Ecgberht, King of Wessex

Ecgberht spent the 780s in exile at Charlemagne's court, driven out by Offa of Mercia and Beorhtric of Wessex. When Beorhtric died in 802, he returned and claimed the throne. For two decades he kept Wessex independent while Mercia dominated the south, then in 825 he defeated Beornwulf at the Battle of Ellandun and ended Mercian supremacy, taking control of the southeastern kingdoms. In 829 he drove Wiglaf of Mercia from his throne and received the submission of Northumbria at Dore; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle called him bretwalda, wide-ruler of the Anglo-Saxon lands. Wiglaf reclaimed Mercia within a year, but Ecgberht kept Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, handing them to his son Æthelwulf as a subking. When Ecgberht died in 839, Æthelwulf inherited a stronger Wessex, and his line ruled England without break until 1013.