Æthelwulf, also spelled Aethelwulf or Ethelwulf; Old English: Æþelwulf, meaning "Noble Wolf", is King of Wessex from 839 until his death in 858.
He is the only known child of King Egbert of Wessex.
He conquers the kingdom of Kent on behalf of his father in 825, and is sometime later made King of Kent as a sub-king to Egbert.
He succeeds his father as King of Wessex on Egbert's death in 839, at which time his kingdom stretches from the county of Kent in the east to Devon in the west.
At the same time his eldest son Æthelstan becomes sub-king of Kent as a subordinate ruler.
