Aethelbald, King of Wessex

Aethelbald, the son of Aethelwulf and Osburga, was born in about 834
He married at Chester in about 860 Judith, daughter of Charles II the Bald, King of the Franks, widow of father, Aethelwulf

Aethelbald

Aethelbald succeeded his father, Aethelwulf, as King of Wessex in 858.

In 851 Aethelbald fought alongside his father at Ockley in battle with the Danes. They ‘made a  greatest carnage of a heathen army that we ever hear of’. In 856 his father left him in charge of Wessex and he succeeded as king there in 858 on his father's in death. His brother, Aethelbert, succeeded to Kent at the same time.

Though he was brought up as a Christian, Aethelbald disobeyed all convention at the time and married his stepmother, Judith of  the Franks.

He died in 860 and is buried in Sherborne Abbey, Dorset. He was succeeded by his brother, Aethelbert.