood of Cerdic, and that he eventually came to be regarded as the representative, if not the ouly remaining male deacoudant of that founder of the royal house of Wessex. When 13eohrtric, or Brihtric, became king in 786, Egbert, then very young, or his friends for him, had claimed the throne. Brihtric is said to have eoon after made au attempt on his life, upon which lie took refuge at the court of Offa, the powerful king of Marcia. After a short time however he lost Offa'a protection, on Brihtric marrying Eadburga, the daughter of that king. Egbert then fled to France, where he was received by the Emperor Charlemagne, and at hia court ho abode till the death of L'rihtrio in 800. He was then recalled, and by the unanimous vote of the witan appointed to the vacant throne. William of Malmesbury, who wrote iu the 12th century, is the only authority for this history of Egbert'a early life. He says, that besides other accomplishments be learned the art of war under Charletriagne, in whose armies he served for three years.
At the date of Egbert's accession the Saxon states in England were reduced to three independent aovereignties : Northumbria, compre hending what had occasionally been the aeparate kingdoms of Heirs and Bernicia ; Marcia, which had reduced to subjection Kent, Essex, and East Anglia ; and Wessex, with which Sussex had become incor porated. Of these three powers, Northumbria was torn by internal dissensions, and probably was indebted for the preservation of its inde pendence chiefly to the rivalry between the other two. The conquests and the able rule of Offa however had raised Mercia to a decided pre eminence over Wessex ; and at this time the Mercian throne was occupied by Cenwulf, who was well qualified to wield the sceptre of Offa, and who had even extended the territory which be had inherited from that king. The two states were at war when Egbert became king; but a peace was soon concluded between them ; and so long as Cenwulf lived Egbert made no attempt at conqueat over any part of Salon Englaud. For the first nine years of his reign indeed he seems not to have drawn his aword. He then (809) engaged in war against the alien tribes that still remained unsubdued.in the west ; and between that year and 814 he is recorded to have subjugated, or at least overrun and reduced to temporary submissiou, all Cornwall (including Devon) and South Wales. But soon after the death of Cenwulf in 819 we find him entering upon a new career. In 823 a dispute about the succeasion to the Mercian crown raised the East Angles in revolt. Egbert'a aid, upon being applied for, was readily
given to the insurgents ; and a great battle took place at Ellendune (aupposed to be Wilton), which ended in the complete defeat of the Mercies's. Essex and Kent were immediately seized by Egbert, or voluntarily submitted to him. The East Angles iu the meantime he professed to leave independent; and Mercia itself he did not think yet sufficiently weakened to be attacked with effect. A continuance of the dispute about the auccessiou however, and another revolt of the East Angles, aoon produced the state of things he waited for. Iu 827 he marched against Mercia ; Wiglaf, the king, fled on his approach to the monastery of Croyland, but soon after made his submiaaion, and was permitted to retaiu his kingdom aa the vassal or tributary of Egbert. Egbert appeara to have now taken East Anglia under his own immediate government He is affirmed by Bede to have subjected to hia rule all England to the south of the Humber. Without leas of time also he led his army againat the Northumbrians ; their king, Eanred, offered no resistance ; but meeting Egbert at a place called Dore, to the north of the Humber, acknowledged him as Bretwalda. He is the eighth Saxon king who is atated to have acquired this dignity ; the last was the Northumbrian king Oswio.
In the last year of the reign of Egbert several of those descents of the Dance or northern pirates were made upon the English coasts, which produced so much public confusion and calamity when renewed in the times of his son and his grandsons. In 832 they ravaged the Iale of Sheppey; and next year, appearing with a fleet of five-and thirty sail in the river Dart, they landed and defeated a force that Egbert sent against them. When they returned however in 835, and landed iu Cornwall, they and a number of the people of that district whom they had induced to join them, sustained a decisive overthrow from the king of Wessex in person. Egbert died the next year (836), after a reign of thirty-seven years and seven months, leaving his dominions between his eldest son Ethelwulf and Athelstano, who appears to have been the son of Ethelwulf. [ETurtavorm.) Egbert is commonly said to have been the first Anglo-Saxon king who called himself ' King of the Angles,' or of England; but though a charter exists in which he is styled Rex Anglorum, in general both he and h:s successors down to Alfred inclusive call themselves only kings of the West Saxons. And although Egbert asserted a supremacy over the other statea, which remained ever after with his kingdom of Wessex, it is to be recollected that he did not incorporate either Mercia or Northumbria with his own domioions. It does not appear that he even asaumed to hisnaelf the appointment of the kings of thoso statea. The reigning families aeons to have continued iu possession, with merely an acknowledgment of hia supremacy aa Bretwalda.