ETIIELIVULF was the son of Egbert, whom he succeeded in the throne of Wessex and the supremacy over the other states of the Ileptarchy, in 836. The provinces of Kent, Essex, and Sussex, which Egbert had conquered and annexed to his dominions, and also that of Surrey, which had hitherto been included in Wessex, were at the same time formed into a separate but subordinate kingdom, and put under the government of Atbeistane, his eldest son. There is no older authority than that of Malmeabury (whose account is indisputably incorrect in several particulars and improbable in others) for the story that Ethelwulf was a monk at the time of his father's death. Ills early education is recorded to have been conducted first by Helm stan, bishop of Winobeeter, and afterwards by Swithin, whom, on coming to the throne, ho advanced to the same see ; and he had also served with distinction in the field in the lifetime of his father. When he succeeded to the crown he retained as his chief counsellor the able Alstan, bishop of Sherborne, who had been in great favour with Egbert. What has been preserved of the history of the first fourteen or fifteen years of the reign of Ethelwulf consists almost exclusively of the detail of a series of contests with the Danes, who now continued with incessant perseverance those descents upon the English coasts which they bad commenced in the preceding reign. In 837 three squadrons of them made attacks on different points nearly at the same time. Tho next year they landed again in great strength in Lincolnshire, and, after defeating the troops sent to oppose them, marched across and ravaged the country down to the Thames. In 839 three hard battles are recorded to have been fought at Rochester, Canterbury, and London, beeides an action at sea, near Charmouth, in which the English fleet, commanded by Ethelwulf in person, sustained a defeat. For some years after this however the Northmen, abandoning Britain, directed all their efforts against the coasts of France. But in the latter part of the year 850 a body of them landed in the Isle of Thanet, when, so ill-prepared was Ethelwnlf for the attack, that the foreigners were enabled for the first time to pass the winter in the country. In the spring of 851 they were joked by great numbers of their countrymen, and the whole multitude ascending the Thames in a fleet of 850 vessels, plundered Canterbury and London. They then penetrated into Surrey; but hero they were met by Etbehrulf at Okeley, and after a long and obstinate battle, were defeated with immense loss. They were soon after Worsted in another battle at Wenbury, in Devonshire, and also in a sea-fight near Sandwich by Athelstaoe, the king of Kent. The consequence was, that the Danes did not again make any attempt ou England during the reign of Etheiwuif.
In 852, on the death of Athelst.ano, the kingdom of Kent was assigned by Ethelwulf to his second eon, Ethe!ben, he himself retaining the chief eovereignty as before. The following year, at the request of
Boobred, or Burbred, king of Marcia, he led an army against the Welsh, and marched through their country as far as the Isle of Anglesey, com pelling them to acknowledge themselves the subjects of himself and Beohred. On the termination of this expedition ho gave his daughter Etbelsveitim in marriage to the king of Marcia. In 855 he undertook jouroey to Rome, accompanied by his youngest eon Alfred, who had been also carried to that city in the preceding year by bishop Swithin. Ou his return through France, Ethelwulf married Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, king of that country, although she had not yet reached her twelfth year. Meanwhile however his eldest son Ethelbald, taking advantage of his father's absence (whom perhaps he represented as being in his dotage), bad entered into a scheme for seizing the throne. It is said that among his accomplices was the prime minister Alatsu, and that he was also supported by the chief nobility, from which we may conjecture that the attempted revolution was not without some strong reasons in its favour. And although the return of Ethelwulf is said to have prevented the full success of the design, it was substan tially carried into effect. It was agreed at a solemn meeting of the Witan that Ethel!bald should become king of Wessex, and that Ethel wulf should reign as sovereign, with Ethelbert under him, in Kent and the other eastern provinces. It may be supposed that in his new position Ethelwulf enjoyed little more than a nominal authority. Ile spent the remainder of his days mostly in exercises of devotion, and died in 857 or 858. By his will, which was confirmed by the Witau, he left the kingdom of Kent to his second son Ethelbert, sod that of Wessex in succession to his other eons, Ethelbald, Ethelred, and Alfred.
One of the legislative acts of the reign of Ethelwulf has given rims to much discussion, namely, the grant which he made in 854 or 855, with the consent of the Witau, in favour of the church, and which was wont to be considered as the original foundation of the right of the clergy to the tithes; but this position is abandoned by recent authorities : it appears rather to be intended, as Turner thinks, as " a liberation of the land which the °lorgy had before been in possession of from all the services and payments to which the Anglo-Saxon lands were generally liable, or that it was an additional gift of land, not of tithes, either of the king's private patrimony, or of some other which is not explained." Palgrave contends that it was a grant of the tenth part of the land by metes and bounds, to be held free from all secular services; yet he admits that Huai nterpretation which construes the grant into an enfranchisement of all the lands which the church then possessed, is "not altogether void of probability." (' Eng. Com.,' p. 159.)