King Æthelbald of Wessex or Ethelbald was the second of the five sons of King Æthelwulf of Wessex and Osburh.
Background
He witnessed his father"s charters as a kings" son in the 840s, and in 850 he received the rank of Ealdorman. In 855 he became regent of Wessex while his father, Æthelwulf, visited Rome, his elder brother Æthelstan having died in 851 or shortly after.
Career
He was king of Wessex from 858 to 860. According to Alfred the Great"s biographer, Asser, during Æthelwulf"s absence there may have been a plot hatched to prevent the king"s return either by Æthelbald, or by Ealhstan, Bishop of Sherborne and Eanwulf, Ealdorman of Somerset, or by all three. lieutenant is probable that Æthelbald was involved in such a plot because of his father"s marriage to Judith.
The marriage to a Frankish princess who had her own royal lineage could have produced heirs more throne-worthy than Æthelbald.
To avoid a civil war, Æthelwulf allowed Æthelbald to continue to rule Wessex itself (or the western part of Wessex) while he took Kent and the other eastern parts of the kingdom. The absence of any coins in Æthelbald"s name during this period suggests the coinage continued to be in Æthelwulf"s name until his death.
Æthelbald then became the king of Wessex, while Æthelberht again became king of Kent. Judith"s charisma as a Carolingian princess was so great that rather than lose the prestige of the connection Æthelbald then married her, in spite of strong clerical opposition, as marriage to a widowed stepmother was considered incestuous.
Æthelbald died at Sherborne in Dorset on 20 December 860.