Alfred the Great was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfred was young. Three of Alfred's brothers, Æthelbald, Æthelberht and Æthelred, reigned in turn before him. Under Alfred's rule, considerable administrative and military reforms were introduced, prompting lasting change in England.
Alfred's father Æthelwulf of Wessex in the early 14th-century Genealogical Roll of the Kings of England
King Alfred's Tower (1772) in Somerset, on the supposed site of Egbert's Stone, the mustering place before the Battle of Edington
A plaque in the City of London noting the restoration of the Roman walled city by Alfred
Alfred the Great silver offering penny, 871–899. Legend: AELFRED REX SAXONUM ('Alfred King of the Saxons').
Æthelwulf, King of Wessex
Æthelwulf was King of Wessex from 839 to 858. In 825, his father, King Ecgberht, defeated King Beornwulf of Mercia, ending a long Mercian dominance over Anglo-Saxon England south of the Humber. Ecgberht sent Æthelwulf with an army to Kent, where he expelled the Mercian sub-king and was himself appointed sub-king. After 830, Ecgberht maintained good relations with Mercia, and this was continued by Æthelwulf when he became king in 839, the first son to succeed his father as West Saxon king since 641.
Æthelwulf in the early fourteenth-century Genealogical Roll of the Kings of England
Depiction of Æthelwulf in the late-13th-century Genealogical Chronicle of the English Kings
Coin of King Æthelwulf: "EĐELVVLF REX", moneyer Manna, Canterbury
Charter S 316 dated 855, in which Æthelwulf granted land at Ulaham in Kent to his minister Ealdhere.