Æthelwulf (
Old English for "Noble Wolf") was King of
Wessex from 839 to 858. In 825 his father, King
Egbert, defeated King
Beornwulf of
Mercia, ending a long
Mercian dominance over
Anglo-Saxon England south of the
Humber. Egbert sent Æthelwulf with an army to
Kent, where he expelled the Mercian sub-king and was appointed sub-king. After 830 Egbert maintained good relations with Mercia, and this was continued by Æthelwulf when he became king in 839, the first son to succeed his father as West Saxon king since 641.