Which battle to which Æthelwulf of Berkshire lost his life was a battle on 4 January 871 at Reading in what is now the English county of Berkshire?
Æthelwulf of Berkshire Æthelwulf of Berkshire (before 825 – 4 January, 871) was a Saxon ealdorman. In 860 he and other men of Berkshire fought off a band of pirates near Winchester, Hampshire. Later he mustered a force of 1400 men against an army of Danes, won the 31 December 870 Battle of Englefield on behalf of the then kingdom of Wessex. He received a land grant in 843/44 from Brihtwulf, king of Mercia; and lost his life at the Battle of Reading.
Æthelswith Æthelswith (c. 838–888) was the only known daughter of King Æthelwulf of Wessex. She became Queen Æthelswith when she married King Burgred of Mercia in 853. The couple had no issue. Her marriage probably signalled the subordination of Burgred to his father-in-law and the Saxon kingdom at a time when both Wessex and Mercia were suffering Danish (Viking) raids. Burgred also had ongoing problems with the Kingdom of Powys on his western border and in 853 Æthelwulf subjugated the Welsh state on Burgred's behalf.