Episode 1358
Æthelred I, King of Wessex
Fri, 2021-Jan-22 01:14 UTC
Length - 2:54
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Friday, 22 January 2021 is Æthelred I, King of Wessex.
Æthelred I (or Aethelred or Ethelred; Old English Æthel-ræd, meaning noble counsel; 845/848 to 871) was King of Wessex from 865 until his death. He was the fourth of five sons of King Æthelwulf of Wessex, four of whom in turn became king. He succeeded his elder brother Æthelberht and was followed by his youngest brother, Alfred the Great. Æthelred had two sons, Æthelhelm and Æthelwold, who were passed over for the kingship on their father's death because they were still infants. Alfred was succeeded by his son, Edward the Elder, and Æthelwold unsuccessfully disputed the throne with him.
Æthelred's accession coincided with the arrival of the Viking Great Heathen Army in England. Over the next five years the Vikings conquered Northumbria and East Anglia, and at the end of 870 they launched a full-scale attack on Wessex. In early January 871 Æthelred was defeated at the Battle of Reading. Four days later he scored a victory in the Battle of Ashdown, but this was followed by two defeats at Basing and Meretun. He died shortly after Easter. Alfred was forced to buy off the Vikings, but he scored a decisive victory over them seven years later at the Battle of Edington.
Æthelred's reign was important numismatically. Wessex and Mercia were close allies when he became king, and he carried the alliance further by adopting the Mercian Lunettes design, thus creating a unified coinage design for southern England for the first time. The common design foreshadowed the unification of England over the next sixty years and the reform coinage of King Edgar I a century later.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:14 UTC on Friday, 22 January 2021.
For the full current version of the article, see Æthelred I, King of Wessex on Wikipedia.
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This has been Kimberly Neural. Thank you for listening to featured Wiki of the Day.
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