ABSTRACT
The first quarter of the ninth century shows a continuity of contact between Mercia and Francia of a type familiar from the reign of Offa. Wulfred's contacts with Rome and his travels through Francia are indicative of his wide vision and breadth of experience, and serve to underline the similarities between his ecclesiastical reforms and those being implemented throughout the Carolingian regna. The Chronicle describes a battle on the day of his accession between the men of Wiltshire and the Hwicce which seems to have realigned the frontier between Wessex and Mercia in favour of the West Saxons, and records a campaign by Ecgberht in Cornwall in 815. The envoys of the English king came to Louis after Easter as he was making his way back from Alemannia into Francia. Ethelwulf's contemporary fame in Francia probably also accounts for the forged charter issued in his name on behalf of the Abbey of St Denis, near Paris.
