Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Æthelred
Ruins of St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester, where Æthelred and Æthelflæd were buried
Lord of the Mercians
Reign	c. 881–911 AD
Predecessor	Ceolwulf II (as king)
Successor	Æthelflæd (as Lady of the Mercians)
Died	911 AD
Burial	St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester
Consort	Æthelflæd
Issue	Ælfwynn

Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians (who died in 911) became the ruler of western Mercia around 881 AD. This happened after the last king, Ceolwulf II, disappeared in 879. The eastern part of Mercia was controlled by the Vikings at that time.

We don't know much about Æthelred's family. He probably led a Mercian army that tried to invade Wales in 881 but failed. Soon after, he agreed to be under the rule of King Alfred the Great of Wessex. To make this alliance stronger, Æthelred married Alfred's daughter, Æthelflæd.

In 886, King Alfred took control of London, which had been badly damaged by Viking attacks. Alfred then gave London to Æthelred, as it had traditionally been a Mercian city. In 892, the Vikings attacked again. The next year, Æthelred led an army of Mercians, West Saxons, and Welsh people to victory against the Vikings at the Battle of Buttington. He spent the next three years fighting alongside Alfred's son, who would later become King Edward the Elder. After 899, Æthelred's health might have gotten worse, and Æthelflæd may have taken over as the main ruler of Mercia.

After Æthelred died, Æthelflæd ruled as the Lady of the Mercians until her own death in 918. Their only child, a daughter named Ælfwynn, then ruled for a short time. But she was soon removed from power by her uncle, King Edward.

Mercia's Story Before Æthelred

England in the time of Æthelred

Mercia was a very powerful kingdom in southern England during the 700s. It stayed strong until it was defeated by King Ecgberht of Wessex in 825 at the Battle of Ellendun. Ecgberht briefly conquered Mercia, but it became independent again in 830. After that, Mercia and Wessex became allies, which was very important for fighting the Vikings.

The Mercians traditionally controlled parts of Wales. In 853, King Burgred of Mercia got help from King Æthelwulf of Wessex to invade Wales and show their power again. That same year, Burgred married Æthelwulf's daughter.

In 865, a large Viking army, called the Great Heathen Army, landed in East Anglia. They used it as a base to invade other areas. The people of East Anglia had to pay the Vikings to leave them alone. The next year, the Vikings invaded Northumbria and put a man named Ecgberht in charge as a puppet king. Then they moved to Nottingham in Mercia for the winter of 867–868. King Burgred of Mercia, along with King Æthelred of Wessex and his brother Alfred, attacked the Vikings. But the Vikings avoided a direct fight, and Mercia ended up paying them to leave. The next year, the Vikings conquered East Anglia.

They returned to Mercia in 872. Two years later, they forced King Burgred out and made Ceolwulf king. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle called Ceolwulf a "foolish king's thegn" (a nobleman) who was just a Viking puppet. However, historians today believe this view was unfair. Ceolwulf was accepted as a true king by the Mercians and by King Alfred.

In 877, the Vikings split Mercia. They took the eastern part for themselves and left Ceolwulf with the west. The Vikings then attacked Wessex. This left Ceolwulf free to try and take back Mercian control over Wales. Around the same time that Alfred won a big victory over the Vikings at the Battle of Edington in 878, Ceolwulf defeated and killed Rhodri Mawr, the king of Gwynedd in north Wales. After Ceolwulf disappeared in 879, Mercia started to come under the control of Wessex.

Æthelred's Life and Rule

Becoming a Ruler

We don't know who Æthelred's parents were. He doesn't seem to be closely related to the kings who came before him, but his name suggests he might have come from an earlier Mercian royal family. Some historians think he was a powerful nobleman from the southwest of Mercia, around Gloucester. Another idea is that he was the son of King Burgred of Mercia and Æthelswith, who was Alfred the Great's sister. However, if this were true, his marriage to Alfred's daughter would have been against church rules at the time.

It's not clear exactly when Æthelred took over after Ceolwulf disappeared. But it's very likely that Æthelred was "Edryd Long-Hair," the leader of a Mercian army that invaded Gwynedd in 881. That army was defeated by Rhodri Mawr's sons at the Battle of the Conwy. Welsh records called this "revenge by God for Rhodri." This defeat made Æthelred give up his plans for north Wales. However, he continued to rule over the southeastern Welsh kingdoms of Glywysing and Gwent.

According to Alfred's writer, Asser, Æthelred's "power and harsh behavior" forced these kingdoms to ask King Alfred for protection. By 883, Æthelred had accepted Alfred's authority. Historians suggest that Æthelred tried to keep control of southeast Wales in 881–882. But Alfred offered his protection to Glywysing and Gwent. By 882–883, Æthelred realized that Wessex was too strong for him to remain fully independent. This agreement was a big step in creating a single English kingdom.

In 883, when Æthelred gave land to Berkeley Abbey, he did it with King Alfred's approval. This showed he accepted Alfred's rule. After this, he usually acted with Alfred's permission. But he also issued some orders on his own, without mentioning Alfred. For example, at a meeting in Risborough in Buckinghamshire in 884. This shows that English Mercia stretched quite far southeast, towards London.

After the Battle of Edington in 878, Alfred built a network of fortified towns called burhs in Wessex. These were to protect his people from Viking attacks. When Æthelred accepted Alfred's rule, these burhs were also built in Mercia. One of these was Worcester. Æthelred worked with the bishop there and used the old Roman walls to defend the town. Over the next two generations, Worcester changed from a religious settlement into a town with many different kinds of skilled workers.

London and the Vikings

London had suffered a lot from Viking attacks and had been taken over by Viking armies several times. In 886, Alfred took control of London. According to Asser, Alfred "restored" the city and "made it livable again." He then gave control to Æthelred. Historians have different ideas about why this happened. Some believe Alfred took London by force from the Vikings and gave it to Æthelred because it had traditionally been a Mercian city. Others think Alfred did this to keep the English people outside Viking territory united. Some even suggest that Æthelred played a bigger role in getting London back than the West Saxon writers wanted to admit.

The Anglo-Saxon London, called Lundenwic, was located about a mile west of the old Roman city of Londinium. But Lundenwic was not defended. So, the rebuilding was done inside the walls of the old Roman city. Especially in an area near the River Thames now called Queenhithe, which was then known as Æthelred's Hythe after its Mercian ruler. Æthelred quickly worked to restore the area. In 889, he and Alfred gave property there to the Bishop of Worcester. In 899, they made another gift to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Both bishops were Mercians, like Æthelred, and strong allies of King Alfred. They had the right to collect all taxes from markets along the river.

Æthelflæd as depicted in a book from Abingdon Abbey (1200s)

After London was restored, Alfred received the loyalty of "all the English people who were not under the Danes." The alliance between Wessex and Mercia was made stronger when Æthelred married Alfred's oldest daughter, Æthelflæd. She is first mentioned as Æthelred's wife in a document from 887, but they probably married in the early to mid-880s. Æthelred was likely much older than his wife. They had one daughter, Ælfwynn. In King Alfred's will, written in the 880s, Æthelred was given a sword worth 100 gold coins.

A page from the will of Alfred the Great, written around 883, which mentions Æthelred. (This copy is from around 1031.)

In 892, two Viking armies attacked eastern England, and Æthelred helped defend against them. After one Viking leader, Hastein, was defeated, Alfred became the godfather to one of Hastein's sons, and Æthelred became godfather to the other. Soon after, the English captured Hastein's wife and children. But they were returned to him because his sons were godchildren of the English leaders. In 893, Æthelred brought troops from London to join Alfred's son Edward against a Viking army at Thorney in Buckinghamshire. The Vikings were too strong for a direct attack, so they were allowed to leave English land.

Later that year, a larger Viking force marched from Essex through Mercia to the Welsh border. Æthelred followed them with a combined army of Mercians and West Saxons. Welsh kings joined Æthelred to fight the Vikings at the Battle of Buttington. Some historians say the Vikings were completely defeated there. Others say the Vikings fought their way out and went back to Essex. The Viking army finally broke up in 896. During much of this time, Alfred was in the west, defending Devonshire. Many historians believe that King Alfred had little to do directly with the big English victories in 893–896. His son, Edward, and his noblemen, especially his son-in-law, Æthelred, won the glory.

In the late 800s, three noblemen ruled Mercia under Æthelred. Æthelflæd's uncle, Æthelwulf, controlled western and possibly central Mercia. The south and east were ruled by Æthelfrith, who was the father of Æthelstan Half-King. Alhhelm was in charge of the lands next to the northern Viking territory. Æthelwulf and Alhhelm are not mentioned after the year 900. Æthelfrith may have been Æthelflæd's main helper when Æthelred's health got worse.

Documents show that Æthelred and Æthelflæd supported religious communities. In 883, Æthelred freed Berkeley Abbey from having to make payments to the king. In 887, he confirmed (with Æthelflæd also signing) that Pyrton Minster in Oxfordshire owned its land and had enough workers. In 901, they both gave land to Much Wenlock Abbey. They also donated a gold cup weighing thirty gold coins in honor of its former abbess, Saint Mildburgh. In 903, they helped settle a dispute over an old monastery estate that the bishops of Worcester had been trying to get back since the 840s. Bishop Wærferth wrote that "we never could get anywhere until Æthelred became Lord of the Mercians."

Later Years and Legacy

Some historians believe that at some point between 899 and 909, Æthelred's health failed, and Æthelflæd became the real ruler of Mercia. Records from 902 show Æthelflæd acting alone or with King Edward in military actions. Irish records also suggest that Æthelred was not able to be active in government from about 902. However, he did attend a meeting in 903 with King Edward, Æthelflæd, and Ælfwynn.

According to a writer named William of Malmesbury, King Edward's oldest son, who would become King Æthelstan, was sent to be raised at the court of Æthelred and Æthelflæd after Edward remarried around 900. This is supported by another record. In 925, Æthelstan gave special rights to St Oswald's Priory in Gloucester. He said he did this "according to a promise of fatherly love which he formerly pledged with Æthelred, ealdorman of the people of the Mercians." When King Edward died in 924, Æthelstan faced some opposition in Wessex, but he was accepted as king in Mercia.

After Æthelred died in 911, Æthelflæd ruled as "Lady of the Mercians." However, she did not inherit the Mercian areas of London and Oxford, which King Edward took. Æthelflæd died in 918. Their daughter Ælfwynn briefly ruled Mercia until her uncle, Edward the Elder, removed her from power and took Mercia under his direct control.

St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester

Gloucester seems to have been the main center of power for Æthelred and Æthelflæd. Before 900, they founded a new church there, dedicated to St Peter. In 909, an army from Wessex and Mercia raided Viking territory. They took the bones of the Northumbrian king and martyr, St Oswald, from Bardney in Lincolnshire. The bones were moved to the new church in Gloucester, which was then renamed St Oswald's Priory in his honor. Getting these holy bones made the new church more famous and richer because it became a place for pilgrims to visit. Historians see this new church as a kind of royal burial place for Mercia, replacing one that the Vikings had destroyed. Æthelred and Æthelflæd were both buried there.

What Was Æthelred's Title?

Æthelred's exact title is debated by historians. He is sometimes called "ealdorman" (a high-ranking nobleman), but also "Lord of the Mercians" and even "subking." Coins made in English Mercia during Ceolwulf's time named him as king. But in Æthelred's time, the coins named the West Saxon king. However, Æthelred issued some official documents in his own name, which suggests he had royal authority.

Sources from Wessex usually called him an ealdorman. This emphasized that Mercia was under the West Saxon king. But Mercian sources called him Lord of the Mercians. And Celtic (Welsh and Irish) sources sometimes called him King of Mercia. A writer from the late 900s, Æthelweard, called Æthelred "King of the Mercians" in his record for 893. But when he wrote about Æthelred's death in 911, he called him the "Lord of the Mercians."

King Edward's power over Mercia is not completely clear. He might have had less power than his father, Alfred. Edward's documents show Æthelred and Æthelflæd accepting his royal authority. But their own documents don't mention any overlord. Some of their documents use phrases like "holding, governing and defending the sole rule of the Mercians." This sounds very much like they were describing themselves as king and queen.

Historians like Pauline Stafford say that "Alfred's control in the 890s over Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, was as debatable then as it still is." Ann Williams believes that "even though he accepted West Saxon overlordship, Æthelred acted more like a king of Mercia than an ealdorman." And Charles Insley states that Mercia remained an independent kingdom until 920. To the Welsh and Irish looking east, Mercian rulers kept all their old royal power until Æthelflæd's death in 918. Nick Higham argues that: "Celtic views 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."

In a book called Handbook of British Chronology, David Dumville lists Æthelred as King Æthelred II, meaning he was a successor to the 600s King Æthelred of Mercia. However, Simon Keynes takes the West Saxon view. He argues that Alfred created the "kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons," which his son Edward the Elder inherited in 899. And that Æthelred ruled Mercia under the king. But Keynes also says:

Æthelred usually acted with King Alfred's permission or alongside him, but sometimes he acted on his own. Even though he was sometimes called simply dux or ealdorman, his status was clearly different from other noblemen. He was also given titles that suggested divine favor and seemed almost royal. In other words, there's no doubt that the Mercians still saw their ruler as a rightful successor to earlier kings, and their land as a kingdom with its own identity. But there's also no doubt that Æthelred lived in a world shaped by Alfred.

See also

In Spanish: Etelredo II de Mercia para niños