Research Notes:

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that "rex Ealhmundus" was "in Cantia rex" in 784, adding that "this king Ealhmund was the father of Egbert, the father of Æthelwulf".

He succeeded as EALHMUND King of Kent, in 784 or before. The generally accepted parentage of Ealhmund, according to which he was descended from Ingeld, brother of Ine King of Wessex, is open to debate. This supposed parentage is set out in a later passage, dated 855, in another manuscript of the Chronicle, which lists the ancestors of Æthelwulf King of Wessex, states that Ealhmund was "son of Eafa, son of Eoppa, son of Ingeld…brother of Ine king of Wessex", adds their alleged direct line of ancestors back to Cerdic, first King of Wessex...

"Ealmundus rex Canciæ" granted land at Sheldwich, Kent to Hwitrede abbot of Reculver by charter dated 784. Mercian involvement in Kentish affairs appears to have increased again in 785-789. Presumably King Ealhmund was deposed as King of Kent by Offa King of Mercia as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in a much later passage recalls that "the Kentishmen … formerly … had been wrongly forced away from their allegiance to his [Ecgberht King of Wessex's] kinsmen". This event may have taken place in 789, the date when King Ealhmund's son Ecgberht is later described in the Chronicle as having been expelled from England by Beorhtric King of Wessex and Offa King of Mercia. "Ealhmund princeps" subscribed a charter of "Beorhtric rex" dated 801, but this may be a different individual who has not been identified. If the identity of Ealhmund’s wife is as suggested below, the individual named in the 801 charter must certainly have been a different person from Ealhmund King of Kent. ²