he had lived until they were adults it is unlikely that Alfred would ever have become king, but as they were still young children Alfred succeeded. Æthelhelm died before Alfred, and Æthelwold unsuccessfully disputed the throne with Edward the Elder after Alfred's death in 899. One of the two places where Æthelwold launched his rebellion was Wimborne, which was symbolically important as his father's burial place. Æthelred's descendants played an important role in governing the country in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. They include Ealdorman Æthelweard, who recorded in his Latin version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that he was Æthelred's great-great-grandson. King Eadwig was forced to accept annulment of his marriage to Ælfgifu due to consanguinity; she may have been Æthelweard's sister, which would make her Eadwig's third cousin once removed due to her descent from Æthelred, and thus within the forbidden degrees of relationship according to the church. Æthelweard and his son Æthelmær were leading magnates who governed west Wessex as ealdormen of the western provinces. The family lost their positions and property after Cnut conquered England in 1016, and one of Æthelmær's sons was executed by Cnut in 1017, while a son-in-law was banished in 1020. Another son, Æthelnoth, was Archbishop of Canterbury, and he lived until 1038. Notes Citations Bibliography External links West Saxon monarchs 840s births 871 deaths Year of birth uncertain 9th-century English monarchs Anglo-Saxon warriors Kentish monarchs House of Wessex Burials at Wimborne Minster (church)