Æthelflæd

For other Anglo-Saxon women of the same name, see Æthelflæd (disambiguation)

Æthelflæd (Old English: Æðelflæd, in earlier history works also Ethelfled or Ethelfleda) (870s–918), was the eldest daughter of King Alfred the Great of Wessex and Ealhswith, wife of Æthelred, ealdorman of Mercia, and after his death, ruler of Mercia (911–918).

Early career

Æthelflæd is mentioned by King Alfred's biographer Asser, who calls her the first-born child of Alfred and Ealhswith and a sister to Edward, Æthelgifu, Ælfthryth and Æthelweard.^[1] By the time he wrote, roughly about the year 890, she was already married to Æthelred, then ealdorman of Mercia.^[1]

While travelling to Mercia for her wedding, her band was attacked by the Danes in an attempt to kill her and so sabotage the alliance between Wessex and Mercia.^{[citation needed]} Though half her company perished in the first attack, Æthelflæd used an old trench as a fortress, and defeated the Danes.^{[citation needed]}

They had one daughter, Ælfwynn.

Mercia and the Vikings

During a sustained campaign of repeated attack between 865 and 878 the Danish Vikings overran most of the English Kingdoms such as Northumbria, Eastern Mercia, East Anglia and even threatened the very existence of Wessex. Alfred and his descendants reconquered these lands from the Danes by 937^[2]. The aid given him in this by Mercia had to be acknowledged. Instead of making the dominion of Wessex over Mercia seem like a conquest, Alfred married Æthelflæd to Æthelred of Mercia and gave his son-in-law the title Ealdorman or Earl of Mercia, thus allowing some ongoing autonomy. Since much of Western Mercia was never under the control of the Danes, and remained strong, this was a prudent move. Further prudence prevailed when the kingdoms were finally absorbed; they were not absorbed into Wessex or greater Wessex but into England. The term Anglo-Saxon thus reflects King Alfred's diplomatic integration of the Mercians Angles and the Saxons.

Lady of the Mercians (911–918)

While her husband was alive, she signed agreements, leading some to think that she was the real leader. On her husband's death in 911 after the Battle of Tettenhall, she was elevated to the status of "Lady of the Mercians". This title was not a nominal position; she was a formidable military leader and tactician. Æthelflæd ruled for approximately eight years (according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) from the newly fortified capital at Stafford, it is likely that the English county of Staffordshire first came into being during her reign. She fortified her existing borders and re-took Derby. She died at Tamworth in 918, and was buried at St Peter's Church (now St Oswald's priory) in Gloucester, a city she had reconstructed from Roman ruins, and laid out the core street plan, which is still in existence today. She was joint lady of the Mercians along with her young daughter Ælfwynn.

Ælfwynn

The dominion of Mercia descended to Ælfwynn, Æthelflæd's heiress. Chroniclers have noticed the right of Ælfwynn so precisely as to leave no doubt concerning her claim; and this fact is of considerable value in showing that, contrary to the practice of other Germanic peoples, the sovereign authority amongst the Anglo-Saxons might descend to a female; or, according to the Anglo-Saxon expression, which the French have adopted, "fall to the spindle side".

However, Ælfwynn was compelled to submit to her mother's brother, King Edward the Elder of Wessex. The succession of Edward the Elder finalised the union of the two formerly separate kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia and gives some insight into the emergence of a unified England.

In this instance, however, the weaker heir was compelled to yield to a more powerful opponent, and one from whom no enmity could have been feared. Ælfwynn was conducted as a captive into Mercia by her uncle Edward, who was engaged in successful warfare against the Danes; and we do not hear anything more concerning her in history. She seems to have lived the rest of her life in a nunnery.

References

^ ^a ^b Asser, Vita Ælfredi ch. 75.
^ Hill, Paul, The Age of Athelstan, Tempus Publishing, 2004. (ISBN 0-7524-2566-8)

Sir Francis Palgrave. History of the Anglo-Saxons. 1876. Paperback edition on Senate. p. 164.

Primary sources

Asser, Vita Ælfredi, ed. W.H. Stevenson, Asser's Life of King Alfred. Oxford, 1904; tr. S.D. Keynes and M. Lapidge, Alfred the Great. Harmondsworth, 1983.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MSS A, B, C, D and E), ed. D. Dumville and S. Keynes, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. A Collaborative Edition. Vols. 3–7. Cambridge, 1983.
Fragmentary Annals of Ireland, ed. and tr. Joan N. Radner, Fragmentary annals of Ireland. Dublin, 1978.
Anglo-Saxon charters: S 221(AD 901), S 223 (AD 884 x 901), S 224 (AD 901), S 225 (AD 878 for 915), S 367 (AD 903), S 1280 (AD 904).

Popular culture

Haley Elizabeth Garwood, Swords across the Thames, Bruceton Mills, 1999. ISBN 0-9649721-8-6
Penny Ingham," Lady of the Mercians", a novel about Æthelflæd; self-published 2004.
Rebecca Tingle, Far Traveler, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2005. ISBN 0-3992389-0-5: A semi-fictional account of the life of Aelfwynn
Bernard Cornwell's The Saxon Stories series of books features her, most prominently in Sword Song (2007 ISBN 978-0007219711).
Rebecca Tingle's "The Edge on the Sword" is a story about the teenage Æthelflæd.
Chris Kirwan, Chris Kirwan's novel 'Shadowers Crossing'(2008 ISBN 978-0-9558709-0-3) features Ethelfleda's final, successful fortification at Castle Rock, Runcorn, in AD 915.

Local Runcorn history has it that she came down the Mersey on the west side and when she reached the bend where the river narrows, she built a wooden fort on the south bank. This was garrisoned to stop the Vikings sailing up the river. The garrison needed supplies and a small village grew up alongside the fort. This was Runcorn. When the railway bridge was being built by the LNWR and they were digging the foundations of the south pier, the workmen found remains of the fort, and this pier was known as 'Ethelfleda's Pier'. Wrought ironwork on the Runcorn pier of the old Transporter Bridge has her name included. A pastiche shows her riding a white horse over a drawbridge when leaving a stone castle which bears the name'Runcorn Castle', but the Norman fort located on a high hill in the town is actually called 'Halton Castle' and it was built in 1070 AD for the 1st Baron of Runcorn, around a century after Ethelfleda's death. its last occupier was Henry Bolingbroke, who went to London to become Henry IV.

[Asser,_Vita_Ælfredi_ch._75-1] Asser, Vita Ælfredi ch. 75.

[2] Hill, Paul, The Age of Athelstan, Tempus Publishing, 2004. (ISBN 0-7524-2566-8)

[1]

[2]

v t e Monarchs of Mercia
Kingdom of Mercia 527–918	Icel Cnebba Cynewald Creoda Pybba Cearl Penda Eowa Peada Oswiu Wulfhere Æthelred I Coenred Ceolred Ceolwald Æthelbald Beornred Offa¹ Ecgfrith Coenwulf¹ Cynehelm Ceolwulf I¹ Beornwulf² Ludeca Wiglaf Ecgberht Wigmund Wigstan Beorhtwulf Burgred Ceolwulf II Æthelred II³ Æthelflæd³ Ælfwynn³	Offa (757–796)
Later monarchs	Æthelstan⁴ Eadgar⁴	Offa (757–796)
¹Also King of Kent and East Anglia ²Also King of East Anglia ³Recognising West Saxon overlordship ⁴King of Mercia during the temporary separation of Mercia and Wessex