What is Egbert of Wessex?
{{Infobox Monarch | name = Egbert | image= Egbert - MS Royal 14 B VI.jpg | caption= | title=King of Wessex | reign = 802—839 | issue =[[Athelwulf of Wessex|Athelwulf]] | birth_date = {{circa}} 769<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7nZ90l1_IzAC&pg=PA38 | title=Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy | isbn=9781446449110 | last1=Weir | first1=Alison | date=18 April 2011 }}</ref> <br/> Kingdom of Wessex | death_date = 4 February 839 (aged 69/70) <br/> Kingdom of Wessex | death_place = | burial_place = [[Winchester]] | predecessor = [[Beorhtric of Wessex|Beorhtric]] | successor = [[Athelwulf of Wessex|Athelwulf]] | father = [[Ealhmund of Kent|Ealhmund]] }} '''Egbert''' (also spelt '''Ecgberht''') ({{circa|769}}–839) was [[List of monarchs of Wessex|King of Wessex]] from 802 until 839. In the 780s Egbert was forced into exile by King [[Offa of Mercia]] and King [[Beorhtric of Wessex]], but on Beorhtric's death in 802 Egbert returned and took the throne. He was the father of King [[Athelwulf of Wessex]]. == Early career == Egbert was the son of Ealhmund, King of Kent.<ref>Frank Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'' (Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 207</ref> He was descended from Ingeld, brother of King [[Ine of Wessex]].<ref>''Asser's Life of King Alfred'', Trans. L.C. Jane (London: Chatto & Windus, 1926), p. 1</ref> In 786 he made a bid for the throne of [[Wessex]] after the death of King [[Cynewulf of Wessex]].<ref name=Ashley313>Mike Ashley, ''The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens'' (New york: Carroll & Graf, 1999), p. 313</ref> Offa of [[Mercia]] however, made Beorhtric king instead. As a youth, Egbert was seen as a problem for Beorhtric who didn't want Egbert in England.<ref name=Ashley313/> While Beorhtric was negotiating to marry Offa's daughter he asked that Egbert be handed over to him. While Offa was considering doing just that, Egbert fled Mercia and at some point left England.{{efn|The [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]] claims Egbert was in exile from England for th