He came to the West Saxon throne in 802 after some years at the court of [[Charlemagne]]. Not a lot is known of his early reign, butr by 827 he had expanded his own kingdom with victory over [[Celt]]ic [[Cornwall]] in the west, conquest and union with [[Jutes|Jutish]] [[Kent]] to the east and, in 825, a decisive defeat of the recently dominant [[Mercia]]ns to the north. Two years later he was in control of all Anglo-Saxon lands south of the [[River Humber]] and the Chronicle was describing him as [[bretwalda]](overlord)rr. In 829 he marched into [[Northumbria]] and that kingdom submitted. | He came to the West Saxon throne in 802 after some years at the court of [[Charlemagne]]. Not a lot is known of his early reign, butr by 827 he had expanded his own kingdom with victory over [[Celt]]ic [[Cornwall]] in the west, conquest and union with [[Jutes|Jutish]] [[Kent]] to the east and, in 825, a decisive defeat of the recently dominant [[Mercia]]ns to the north. Two years later he was in control of all Anglo-Saxon lands south of the [[River Humber]] and the Chronicle was describing him as [[bretwalda]](overlord)rr. In 829 he marched into [[Northumbria]] and that kingdom submitted. |