In 829 Egbert invadedMercia and drove Wiglaf, the king of Mercia, into exile. This victory
gave Egbert control of the London mint, and he issued coins
as King of Mercia.
It was after this victory that the West Saxon scribe
described him as a "bretwalda",
meaning "wide-ruler" or "Britain-ruler", in a famous passage
in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The relevant part of the annal
reads, in the [C] manuscript of the Chronicle:
7 žy geare geeode Ecgbriht cing Myrcna rice 7 eall
žęt be sužan Humbre węs, 7 he węs eahtaža cing se še
Bretenanwealda węs.
In English:
And the same year King Egbert conquered the kingdom
of Mercia, and all that was south of the Humber, and he
was the eighth king who was 'Wide Ruler'.
The previous seven bretwaldas are also named by
the Chronicler, who gives the same seven names that Bede
lists as holding imperium, starting with
Ęlle of Sussex and ending with
Oswiu of Northumbria. The list is often thought to be
incomplete, omitting as it does some dominant Mercian kings
such as
Penda and Offa. The exact meaning of the title has been
much debated; it has been described as "a term of
encomiastic poetry"
but there is also evidence that it implied a definite role
of military leadership.
Later in 829, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
Egbert received the submission of the Northumbrians at Dore
(now a suburb of Sheffield); the Northumbrian king was
probably Eanred.
According to a later chronicler,
Roger of Wendover, Egbert invaded Northumbria and
plundered it before Eanred submitted: "When Egbert had
obtained all the southern kingdoms, he led a large army into
Northumbria, and laid waste that province with severe
pillaging, and made King Eanred pay tribute." Roger of
Wendover is known to have incorporated Northumbrian annals
into his version; the Chronicle does not mention these
events.
However, the nature of Eanred's submission has been
questioned: one historian has suggested that it is more
likely that the meeting at Dore represented a mutual
recognition of sovereignty.
In 830 Egbert led a successful expedition against the
Welsh, almost certainly with the intent of extending
West Saxon influence into the Welsh lands previously within
the Mercian orbit. This marked the high point of Egbert's
influence.
Reduction in influence after 829
In 830, Mercia regained its independence under Wiglafthe
Chronicle merely says that Wiglaf "obtained the kingdom of
Mercia again",
but the most likely explanation is that this was the result
of a Mercian rebellion against Wessex rule.
Egbert's dominion over southern England came to an end
with Wiglaf's recovery of power. Wiglaf's return is followed
by evidence of his independence from Wessex. Charters
indicate Wiglaf had authority in Middlesex and Berkshire,
and in a charter of 836 Wiglaf uses the phrase "my bishops,
duces, and magistrates" to describe a group that
included eleven bishops from the episcopate of Canterbury,
including bishops of sees in West Saxon territory.
It is significant that Wiglaf was still able to call
together such a group of notables; the West Saxons, even if
they were able to do so, held no such councils.
Wiglaf may also have brought Essex back into the Mercian
orbit during the years after he recovered the throne.
In East Anglia, King
Ęthelstan minted coins, possibly as early as 827, but
more likely c. 830 after Egbert's influence was reduced with
Wiglaf's return to power in Mercia. This demonstration of
independence on East Anglia's part is not unexpected, as it
was Ęthelstan who was probably responsible for the defeat
and death of both Beornwulf and Ludeca.
Both Wessex's sudden rise to power in the late 820s, and
the subsequent failure to retain this dominant position,
have been examined by historians looking for underlying
causes. One plausible explanation for the events of this
years is that Wessex's fortunes were to some degree
dependent on Carolingian support. The Franks supported
Eardwulf when he recovered the throne of Northumbria in
808, so it is plausible that they also supported Egbert's
accession in 802. At Easter 839, not long before Egbert's
death, he was in touch with
Louis the Pious, king of the Franks, to arrange safe
passage to Rome. Hence a continuing relationship with the
Franks seems to be part of southern English politics during
the first half of the ninth century.
Carolingian support may have been one of the factors that
helped Egbert achieve the military successes of the late
820s. However, the Rhenish and Frankish commercial networks
collapsed at some time in the 820s or 830s, and in addition,
a rebellion broke out in February 830 against Louis the
Pious; the first of a series of internal conflicts that
lasted through the 830s and beyond. These distractions may
have prevented Louis from supporting Egbert. In this view,
the withdrawal of Frankish influence would have left East
Anglia, Mercia and Wessex to find a balance of power not
dependent on outside aid.
Despite the loss of dominance, Egbert's military
successes fundamentally changed the political landscape of
Anglo-Saxon England. Wessex retained control of the
south-eastern kingdoms, with the possible exception of
Essex; and Mercia did not regain control of East Anglia.
Egbert's victories marked the end of the independent
existence of the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex. The conquered
territories were administered as a subkingdom for a while,
including Surrey and possibly Essex.
Although Ęthelwulf was a subking under Egbert, it is clear
that he maintained his own royal household, with which he
travelled around his kingdom. Charters issued in Kent
described Egbert and Ęthelwulf as "kings of the West Saxons
and also of the people of Kent", and when Ęthelwulf died in
858 his will, in which Wessex is left to one son and the
southeastern kingdom to another, makes it clear that it was
not until after 858 that the kingdoms were fully integrated.
Mercia remained a threat, however; Egbert's son Ęthelwulf,
established as king of Kent, gave estates to Christ Church,
Canterbury, probably in order to counter any influence the
Mercians might still have there.
In the southwest, Egbert was defeated in 836 at
Carhampton by the
Danes,
but in 838 he won a battle against them and their allies the
West Welsh at
Hingston Down in Cornwall. The Dumnonian royal line
continued after this time, but it is at this date that the
independence of the last British kingdom may be considered
to have ended.
The details of Anglo-Saxon expansion into Cornwall are quite
poorly recorded, but some evidence comes from the occurrence
of Anglo-Saxon place names.
Succession
At a council at Kingston-upon-Thames in 838, Egbert and
Ęthelwulf granted land to the sees of Winchester and
Canterbury in return for the promise of support for
Ęthelwulf's claim to the throne. The archbishop of
Canterbury,
Ceolnoth, also accepted Egbert and Ęthelwulf as the
lords and protectors of the monasteries under Ceolnoth's
control. These agreements, along with a later charter in
which Ęthelwulf confirmed church privileges, suggest that
the church had recognized that Wessex was a new political
power that must be dealt with.Churchmen consecrated the king at coronation ceremonies, and
helped to write the wills which specified the king's heir;
their support had real value in establishing West Saxon
control and a smooth succession for Egbert's line. Both the
record of the Council of Kingston, and another charter of
that year, include the identical phrasing: that a condition
of the grant is that "we ourselves and our heirs shall
always hereafter have firm and unshakable friendships from
Archbishop Ceolnoth and his congregation at Christ Church".
Although nothing is known of any other claimants to the
throne, it is likely that there were other surviving
descendants of Cerdic (the supposed progenitor of all the
kings of Wessex) who might have contended for the kingdom.
Egbert died in 839, and his will, according to the account
of it found in the will of his grandson,
Alfred the Great, left land only to male members of his
family, so that the estates should not be lost to the royal
house through marriage. Egbert's wealth, acquired through
conquest, was no doubt one reason for his ability to
purchase the support of the southeastern church
establishment; the thriftiness of his will indicates he
understood the importance of personal wealth to a king. The
kingship of Wessex had been frequently contested among
different branches of the royal line, and it is a noteworthy
achievement of Egbert's that he was able to ensure
Ęthelwulf's untroubled succession. In addition, Ęthelwulf's
experience of kingship, in the subkingdom formed from
Egbert's southeastern conquests, would have been valuable to
him when he took the throne
