<P> During the Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo - Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda, a high king over the other kings . The decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful . It absorbed the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825 . The kings of Wessex became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century . In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore, briefly making Egbert the first king to reign over a united England . </P> <P> In 886, Alfred the Great retook London, which he apparently regarded as a turning point in his reign . The Anglo - Saxon Chronicle says that "all of the English people (all Angelcyn) not subject to the Danes submitted themselves to King Alfred ." Asser added that "Alfred, king of the Anglo - Saxons, restored the city of London splendidly...and made it habitable once more ." Alfred's "restoration" entailed reoccupying and refurbishing the nearly deserted Roman walled city, building quays along the Thames, and laying a new city street plan . It is probably at this point that Alfred assumed the new royal style' King of the Anglo - Saxons .' </P> <P> During the following years Northumbria repeatedly changed hands between the English kings and the Norwegian invaders, but was definitively brought under English control by Eadred in 954, completing the unification of England . At about this time, Lothian, the northern part of Northumbria (Roman Bernicia), was ceded to the Kingdom of Scotland . On 12 July 927 the monarchs of Britain gathered at Eamont in Cumbria to recognise Æthelstan as king of the English . This can be considered England's' foundation date', although the process of unification had taken almost 100 years . </P> <P> England has remained in political unity ever since . During the reign of Æthelred the Unready (978--1016), a new wave of Danish invasions was orchestrated by Sweyn I of Denmark, culminating after a quarter - century of warfare in the Danish conquest of England in 1013 . But Sweyn died on 2 February 1014, and Æthelred was restored to the throne . In 1015, Sweyn's son Cnut the Great (commonly known as Canute) launched a new invasion . The ensuing war ended with an agreement in 1016 between Canute and Æthelred's successor, Edmund Ironside, to divide England between them, but Edmund's death on 30 November of that year left England united under Danish rule . This continued for 26 years until the death of Harthacnut in June 1042 . He was the son of Canute and Emma of Normandy (the widow of Æthelred the Unready) and had no heirs of his own; he was succeeded by his half - brother, Æthelred's son, Edward the Confessor . The Kingdom of England was once again independent . </P>

What year was the first king of england crowned