In the Midlands and the North she came to dominate the political scene. (Don’t confuse her husband with the better-known ‘Ethelred the Unready’: that hapless ruler is a couple of generations on! •Thank goodness Thyra survived: I don’t think I would have coped if the wonderful Father Beocca had been plunged into mourning. His successor as the ruler of the English western half of Mercia, Æthelflæd's husband Æthelred, is first seen in 881 when, according to the historian of medieval Wales, Thomas Charles-Edwards, he led an unsuccessful Mercian invasion of the north Welsh Kingdom of Gwynedd. They understood that the old and fragmented Anglo-Saxon kingdoms could not drive back the Vikings alone, and so as soon as Æthelflæd succeeded to the throne, she freely handed both Oxford and London over to Wessex for their own protection. A formidable and infamous Danish warlord, Earl Ragnar is fearless, charming, and a natural leader, and doesn't hesitate to take Uhtred under his wing. Most historians believe that Æthelred was incapacitated in his last years. Concerned about any future Mercian uprisings, the exiled Ælfwynn was quickly ‘persuaded’ by her uncle to keep a low profile and consequently lived the rest of her life in a nunnery! And the way in which she used her influence helped to make possible the unification of England under kings of the West Saxon royal house. ). became ruler of western Mercia in 882, he decided to try and retake control over his lands. Updated July 29, 2019. [21], Compared to the rest of England, much of English Mercia —Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire —was unusually stable in the Viking age. The only recorded event took place in 916, when she sent an expedition to avenge the murder of a Mercian abbot and his companions; her men destroyed the royal crannog of Brycheiniog on Llangorse Lake and captured the queen and thirty-three of her companions. In the 890s, Æthelred and Edward, Alfred's son and future successor, fought off more Viking attacks. [58], Little is known of Æthelflæd's relations with the Welsh. The Last Kingdom is based on The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, which so far includes twelve books. Keynes argues that a new polity was created when Æthelred submitted to Alfred in the 880s, covering Wessex and English (western) Mercia. [64], The choice of burial place was symbolic. •Eliza Butterworth and David Dawson were both excellent this week, making us see the cost of Æthelflæd’s loss to Ælswith and Alfred, even a… Marios Costambeys dates Æthelflæd's birth to the early 870s. The version of record as reviewed is: .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}"Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians" (PDF). The years that followed saw the husband and wife team take back vast swathes of Mercian land from the Danes, both in the Midlands and to the north. [6][e] She was succeeded as Lady of the Mercians by her daughter, Ælfwynn, but in early December 918 Edward deposed her and took Mercia under his control. [10] In the twelfth century, Henry of Huntingdon paid her his own tribute: Some historians believe that Æthelred and Æthelflæd were independent rulers. King Alfred, played on the show by David Dawson, was a real guy. "[78] According to Charles Insley, The assumption that Mercia was in some sort of limbo in this period, subordinate to Wessex and waiting to be incorporated into "England" cannot be sustained ... Æthelred's death in 911 changed little, for his formidable wife carried on as sole ruler of Mercia until her death in 918. He was described by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as "a foolish king's thegn" who was a puppet of the Vikings. [13] Many Mercians disliked the subordination of their ancient kingdom to Wessex, and Wainwright describes the Mercian annalist's description of the deposition of Ælfwynn as "heavy with resentment". No similar offer is known to have been made to Edward. He may have been misinformed about the position but it is also possible that the tombs were moved from their prestigious position next to the saint, when the couple became less known over time or when tenth-century kings acted to minimise the honour paid to their Mercian predecessors. Tim Clarkson's biography has a detailed discussion of Æthelflæd' burhs. Richard Abels describes him as "somewhat of a mysterious character", who may have claimed royal blood and been related to King Alfred's father-in-law, Ealdorman Æthelred Mucel. When Aethelflaed ( Millie Brady) was a teenager, her parents betrothed her to the self-styled king of Mercia, Lord Aethelred ( Toby Regbo ). A few months later, the leading men of Danish-ruled York offered to pledge their loyalty to Æthelflæd, probably to secure her support against Norse raiders from Ireland, but she died on 12 June 918, before she could take advantage of the offer. Earl Ragnar. [60], No coins were issued with the name of Æthelred or Æthelflæd on them, but in the 910s silver pennies were minted in west Mercian towns with unusual ornamental designs on the reverse and this may have reflected Æthelflæd's desire to distinguish specie issued under her control from that of her brother. Æthelflæd immediately turned to her brother Edward for support. Modern day visitors to Winchester can’t help but soak in the history as they wander through the ancient streets of this small city. At this point Æthelflæd because the sole ruler of Mercia, and her title became ‘Lady of Mercia’. Luckily for the Saxons, a freak storm destroyed many of the ships. [71][72] She was also praised by Anglo-Norman historians such as John of Worcester and William of Malmesbury, who described her as "a powerful accession to [Edward's] party, the delight of his subjects, the dread of his enemies, a woman of enlarged soul". •I was pleased that Æthelflæd was dealing effectively with her would-be rapist before Erik arrived; it made a change from the growing tendency for cameras to linger long on helpless female bodies before salvation belatedly arrives (if at all). As The Last Kingdom depicts, he was a well-liked ruler with a reputation among … [1], In 865 the Viking Great Heathen Army landed in East Anglia and used this as a starting point for an invasion. He argues that King Edward was anxious not to encourage Mercian separatism and did not wish to publicise his sister's accomplishments, in case she became a symbol of Mercian claims. [68] Edward died in 924 at Farndon in Cheshire a few days after putting down a rebellion by Mercians and Welshmen at Chester.[69]. Unfortunately this was one of many battles in which Æthelred was not involved. 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. However, when Æthelred (not to be confused with Lady Æthelflæd, whom this article is about!) Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians (c. 870 – 12 June 918) ruled Mercia in the English Midlands from 911 until her death. Over the following year, this brother / sister alliance continued to drive the Danes out of central and southern England. The Last Kingdom, Netflix’s adaptation of Bernard Cornwell’s historical fiction novels, involve a lot of real-world figures. [14] Æthelflæd was thus half-Mercian and the alliance between Wessex and Mercia was sealed by her marriage to Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians. In order to ‘seal the deal’, Alfred also decided to marry off his eldest daughter Æthelflæd to Æthelred, even though she was only around 16 years old at the time. In 918 Leicester surrendered without a fight. [15] They are mentioned in Alfred's will, which probably dates to the 880s. Although little is known about this period in time, it is thought that Æthelred turned to his Anglo-Saxon neighbour to the south (Alfred of Wessex) to ask for assistance in regaining his kingdom. [55] At the end of the year, the East Anglian Danes submitted to Edward. The Last Kingdom is not a true story, but many of the show’s details are drawn from historical fact. Her brief reign ended however when King Edward of … However, it's not accurate to Uhtred's. The Last Kingdom is the first historical novel in The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2004. Thereafter the two kingdoms became allies, which was to be an important factor in English resistance to the Vikings. 28 April 2020. by Louisa Mellor. [38] The remains of the royal Northumbrian saint Oswald were seized and taken from his resting place in Bardney Abbey in Lincolnshire to Gloucester. Æthelflæd, described only as "my eldest daughter", received an estate and 100 mancuses, while Æthelred, the only ealdorman to be mentioned by name, received a sword worth 100 mancuses. [12] Ian Walker suggests that Æthelflæd accepted this loss of territory in return for recognition by her brother of her position in Mercia. [63], Æthelflæd died at Tamworth on 12 June 918 and her body was carried 75 miles (121 km) to Gloucester, where she was buried with her husband in their foundation, St Oswald's Minster. The accession of a female ruler in Mercia is described by the historian Ian Walker as "one of the most unique events in early medieval history". In that last year of her life, Viking leaders in Leicester offered to submit to her rule and there were rumours that powerful Viking leaders in York might form an alliance with Mercia. 1 (1): 1. According to Pauline Stafford, "like ... Elizabeth I she became a wonder to later ages". The eldest child of the King Alfred of Wessex, Æthelflæd was thought to have been a strong, independent and well educated lady. 5621230. Photo: Netflix When it came to the true parentage of Aethelflaed of Mercia’s daughter Aelfwynn, The Last Kingdom tore up the history books and … Once inside the city walls, the gates would close and the pursuing Vikings would be slaughtered by an army hiding inside. Æthelflæd was succeeded by her daughter Ælfwynn, although this was a short lived affair as Edward the Elder soon ousted Ælfwynn and dissolved Mercia into the Kingdom of Wessex. The land was valuable, including most of the city's usable river frontage, and control of it enabled the Mercian rulers to dominate over and profit from the city. Alfred’s wife Aelswith is fiercely loyal, and protective of her husband and king. [39] The Mercian rulers built a new minster in Gloucester and, although the building was small, it was embellished on a grand scale, with rich sculpture. [46] Saintly relics were believed to give supernatural legitimacy to rulers' authority, and Æthelflæd was probably responsible for the foundation or re-foundation of Chester Minster and the transfer to it of the remains of the seventh-century Mercian princess Saint Werburgh from Hanbury in Staffordshire. In the mid-880s, Alfred sealed the strategic alliance between the surviving English kingdoms by marrying Æthelflæd to Æthelred. In Mercia, Alfred's sister Æthelswith had been the wife of King Burgred of Mercia; she had witnessed charters as queen and had made grants jointly with her husband and in her own name. Historians disagree whether Mercia was an independent kingdom under Æthelred and Æthelflæd but they agree that Æthelflæd was a great ruler who played an important part in the conquest of the Danelaw. In Nick Higham's view, medieval and modern writers have been so captivated by her that Edward's reputation has suffered unfairly in comparison. 24 October 2018. doi:10.15347/WJH/2018.001. Edward did not conquer the Viking Kingdom of York in southern Northumbria. [45], Mercia had a long tradition of venerating royal saints and this was enthusiastically supported by Æthelred and Æthelflæd. Unfortunately Æthelflæd never reached York to see its citizens pay homage. Mercia was the dominant kingdom in southern England in the eighth century and maintained its position until it suffered a decisive defeat by Wessex at the Battle of Ellandun in 825. Instead, she died in Tamworth just two weeks before she had planned to visit, and was later buried in St Oswalds Priory in Gloucester. In 917 she sent an army to capture Derby, the first of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw to fall to the English, a victory described by Tim Clarkson as "her greatest triumph". [b] Ealhswith's mother, Eadburh, was a member of the Mercian royal house, probably a descendant of King Coenwulf (796–821). London had traditionally been a Mercian city, a fortress at the south eastern tip of their territory, so as a token of his victory he handed the city back to Æthelred. Legend has it that Æthelflæd actually brought a great deal of military leadership and strategy to the table, including the tactic of fortifying the Mercian borders whenever they had driven the Danes further back. In 883 he made a grant with the consent of King Alfred, thus acknowledging Alfred's lordship. The Lady of the Mercians had made herself both feared and respected. They granted the church of Worcester a half share of the rights of lordship over the city, covering land rents and the proceeds of justice, and in return the cathedral community agreed in perpetuity to dedicate a psalm to them three times a day and a mass and thirty psalms every Saturday. Æthelstan, the eldest son of Edward the Elder and future king of England, was brought up in their court and, in the view of Martin Ryan, certainly joined their campaigns against the Vikings. In Keynes's view, "the conclusion seems inescapable that the Alfredian polity of the kingship 'of the Anglo-Saxons' persisted in the first quarter of the tenth century, and that the Mercians were thus under Edward's rule from the beginning of his reign". Æthelred and Æthelflæd fortified Worcester, gave generous donations to Mercian churches and built a new minster in Gloucester. WikiJournal of Humanities. He commented: "It was through reliance on her guardianship of Mercia that her brother was enabled to begin the forward movement against the southern Danes which is the outstanding feature of his reign". The Norse Vikings then joined with the Danes in an attack on Chester, but this failed because Æthelflæd had fortified the town, and she and her husband persuaded the Irish among the attackers to change sides. This story introduces Uhtred of Bebbanburg, born a Saxon but kidnapped by Danes at age 10. On their way back they were caught by an English army in Staffordshire and their army was destroyed at the Battle of Tettenhall, opening the way for the recovery of the Danish Midlands and East Anglia over the next decade. This story introduces Uhtred of Bebbanburg, born a Saxon but kidnapped by Danes at age 10. [2] In 874 the Vikings expelled King Burgred and Ceolwulf became the last King of Mercia with their support. They then moved on Mercia, where they spent the winter of 867–868. These Vikings were actually refugees, driven back from the port of Dublin by an Irish uprising, and who had been given permission to peacefully set up camp outside of Chester under the proviso that they behaved themselves. [12] According to the Mercian Register, Æthelflæd was buried in the east porticus. [25] In 901 Æthelflæd and Æthelred gave land and a golden chalice weighing thirty mancuses to the shrine of Saint Mildburg at Much Wenlock church. [33] Æthelflæd re-founded Chester as a burh and she is believed to have enhanced its Roman defences by running walls from the north-west and south-east corners of the fort to the River Dee. He is the father of Aelflaed, King Edward’s wife, and initially before the marriage Aelswith was really eager to have him and his daughter be part of … As Æthelflæd reached her teens, her father had begun to push the Vikings out of south eastern England and began to reclaim territory for both his own kingdom of Wessex and his northern ally of Mercia. In 903 a Mercian ealdorman "petitioned King Edward, and also Æthelred and Æthelflæd, who then held rulership and power over the race of the Mercians under the aforesaid king". Hywel Dda was king of Dyfed in south-west Wales, Clydog ap Cadell probably king of Powys in the north-east, and Idwal ab Anarawd king of Gwynedd in the north-west. [19] In the view of Ian Walker: "He was a royal ealdorman whose power base lay in the south-west of Mercia in the former kingdom of the Hwicce around Gloucester". The success of Edward's campaigns against the Danes depended to a great extent upon her cooperation. Copyright © Historic UK Ltd. Company Registered in England No. In 909 Edward sent a West Saxon and Mercian force to the northern Danelaw, where it raided for five weeks. In 886 Alfred occupied the Mercian town of London, which had been in Viking hands. Ahead of series four of The Last Kingdom , we revisit a feature by Janina Ramirez in which she reveals how the wife, mother, diplomat – and, above all, warrior-queen – left an indelible mark on Anglo-Saxon England … In 915 Chirbury was fortified to guard a route from Wales and Runcorn on the River Mersey. 876 (during) Aethelflaed’s father, Alfred made a deal with Guthrum, leader of the Vikings and demanded an exchange of hostages in return for peace. William of Malmesbury wrote that their burial places were found in the south porticus during building works in the early twelfth century. In 914 a Mercian army drawn from Gloucester and Hereford repelled a Viking invasion from Brittany, and the Iron Age Eddisbury hill fort was repaired to protect against invasion from Northumbria or Cheshire, while Warwick was fortified as further protection against the Leicester Danes. [47] In 910 the Danes retaliated against the English attack of the previous year by invading Mercia, raiding as far as Bridgnorth in Shropshire. Aethelflaed's daughter Aelfwynn (Helena Albright) featured in season four of The Last Kingdom and she suffered a severe illness. The plan proved successful, and the Mercians once again strengthened their position. Upon hearing of the Viking uprising in the area, Æthelflæd rode north to meet the Danes with a cunning battle plan… she would fight the Vikings outside the city, but would then would fall back and ‘draw’ the Vikings into the city walls. Alfred also uses diplomacy for these ends and looks to dynastic marriages for his children…enter Aethelflaed, Alfred’s daughter and oldest child. Æthelflæd benefited from a Mercian tradition of queenly importance, and was able to play a key role in the history of the early tenth century as Lady of the Mercians, which would not have been possible in Wessex. [56] According to the Three Fragments, in 918 Æthelflæd led an army of Scots and Northumbrian English against forces led by the Norse Viking leader Ragnall at the Battle of Corbridge in Northumbria. Henry of Huntingdon's poem was translated, "freely" according to Paul Szarmach, "Gloucester funeral procession honours Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians", "Aethelflaed, Tamworth's Warrior Queen, Installation and opening-event", "Luke Perry, artist, on making Aethlflaed, Warrior Queen of Tamworth", "Æthelflæd [Ethelfleda] (d. 918), ruler of the Mercians", "Æthelred (d. 911), ruler of the Mercians", "Edward [called Edward the Elder] (870s?–924), king of the Anglo-Saxons", WikiJournal of Humanities/Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, List of English words of Old Norse origin, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Æthelflæd&oldid=1008078537, Wikipedia articles published in peer-reviewed literature, Wikipedia articles published in WikiJournal of Humanities, Wikipedia articles published in peer-reviewed literature (W2J), Burials at St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from open access publications, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 21 February 2021, at 12:52. 66 ] Æthelflæd died a few years, Æthelred and Æthelflæd then ruled Mercia as of.: I don ’ t think I would have been an exact copy the... 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