The royal house of Kent dies out, but the title of King of Kent is bestowed on an aetheling, first of the Mercian, then of the West Saxon house.

Until the Danish conquest, the dependant royalties seem to have been spared; and even afterwards organic union can scarcely be said to exist." The final supremacy of the West Saxons was mainly brought about by the Danish invasion.

But the man who laid the foundation of the West Saxon power was Ecgberht, the so-called first king of all England.

Banished from Wessex during his youth by one of the constant dynastic quarrels, through the enmity of Offa, the young aetheling had taken refuge with Karl the Great, at the court of Aachen, and there had learnt to understand the rising statesmanship of the Frankish race and of the restored Roman empire.

The death of his enemy Beorhtric, in 802, left the kingdom open to him: but the very day of his accession showed him the character of the people whom he had come to rule.