England and it's rulers.

Did you know that England had 61 kings in its history? That makes me wonder, how amazing is to be a ruler. You have it so easy! But wait, is it really true? Let's start with the names. First king alone had name so difficult that even historians were conflicted on how to spell it! I mean, is it Ecgberht, Egbert, Ecgbert, Ecgbriht, Ecgbeorht or Ecbert?! I had difficulty writing it letter by letter, not to mention spell it. No wonder why he got so agressive and destroyed the kingdoms that wasn't so easy to influence. After so many tries to spell his own name, he probably gave up and said screw it, just destroy it.

I read on wikipedia that historians do not agree on his ancestry. I personally think, they just couldn't spell their names and assumed that it's some kind of lands or islands. But now seriously, back then it was probably not considered as important to write it down so now we simply have no idea. Imagine that they somehow discover something more about their ancestry and you are long distance relatives! Would you claim the throne? Just joking, but that would be wild. Some Karen finds out that has long distance relatives in royal family and now demands to be consider as a royal. I am not surprised they did not uncover some of the names.

While looking for some information about the first English ruler, I found more than one ruler in England. At first I was confused but then I realised that England was not one country at that time. There were few kingdoms that were fighting for domination on the lands. Among them all, Egbert was, as I believe, the most influential. Not only he was able to maintain the independence of Wessex but in time he got to rule on the lands of his biggest enemy (Mercia).

But of course it's a little bit more complicated than that. History is never black and white. As every powerful king, he had few sons. One of them was Aethelwulf, who was a sub-king. So basically, he decided who'll be the king before he died. This was clever. After Egbert died, His son took over the throne. His reign, according to wikipedia, wasn't much memorable. Although he had a big impact on the future of his lineage as it became a powerful royal dynasty that influence the politics, society and culture of England.

In 851 at the battle of Aclea, Aethelwulf and his son Aethelbald made vikings regret the attack on his kingdom. They inflicted great losses on the invaders. I'm gessing, after that show of power, recently crowned king of Mercia decided to be a friend of the Aethelwulf rather than his enemy. They created an Allience by marriage between king of Mercia and princess Aethelswith. Around 855 n.e. Aethelwulf went on strategic holidays and got married to his second wife Judith (daughter of King Charles).

It all seems to be glorious and worthy but what's weird for me is that Aethelwulf's second wife was also his son's wife! That is quite unusual. But that is not the only thing that is unusual. Did you notice the name of Aethelwulf's daughter? It looks like he named her after himself, only changing the last part of the name. Not very imaginative if you ask me. Althought I do understand that back then it was to secure her position as a royal. Once she told her name, people knew that she shall not be touched.

I couldn't find anything more about them so in the next article I'll be moving on to the next rulers. I believe that there is much more to rediscover the amazing world of kings and queens of England.