Æthelwulf was King of Wessex from 839 to 858. He was defeated in 843 in battle against the Vikings at Carhampton in Somerset, but achieved a major victory at the Battle of Aclea in 851. He went on pilgrimage to Rome in 855, leaving his eldest surviving son Æthelbald to act as King of Wessex in his absence. Æthelwulf stayed a year in Rome; on his way back he married Judith, the daughter of the West Frankish King Charles the Bald. When Æthelwulf returned to England, Æthelbald refused to surrender the throne, and Æthelwulf agreed to divide the kingdom, taking the east and leaving the west in Æthelbald's hands. Before the twenty-first century Æthelwulf's reputation among historians was poor: he was seen as excessively pious and impractical, and his pilgrimage was viewed as a desertion of his duties. Now historians see him as a king who consolidated and extended the power of his dynasty, and dealt more effectively than most of his contemporaries with Viking attacks. He is regarded as one of the most successful West Saxon kings, who laid the foundations for the success of his son, Alfred the Great.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelwulf
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
618:
Wang Shichong's army defeated that of Li Mi, allowing Wang to consolidate his power and soon depose China's Sui dynasty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yanshi
1762:
Seven Years' War: The Battle of Manila concluded with a British victory over Spain, leading to a short British occupation of Manila. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manila_(1762)
1910:
Eleftherios Venizelos was elected Prime Minister of Greece for the first of his seven non-consecutive terms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleftherios_Venizelos
1976:
Two bombs placed by CIA-linked anti-Castro Cuban exiles exploded aboard Cubana Flight 455, killing all 78 aboard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubana_de_Aviaci%C3%B3n_Flight_455
2002:
Al Qaeda bombed the oil tanker Limburg, causing 90,000 barrels (14,000 m3) of oil to leak into the Gulf of Aden. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Jewel
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
dissident: In a manner that disagrees; dissenting; discordant; different. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dissident
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Knowledge isn’t restrained by the limits of Malthus. Information doesn’t need topsoil to grow in, only freedom. Given eager minds and experimentation, it feeds itself like a chain reaction. --David Brin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Brin