Æthelheard of Wessex

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http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ine_of_Wessex

Ine was the son of Cenred, an underking of Wessex.[a][1] Bede says of Ine that he was "of the blood royal" meaning he was an atherling.[3] His brother was Ingild, ancestor of Alfred the Great.[4] His sister Cuthburh was married to King Aldfrith of Northumbria.[4] She was the founder of Wimborne abbey.[b][6] Ine married Ethelburg, sister of Athelheard, Ine's successor.[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelheard_of_Wessex

King of Wessex
Reign 726–740 Predecessor Ine Successor Cuthred Consort Frithugyth House House of Wessex Died 740

Æthelheard (meaning roughly "Noble Stern"), also spelled Ethelheard or Æþelheard, was King of Wessex from 726 to 740. There is an unreliable record of Æthelheard having been the brother-in-law of his predecessor, Ine, but his ancestry is unknown, perhaps making him the first King of Wessex not to be descended from Cynric by blood.

When Ine abdicated and went to Rome in 726, he left behind no obvious heir, and according to Bede simply left his kingdom "to younger men".[1] In the wake of his departure, the West Saxon throne was disputed between Æthelheard and a rival claimant, Oswald. Oswald may have had the better claim, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle calls him a descendant of the early king Ceawlin,[2] but it was Æthelheard who prevailed. It is possible that his success was due to the support of Æthelbald of Mercia, since he seems to have been subject to Æthelbald afterward. However, Æthelheard's lack of independence does not seem to have prevented Æthelbald from taking considerable territory from Wessex in 733, including the royal manor of Somerton.

Æthelheard's wife Frithugyth is recorded in the Chronicle as making a pilgrimage to Rome in 737.

Æthelheard was succeeded by Cuthred, possibly a brother or other relative.

See also

House of Wessex family tree

References

Jump up ^ Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (1943, 1971, 1998 Oxford paperback), pages 72–73. Jump up ^ ASC manuscript A, 728.

Regnal titles

Preceded by

Ine King of Wessex 726–740

Succeeded by

Cuthred

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From Medlands:

http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLAND,%20AngloSaxon%20&%20Danish%...

It is interesting that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that the direct paternal ancestry of both Æthelheard King of Wessex (died 740) and Beorhtric King of Wessex (died 802) "goes back to Cerdic" without providing any details of the descent in question[9], suggesting that by that time the concept of the descent was probably more important than the detail.  In summary, therefore, after the end of the "core" dynastic period in each Anglo-Saxon kingdom, it is probably safer to assume that each small family group of succeeding monarchs was unrelated to its predecessors, unless corroborative evidence exists in other primary sources which supports the existence of family relationships.  In the following document, care has been taken to highlight where such reported descents are dubious.