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

It is possible that this arrangement was sanctioned by Alfred's father, or by the Witan, to guard against the danger of a disputed succession should Æthelred fall in battle.

However, later that month, on 22 January, the English were defeated at the Battle of Basing and, on the 22 March at the Battle of Merton ( perhaps Marden in Wiltshire or Martin in Dorset ), in which Æthelred was killed.

This was in accordance with the agreement that Æthelred and Alfred had made earlier that year in an assembly at Swinbeorg.

Thorkell the Tall was appalled at the brutality of his fellow raiders, and switched sides to the English king Æthelred the Unready following Ælfheah's death.

Their next target was Mercia where King Burgred, aided by his brother-in-law King Æthelred of Wessex, drove them off.

Æthelred the Unready, or Æthelred II ( circa 968 – 23 April 1016 ), was king of England ( 978 – 1013 and 1014 – 1016 ).

Æthelred was not personally suspected of participation, but as the murder was committed at Corfe Castle by the attendants of Ælfthryth, it made it more difficult for the new king to rally the nation against the military raids by Danes, especially as the legend of St Edward the Martyr grew.

In 1003, King Sweyn invaded England and in 1013, Æthelred fled to Normandy and was replaced by Sweyn, who was also king of Denmark.

Edward, and his brother-in-law Æthelred of ( what was left of ) Mercia, began a programme of expansion, building forts and towns on an Alfredian model.

Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred the Great, and her husband Æthelred, ealdorman of Mercia, were buried in the priory, and their nephew, King Æthelstan, was a major patron of Oswald's cult.

Æthelred was succeeded by Cœnred son of Wulfhere, and both these kings are better known for their religious activities than anything else, but the king who succeeded them ( in 709 ), Ceolred, is said in a letter of Saint Boniface to have been a dissolute youth who died insane.

Within a few weeks, however, Sweyn died and Æthelred was called back to England by the witan.

Æthelred did so, and was reinstated as King of England.

In 1009 Wulfnoth was accused of unknown crimes at a muster of Æthelred the Unready's fleet and fled with twenty ships ; the ships sent to pursue him were destroyed in a storm.

In 1035, the throne of England was reportedly claimed by Alfred Ætheling, younger son of Emma of Normandy and Æthelred the Unready, and half-brother of Harthacnut.

She was Queen consort of England by successive marriages: first as second wife to Æthelred the Unready of England ( 1002 – 16 ); and then second wife to Cnut the Great of Denmark ( 1017 – 35 ).

Æthelred was able to hold out against Cnut in London, but in April 1016 Æthelred died, as did Edmund in November.

Edward the Confessor, (; ; 1003 – 05 to 4 or 5 January 1066 ), son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066.

Effective rule required keeping on terms with the three leading earls, but loyalty to the ancient house of Wessex had been eroded by the period of Danish rule, and only Leofric was descended from a family which had served Æthelred.

Edgar's plans for the succession can only be conjecture as he died as a young man aged about 32, on 8 July 975, leaving surviving sons Edward and Æthelred, neither yet an adult.

The only marriage recorded for Osthryth is that to Æthelred of Mercia, but an earlier marriage to Eanhere would explain why Osric and his brother Oswald are described as Æthelred's nepotes — usually translated as nephews or grandsons, but here probably meaning stepsons.

According to William of Malmesbury, Ælfwynn was the only child of Æthelflæd and Æthelred.

This allowed Æthelred to retake the crown for the three final years of his life, but his son and successor Edmund Ironside lasted only seven months before being conquered by Sweyn's son Cnut the Great.

The only marriage recorded for Osthryth is that to Æthelred of Mercia, but an earlier marriage to Eanhere would explain why Osric and his brother Oswald are described as Æthelred's nepotes-usually translated as nephews or grandsons, but here probably meaning stepsons.

It is significant that it was only after Æthelwold's death in 984 that Æthelred started acting against the interests of some of the reformed monastic houses.

From about 883 until 911 Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians ruled Mercia under the overlordship of Wessex.

In about 867, Æthelred effectively established a common currency between Wessex and Mercia by adopting the Mercian type of lunette penny, and coins minted exclusively at London and Canterbury then circulated in the two kingdoms.

By the time he wrote, roughly about the year 890, she was already married to Æthelred, then ealdorman of Mercia.

Æthelred befriended Bishop Wilfrid of York when Wilfrid was expelled from his see in Northumbria ; Æthelred made Wilfrid Bishop of the Middle Angles during his exile, and supported him at the synod of Austerfield in about 702, when Wilfrid argued his case for the return of the ecclesiastical lands he had been deprived of in Northumbria.

Æthelred made Wilfrid bishop of the Middle Angles, and supported him at the Council of Austerfield in about 702, when Wilfrid argued his case before an assembly of bishops led by Archbishop Berhtwald of Canterbury.

Together with the rest of English Mercia it submitted to King Alfred about 877 – 883 under Earl Æthelred, who possibly himself belonged to the Hwicce.

Bede tells us that he was " a young man of about eighteen years of age and much beloved in both kingdoms, for King Æthelred had married his sister.

William of Malmesbury, writing in his " Chronicle of the kings of England " about one hundred years later, was scathing in his criticism of Æthelred, saying that he occupied the kingdom, rather than governed it.

Æthelred presented Sweyn with 10, 000 pounds of silver, in response to which Sweyn temporarily ceased his destructive advance into England, though he later returned for further tribute.

Æthelred and his brother, the future Alfred the Great, led a West Saxon army to Nottingham, but there was no decisive battle, and Burgred bought off the Vikings.

no: Æthelred, ealdorman av Mercia

Æthelheard, son of Oshere, maintained that Æthelred had no right to give Fladbury away, as it had been the property of Osthryth.

The next brother, Æthelred did have two young sons, but still upon his death his younger brother Alfred the Great took the throne, which caused no resistance mostly due to domestic turmoil connected with Danish invasions.

Harthacnut left no sons, however, and since his mother, Emma, had been married to Æthelred the Unready ( and borne him sons ) before his death and Cnut's accession, the throne passed back to the original Anglo-Saxon line in the form of her son ( Harthacnut's half-brother ) Edward the Confessor.

Dorothy Whitelock writes that " we have no evidence where Wulfstan was at the time of the submission England to Swein, but he was at York within a fortnight of death, and we may suspect that he used his influence to win back the province to the English king Æthelred.