In 752, Æthelbald and Cuthred are again on opposite sides of the conflict, and according to one version of the manuscript, Cuthred " put him to flight " at Burford.

In 752, Cuthred led a successful rebellion against Æthelbald at Battle Edge in Burford and secured independence from Mercia for the rest of his reign.

But when Wihtred died in 725, and Ine abdicated his throne the following year to become a monk in Rome, Æthelbald was free to establish Mercia's hegemony over the rest of the Anglo-Saxons south of the Humber.

The overlordship of the southern English which had been exerted by Æthelbald appears to have collapsed during the civil strife over the succession, and it is not until 764, when evidence emerges of Offa's influence in Kent, that Mercian power can be seen expanding again.

After Guthlac's death, Æthelbald had a dream in which Guthlac prophesied greatness for him, and Æthelbald later rewarded Guthlac with a shrine when he had become king.

The kingdoms of Britain in the late seventh century, when Æthelbald was born.

Modern Bredon has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon period ( c. 500 – 1066 ), when c. 716 Æthelbald, King of Mercia, gave land to his kinsman Eanwulf to found a monastery.

Judith was still childless when Æthelbald died in 860 after a reign of two and a half years,

Wootton is first mentioned when Æthelbald, King of the Mercians, gave to the Earl Aethilric 20 hides of land for a minster between the years 723 and 737.

On their return from Rome in 856, Æthelwulf was deposed by his son Æthelbald.

When King Æthelwulf died in 858, Wessex was ruled by three of Alfred's brothers in succession, Æthelbald, Æthelbert and Æthelred.

When Æthelwulf's son Æthelbald ascended to the throne, the kingdom was divided to avoid bloodshed.

A series of maps that illustrate the increasing hegemony of Mercia during the 8th centuryThe next important king of Mercia was Æthelbald ( 716 – 757 ).

After the murder of Æthelbald by one of his bodyguards in 757, a civil war broke out which was concluded with the victory of Offa.

In the first half of the eighth century, the dominant Anglo-Saxon ruler was King Æthelbald of Mercia, who by 731 had become the overlord of all the provinces south of the river Humber.

Æthelbald was one of a number of strong Mercian kings who ruled from the mid-seventh century to the early ninth, and it was not until the reign of Egbert of Wessex in the ninth century that Mercian power began to wane.

Æthelbald, who ruled Mercia for most of the forty years before Offa, was also descended from Eowa according to the genealogies: Offa's grandfather, Eanwulf, was Æthelbald's second cousin.

Æthelbald, who had ruled Mercia since 716, was assassinated in 757.

Æthelbald was initially succeeded by Beornred, about whom little is known.

Here, Æthelwulf and his son Æthelbald fought against the heathen, and according to the chronicle it was " the greatest slaughter of heathen host ever made.

While Æthelwulf was able to muster enough support to fight a civil war or to banish Æthelbald and his fellow conspirators, he instead chose to yield western Wessex to his son, while he himself retained central and eastern Wessex.

King Æthelbald of Wessex or Ethelbald (; means roughly ' Noble Bold ') was King of Wessex from 858 to 860.

It is probable that Æthelbald was involved in such a plot due to hearing about his father's marriage to Judith.

Little is known of his reign and only one charter survives, witnessed by king Æthelbald, king Æthelbert and Judith, suggesting that he was on good terms with his brother.

Asser, who was hostile to Æthelbald both because of his revolt against his father and because of his uncanonical marriage, described him as " iniquitous and grasping ", and his reign " two and a half lawless years ".

His brother Æthelbald was left in charge of the West Saxons.

He was buried at Sherborne Abbey in Dorset beside his brother Æthelbald.

Æthelbald ( also spelled Ethelbald, or Aethelbald ) ( died 757 ) was the King of Mercia, in what is now the English Midlands, from 716 until 757.

Æthelbald was killed in 757 by his bodyguards.

Æthelbald came of the Mercian royal line, although his father, Alweo, was never king.

The Vikings were defeated by Æthelwulf and his sons, Æthelstan and Æthelbald, but the economic impact appears to have been significant, as Mercian coinage in London was very limited after 851.

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.

This is evidenced by the unbroken series of 9th century kings of Wessex named Æthelwulf, Æthelbald, Æthelberht, and Æthelred.

Both Wessex and Kent were ruled by strong kings at that time, but within fifteen years the contemporary chronicler Bede describes Æthelbald as ruling all England south of the river Humber.

With the exception of the short reign of Beornrad, who succeeded Æthelbald for less than a year, Mercia was ruled for eighty years by two of the most powerful Anglo-Saxon kings, Æthelbald and Offa.

The lack of evidence should not obscure the fact that Bede, who was after all a contemporary chronicler, summarized the situation of England in 731 by listing the bishops in office in southern England, and adding that " all these provinces, together with the others south of the river Humber and their kings, are subject to Æthelbald, King of the Mercians.

Æthelbald seems to have reasserted his authority over the West Saxons by the time of his death, since a later West Saxon king, Cynewulf, is recorded as witnessing a charter of Æthelbald at the very beginning of his reign, in 757.

It starts by describing Æthelbald as " king not only of the Mercians but also of all the provinces which are called by the general name South English "; in the witness list he is further named " Rex Britanniae ", " King of Britain ".

The monastery church on the site at that time was probably constructed by Æthelbald to house the royal mausoleum ; other burials there include that of Wigstan, but nearly all of the Royal coffins in Repton were probably vandalised and destroyed by the Vikings ..

Æthelbald, who came to the throne in 716, had established himself as the overlord of the southern Anglo-Saxons by 731.

To the south of Mercia, Cynewulf came to the throne of Wessex in 757 and recovered much of the border territory that Æthelbald had conquered from the West Saxons.

When Æthelbald died childless in 860, the kingship of the West Saxons also passed to Æthelberht.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle does not list Æthelbald as a bretwalda, or " Ruler of Britain ", though this may be due to the West Saxon origin of the Chronicle.

The chronicler was almost certainly a West Saxon, and since neither Æthelbald nor Offa were kings of Wessex it is possible the chronicler does not mention them out of regional pride.

This year Cuthred, king of the West Saxons, in the 12th year of his reign, fought at Burford, against Æthelbald king of the Mercians, and put him to flight.

"... in Saxon Beorgford Burford, where Cuthred, king of the West Saxons, then tributary to the Mercians, not being able to endure any longer the cruelty and base exactions of King Æthelbald, met him in the open field with an army and beat him, taking his standard, which was a portraiture of a golden dragon.