Kings of Wessex Aethelwulf AD 839-858 Silver Penny Portrait type Canterbury mint

Kings of Wessex Aethelwulf AD 839-858 Silver Penny, Portrait type, Canterbury mint, Moneyer Eanmund.

S1047, 21mm, 1.34g. A full coin with no damage, good metal and a dark, old collection tone. Coin appears better in hand.

This coin comes with a previous handwritten label dating to the 19th Century and was formerly a part of Samuel Birchall’s collection.

Æthelwulf (839-858) – The son of Ecgberht, Æthelwulf’s tenure of rule technically began earlier in the 830’s – when his father appointed him the sub-king of Sussex, Essex and Kent. The advantages of this division of power were not lost on Æthelwulf, enabling better administration over the rapidly expanding Kingdom of Wessex against a backdrop of widespread Scandinavian raiding. On taking the throne, he thus appointed his first son Æthelstan to be the sub-king of the areas he himself had previously governed. Æthelwulf is perhaps best known for his successful statesmanship, allying Wessex and Mercia through the marriage of his daughter Æthelswith to King Burgred, as well as travelling to Rome on a lengthy diplomatic mission. On his return to Britain, his second son Æthelbald (who had been appointed to rule in his absence) refused to give up the throne – the rule of Wessex being subsequently divided between them.