Æthelbald: Wessex Continues to Rule
Æthelbald, birth c. 834/crowned King of Wessex, 855 at age c. 21/death 860 at age c. 26/spouse, Judith of Flanders, married in 858
House: Wessex/Father, Æthelwulf , King of Wessex/Mother, Osburh
Children: None recorded
Reign: 855-860
Æthelbald’s main claim to fame is that he married his mother. To be fair, she WAS his stepmother and, because she married Æthelwulf when he was fifty and she was 14, she WAS closer in age to Æthelbald. Still, the marriage put off lots of folks back then, especially the clergy. In the 890s, Bishop Asser described Æthelbald as sinful and grasping and his reign as “lawless years.” William of Malmesbury wrote that “Æthelbald, who was worthless and disloyal to his father, defiled his father’s marriage-bed, for after his father’s death he sank so low as to marry his stepmother, Judith.” According to John of Worcester,” Æthelbald, in defiance of God’s prohibition and Christian dignity, and even against all pagan customs, climbed into his father’s marriage-bed, married Judith, daughter of Charles, king of the Franks.”
Æthelbald had probably reasoned that being married to a Frankish princess would ensure continuing peace with Frankia and any children he produced with Judith would have a better right to rule than any of his younger brothers. Unfortunately, early in 860 at age 26, before any children had been produced, Æthelbald died of unknown causes at Sherbourne in Dorset. The nobles of the kingdom turned to his older brother Æthelberht to rule. At that time, Æthelberht was already ruling as king of Kent, Sussex, and Essex. Now, these kingdoms were once more reunited with Wessex.
Æthelbald was buried at Sherborne Abbey. His tomb and that of his brother, Æthelberht of Wessex, are situated in the North Choir Aisle of the abbey. Æthelbald and his three younger brothers were successively kings of Wessex: Æthelbald reigned from 855 to 860, Æthelberht from 860 to 865, Æthelred from 865 to 871, and Alfred the Great from 871 to 899.
And what happened to Judith after Æthelbald’s death? Historians tell us that she sold her properties in Wessex and returned to her native France, where her outraged father, Charles the Bald, sent her to the Monastery at Senlis. A year later, she eloped with Baldwin, later Count of Flanders. Judith’s father was furious and ordered his bishops to excommunicate the couple. They later fled to the court of Judith’s cousin Lothair II of Lotharingia for protection, before going to Pope Nicholas I to plead their case. The Pope asked Judith’s father to accept the union as legally binding and welcome the young couple into his circle, which he eventually did. The couple then returned to France and Judith was officially married for a third time at Auxerre in 863.
