Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians
| Æthelred | |
|---|---|
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| Reign | c.881 - 911 AD |
| Predecessor | Ceolwulf II (as king) |
| Successor | Æthelflæd |
| Consort | Æthelflæd |
| Issue | |
| Ælfwynn | |
| House | Mercia |
| Died | 911 AD |
| Burial | St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester |
Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians (or Ealdorman Æthelred of Mercia) (died 911) became ruler of Mercia shortly after the death of its last king, Ceolwulf II in 879.[1] Æthelred's descent is unknown, and he does not appear to have been closely related to his immediate predecessors.[2] He is first recorded in 883, when he made a grant to Berkeley Abbey with the approval of King Alfred of Wessex, showing that he acknowledged Alfred's lordship.[3] Æthelred married Alfred's eldest daughter Æthelflæd between 882 and 887, and they had one child, a daughter called Ælfwynn.[2]
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Background[edit]
In 874 the Vikings drove out Burgred, king of Mercia and he retired to Rome. He was succeeded by Ceolwulf, described by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as "a foolish king's thegn" who was a puppet of the Vikings. However, historians regard this view as partial and distorted. He was accepted as a true king by the Mercians and by King Alfred. In 877 the Vikings divided Mercia, taking the eastern part for themselves and leaving Ceolwulf with the west.[4][3] However, the Vikings went on to attack Wessex, leaving Ceolwulf free to renew Mercian claims of hegemony in Wales. At almost the same time as Alfred's victory over the Vikings in 878 at the Battle of Edington, Ceolwulf defeated and killed Rhodri Mawr, king of the north Welsh territory of Gwynedd.[5] A regnal list gives Ceolwulf a reign of five years from his accession in 874.[6]
Early rule[edit]
Although Æthelred is not recorded until 883, historians believe that he was "Edryd Long-Hair", the leader of a Mercian army which invaded Wales in 881, and was defeated at the battle of the Conwy. This was described by Welsh annals as "revenge by God for Rhodri". The battle of Conwy forced Æthelred to abandon his ambitions in north Wales, but he continued to seek overlordship over the south-eastern Welsh kingdoms of Glywysing and Gwent. According to Alfred's Welsh biographer Asser, Æthelred's "might and tyrannical behaviour" forced these kingdoms to seek the protection of King Alfred's lordship. Alfred was happy to accept, and the defeat at Conwy may have forced Æthelred to accept Mercian submission to Wessex in 883, an important step in creating a single English kingdom.[7][8]
In 886, Æthelred was given control of London by Alfred. As Alfred had conquered the southern Danelaw, it was useful to place the ruler of the divided Kingdom of Mercia in control of its former eastern region. In 892 the Vikings launched the last invasion of Wessex in Alfred's reign, and the following year the main army marched from Essex through Mercia to the Welsh border, where it was defeated by a joint Mercian and Welsh army under Æthelred at the Battle of Buttington, in the most decisive victory of the war.[9] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that Æthelred spent much of the 890s leading military campaigns in eastern England.[10]
Æthelred's status[edit]
Æthelred's status is unclear, and this is reflected in the varying titles given to him by different historians. He is sometimes called 'ealdorman',[11] but also 'Lord of the Mercians',[12][1] 'subking'[13] and in the Handbook of British Chronology he is given the designation (described by Simon Keynes as "delightfully provocative") 'K. [King] Æthelred II'.[14][a] Coinage issued in English Mercia named the West Saxon king,[15] yet Æthelred issued charters in his own name, implying royal authority.[12] West Saxon sources refer to him as an ealdorman, emphasising Mercian subordination to the West Saxon monarchy, whereas Mercian ones describe him as Lord of the Mercians, and Celtic ones sometimes as king of Mercia. The chronicler Æthelweard, writing in the late tenth century, called him 'King of the Mercians'.[10][16]
Pauline Stafford commented that "Alfred's dominance in the 890s over Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, was as debatable at the time as it still is."[17] Simon Keynes takes the West Saxon view, arguing that Alfred created the 'kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons', inherited by his son Edward the Elder in 899, and Æthelred ruled Mercia under the king.[18] Most historians disagree. Ann Williams stated that "though he accepted West Saxon overlordship, Æthelred behaved rather as a king of Mercia than an ealdorman".[12] Nick Higham goes even further, arguing that: "Celtic visions of Æthelred and Æthelflæd as king and queen certainly offer a different, and equally valid, contemporary take on the complex politics of this transition to a new English state."[19]
In the last years of the ninth century three sub-ealdormen ruled Mercia under Æthelred and Æthelflæd. Her uncle, Æthelwulf, covered western and possibly central Mercia, Æthelfrith, the father of Æthelstan Half-King, the south and east, while Alhhelm was responsible for the lands bordering the northern Danelaw. Æthelwulf and Alhhelm are not recorded after the turn of the century, and Æthelfrith may have been Æthelflæd's chief lieutenant when Æthelred's health collapsed soon afterwards.[20]
Later life[edit]
Most historians believe that at some time in the decade after Alfred's death in 899, Æthelred's health collapsed and Æthelflæd became the effective ruler of Mercia.[3] Cyril Hart and Maggie Bailey believe that it occurred by 902. She cites Mercian Register entries from 902 showing Æthelflæd acting alone or in conjunction with Edward in military operation.[20][10] Irish annals called the Three Fragments also suggest that he was unable to take an active part in government from about 902,[21] although he did attend a meeting in 903 with King Edward, Æthelflæd and Ælfwynn.[22] However, Michael Livingston stated that he campaigned with Edward in Northumbria in 909 and may have died as a result of wounds sustained at the Battle of Tettenhall in 910,[23] and Simon Keynes appears to take a similar view, stating that Æthelred and Æthelflæd cooperated with Edward in campaigns against the Vikings.[1]
Æthelred died in 911 and Æthelflæd succeeded him as 'Lady of the Mercians', but she did not inherit the Mercian territories of London and Oxford, which were taken by Edward. Æthelflæd died in 918, and their daughter Ælfwynn briefly ruled Mercia until deposed by Edward the Elder, who took the territory under his direct control.[24]
St Oswald's Priory[edit]
Æthelred and Æthelflæd founded a new minster at Gloucester in the late ninth century, and in 909 the bones of St Oswald were translated to the foundation which was renamed St Oswald's Priory in his honour. Both Æthelred and Æthelflæd were buried there.[25]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Æthelred I was King of Mercia in the late 7th century.
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Keynes, Æthelred
- ^ a b Bailey, pp. 112-113.
- ^ a b c Costambeys, Æthelred
- ^ Williams, Ceolwulf
- ^ Charles-Edwards, pp. 486-488
- ^ Miller, Ceolwulf II
- ^ Charles-Edwards, pp. 490-493
- ^ Keynes & Lapidge, pp. 96, 262-263, n. 183
- ^ Smyth, pp. 33-35; Charles-Edwards, pp. 507-508
- ^ a b c Bailey, p. 113
- ^ Stenton, p. 259, Heighway, p. 102
- ^ a b c Williams, Æthelred
- ^ Yorke, p. 212
- ^ Keynes, 2001, p. 42, Fryde, p. 17.
- ^ Lyon, p. 67
- ^ Keynes, 2001, p. 43
- ^ Stafford, p. 112
- ^ Keynes, 2001, pp. 40-62
- ^ Higham, p. 308
- ^ a b Hart, p. 116
- ^ Wainwright, pp. 308-309
- ^ Keynes, 2001, pp. 52-54
- ^ Livingston, pp. 5-6
- ^ Costambeys, Æthelflæd
- ^ Heighway, pp. 103, 108
Sources[edit]
- Bailey, Maggie (2001). "Ælfwynn, Second Lady of the Mercians". In Higham, N. J.; Hill, D. H. eds. Edward the Elder 899-924. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21497-1.
- Charles-Edwards, T. M. (2013). Wales and the Britons 350-1064. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-821731-2.
- Costembeys, Marios (2004). "Æthelflæd (Ethelfleda) (d. 918), ruler of the Mercians". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8907. Retrieved 16 August 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- Costambeys, Marios (2004). "Æthelred (d. 911), ruler of the Mercians". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/52311. Retrieved 2 August 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S. et al., eds. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (3rd ed.). Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0 521-56350 X.
- Hart, Cyril (1973). "Athelstan 'Half King' and his family". Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge University Press) 2: 115–144. ISBN 0 521 20218 3.
- Heighway, Carolyn (2001). "Gloucester and the new minster of St Oswald". In Higham, N. J.; Hill, D. H. Edward the Elder 899-924. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21497-1.
- Higham, Nick (2001). "Endpiece". In Higham, N. J.; Hill, D. H. Edward the Elder 899-924. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21497-1.
- Keynes, Simon; Lapidge, Michael, eds. (1983). Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred & Other Contemporary Sources. Penguin Classics. ISBN 978-0-14-044409-4.
- Keynes, Simon (1999). "Æthelred 'Lord of the Mercians' (d. 911)". In Michael Lapidge et al. The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1.
- Keynes, Simon (2001). "Edward, King of the Anglo-Saxons". In Higham, N. J.; Hill, D. H. Edward the Elder 899-924. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21497-1.
- Livingston, Michael (2011). "The Roads to Brunanburh". In Livingston, Michael ed. The Battle of Brunanburh: A Casebook. University of Exeter Press. ISBN 978 0 85989 862 1.
- Lyon, Stewart (2001). "The Coinage of Edward the Elder". In Higham, N. J.; Hill, D. H. Edward the Elder 899-924. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21497-1.
- Miller, Sean (2004). "Ceolwulf II (fl. 874–879), king of the Mercians". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/39145. Retrieved 10 June 2013. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- Smyth, Alfred (1987). Scandinavian York and Dublin. Irish Academic Press. ISBN 0-7165-2365-5.
- Stafford, Pauline (2007). "'The Annals of Æthelflæd': Annals, History and Politics in Early Tenth-Century England". In Barrow, Julia; Wareham, Andrew. Myth, Rulership, Church and Charters. Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-5120-8.
- Stenton, Frank M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5.
- Wainwright, F. T. (1975). "Aethelflæd, Lady of the Mercians". Scandinavian England: Collected Papers. Phillimore. pp. 305–324. ISBN 0 900592 65 6.
- Williams, Ann (1991). "Æthelred Lord of the Mercians c. 883-911". In Ann Williams, Alfred P. Smyth and D. P. Kirby eds. A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain. Seaby. ISBN 978-1-85264-047-7.
- Williams, Ann (1991). "Ceolwulf II, king of Mercia 874-9". In Ann Williams, Alfred P. Smyth and D. P. Kirby eds. A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain. Seaby. ISBN 978-1-85264-047-7.
- Yorke, Barbara (1990). Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Seaby. ISBN 1-85264-027-8.
Further reading[edit]
- Keynes, Simon (1998). "King Alfred and the Mercians". In Blackburn, M. A. S.; Dumville, D. N. eds. Kings, Currency and Alliances: History and Coinage of Southern England in the Ninth Century.
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Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians
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| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ceolwulf II King of Mercia |
Lord of the Mercians c. 882–911 |
Succeeded by Æthelflæd Lady of the Mercians |
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