605. Ethelred I (Æthelred) , King of Wessex & Kent
By his father's will he should have succeeded to Wessex on the death of his elder brother Æthelbald (d.860). He seems, however, to have stood aside in favour of his brother Æthelberht, king of Kent, to whose joint kingdoms he succeeded in 865 or 866. Æthelred's reign was one long struggle against the Danes. In the year of his succession a large Danish force landed in East Anglia, and in the year 868 Æthelred and his brother Alfred went to help Burgred of Mercia against this host, but the Mercians soon made peace with their foes. In 871 the Danes encamped at Reading where they defeated Æthelred and his brother but later in the year the English won a great victory at a place called "Æscesdun." Two weeks later they were defeated at Basing but partially retrieved their fortune by a victory at "mæretun" (perhaps Marden in Wiltshire), though the Danes held the field. In the Easter of this year Æthelred died, perhaps of wounds received in the wars against the Danes, and was buried at Wimborne.
(Enc. Brit. 1:124]
Louis I "le Debonaire" , King of France, Holy Roman Emperor
Louis I was quite successful in the first years of his reign, but in 817 he yielded to the wishes of his sons and gave them each a share of his dominion, and hence arose complications which he was incapable of managing, and from which resulted the dissolution of the Empire.
© 2001, Saul M. Montes-Bradley. All Rights Reserved