Æthelberht, King of Wessex

Æthelberht was the third son of King Æthelwulf by his first wife, Osburh, first recorded as a witness to a charter in 854. The following year his father went on pilgrimage to Rome and appointed the oldest surviving son, Æthelbald, as king of Wessex while Æthelberht became king of the recently conquered territory of Kent. He may have surrendered his position when his father returned but resumed the south-eastern kingship when Æthelwulf died in 858. When Æthelbald died in 860, Æthelberht united both territories under his rule - Wessex and Kent were fully united for the first time, with no sub-king appointed. He appears to have been on good terms with his younger brothers, the future kings Æthelred I and Alfred the Great. Viking raids came during his reign, but they were minor compared with the invasions after his death. He died in the autumn of 865 and was buried next to Æthelbald at Sherborne Abbey in Dorset.