Page "Æthelbald of Wessex" Paragraph 2

Æthelwulf returned a year later, having taken as his second wife, the Carolingian King Charles the Bald's thirteen-year-old daughter Judith.

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.

It is probable that Æthelbald was involved in such a plot due to hearing about 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.