Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is Episode 194.

I beg fat, dark age wedding.

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On February 13th, 858, something significant happened up in Scotland.

We will go into it more in detail in the Celts' cast, but Kenneth Macalpin, King of the Picks,

quite possibly the most famous of all the kings of Scotland, died.

And his brother, Dominal, often known as King Donald I, took the throne.

As I said, we will go into more detail on this in the Celts' cast, but I wanted to give you a marker for where we are in time.

But let's get back to the south. Do you remember several episodes ago during the Everybody Lies episode,

where we talked about how the record gives the impression of a peaceful and tranquil relationship between the sons of Atholwolf,

and how the circumstances don't suggest that that was at all likely.

Well, in this episode, I'm going to give you some of the evidence we have that gives many historians pause,

and makes them suspect that there was a lot more turmoil than Assar, Alfred, and even the chroniclers would like us to believe.

Here we are in 858, and everything has changed in Wessex.

King Atholbald has ascended to the throne, and he's married his father's widow in an attempt to solidify his hold on power,

and also avoid the awkwardness that could come from Judith contesting him for the throne, which was a very real possibility.

She was a consecrated queen after all, and she'd witnessed charters as Regina,

and of course, she was the great granddaughter of Charlemagne.

If you were Atholbald, you'd likely be thinking it was best to knit that in the bud.

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