on the death of Offa in 796, and his exile in 793, a date which seems to have no significance in this connection, while if William of Malmesbury's statement of the matter is correct, his exile would coincide with the marriage of Beorhtric to Offa's daughter, and would come to an end when, on the death of Beorhtric, he returned to England to ascend the West-Saxon throne; and it is highly probable that Malmesbury based his story on some version of the 'Chronicle' that has not been preserved. According to this theory, then, Ecgberht was banished in 789, and remained with Charles for thirteen years. Nothing is known of his life during his exile save that Henry of Huntingdon records the tradition that he dwelt in honour. At the same time account must be taken of the influence that his long stay at the court of the Frankish monarch must have had on his future career, of the lessons in war and empire that he must have learnt there. He returned to England in 802, and was accepted by the West-Saxons as their king. No opposition seems to have been offered to his accession by Cenwulf of Mercia, and it may reasonably be supposed that his acquiescence had been secured by the emperor (Making of England, p. 431 ). Nothing is recorded of Ecgberht for the next thirteen years; for the statement that appears in the register of a hospital at York that soon after his accession he held a 'parliament' at Winchester, in which he ordered that the name of his kingdom should be changed from Britain to England (Monasticon, vi. 608), does not need confuting here. It should, nowever, be noted that he dates certain charters granted in the later years of his reign (Kemble, Codex Dipl. 1035, 1036, 1038) by the year of his 'ducatus,' which he refers to 812 or 813 (Stubbs, art. 'Egbert,' Dictionary of Christian Biography), Whatever he may have meant by the term Mucatus,' it certainly points to some accession of dignity, and as in 815 (A,-S. Chron, sub an. 813) he 'laid waste West Wales [Cornwall] from eastward to westward,' it has been conjectured (Stubbs) that he refers to the beginning of this war, which in later days he probably regarded as the first step towards the attainment of the leadership he afterwards won. From 815 he does not appear again until 824, when he held a meeting of the West-Saxon witan at Acle, probably Oakley in Hampshire (Kemble, Codex Dipl. 1031 ). The next year was evidently marked by a rising of the West Welsh, who were defeated by the men of Devon at Gafulford or Camelford, a war in which Ecgberht took part in person (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, sub an. 823; Florence; Kemble, Codex Dipl. 1033 Stubbs).
As soon as Ecgberht had overthrown the Welsh of Cornwall he had to repel a Mercian invasion. The greatness of Mercia had been shaken by civil discord since the death of Cenwulf in 821; his successor was deposed, and another king, Beornwulf, chosen in his place. Beornwulf, who no doubt took ad- vantage of the rising of the Welsh, seems to have marched far into Wessex. Ecgberht defeated him at Ellandune, probably in the neighbourhood of Winchester, for Hun, an ealdorman who fell in the battle, was buried there (Æthelweard, p. 510). The slaughter was great on both sides, and the 'river of blood' that was shed was commemorated in popular verse (Henry of Huntingdon, p. 733). Beornwulf fled, and set himself to gather another army. From Ellandune Ecgberht sent his son Æthelwulf, Ealhstan, the bishop of Sherborne, and an ealdorman, with a large force, to regain his father's kingdom of Kent. Baldred, king of Kent [q. v., was driven across the Thames, and the people of Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Essex willingly submitted to Ecgberht as the rightful successor of his father. The king and people of East Anglia, who were under the over-lordship of Mercia, also sent to him seeking his 'peace and protection.' On this Beornwulf led his army against them, and began to lay waste the country, but they defeated and slew him (825), and remained under the over-lordship of Ecgberht (Florence, i. 66; Henry of Huntingdon, p. 733). Mercia, however, was not yet subdued, for Beornwulf was succeeded by Ludecan, who made another attempt to subdue East Anglia, and was likewise defeated and slain in 828. He was succeeded by Wiglaf. Ecgberht, however, at once led an army against him, drove him from the kingdom, and received the submission of Mercia. In 829 he marched against Northumbria, and the Northumbrians met him on the border of their land at Dore in Derbyshire, and there submitted to him and took him for their lord. Under this year (827, correctly 829) the 'Chronicle' says of him that he was the eighth Bretwalda. He had for the first time united all the English race under one over-lordship, and, though there were future divisions of his empire, his work was never wholly undone (Making of England, p. 436). He was not king of England, for the idea of a territorial kingship belongs to a later period. Nor was he the immediate ruler of the peoples that had submitted to him; they still had kings of their own, who were dependent on the West-Saxon overlord, and in 830 Ecgberht restored Wiglaf
