Æthelred, Ealdorman of Mercia

Æthelred, Ealdorman of Mercia

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This article is about the late IX– early X century ealdorman. For the VII century king, see Æthelred of Mercia.

The title of this article contains the character Æ. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Aethelred, Ealdorman of Mercia.

Ealdorman Æthelred (died 911) was ruler of Mercia from about 883, when he submitted to King Alfred of Wessex.[1] He married Alfred's daughter Æthelfleda between 882 and 887, and his title was "Lord of the Mercians". Although he had many attributes of a king, he was subject to the power of his close ally Wessex. His descent is unknown, and he does not appear to have been closely related to his immediate predecessors.[2]

In 886, he was given control of London[3] by Alfred. As Alfred reconquered the Danelaw, it was useful to place the ruler of the divided Kingdom of Mercia in control of its former eastern region.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that Æthelred spent much of the 890s leading military campaigns in eastern England[4]. He was recorded as fighting many battles against the Welsh, and at one point Brochwael ab Meurig, joint ruler with his brother of the Welsh Kingdom of Gwent appealed to Alfred for help against Earldorman Æthelred. From about 902, Æthelfleda became the effective ruler of Mercia due to Æthelred's ill health, and when he died in 911 she succeeded him. After Æthelfleda's death in 918, their daughter Ælfwynn briefly ruled Mercia until deposed by Edward the Elder.[5]

• Æthelred II Ealdorman of Mercia

born about 0865 Mercia, England

died 0912

father:

• Æthelan Earl of Mercia

born about 0825 Mercia, England

mother:

• Eadburh (Fadburn) of Mercia

born about 0830 Mercia, England

married about 0849

siblings:

• Alswitha (Ealswitha) of Mercia born 0852 died 5 December 0905
• Æthelwulf Ealdorman of Mercia died about 0903

spouse:

• Æthelfleda Princess of England

born about 0869 Wessex, England

died 12 June 0918 Tamworth, St. Peters, Gloucestershire, England

children:

• Ælfwina of Mercia

born about 0905 Mercia, England

biographical and/or anecdotal:

notes or source:

ancestry.com

Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians (or Ealdorman Æthelred of Mercia) (died 911) became ruler of English Mercia shortly after the death of its last king, Ceolwulf II in 879. His rule was confined to the western half, as eastern Mercia was then part of the Viking-ruled Danelaw. Æthelred's ancestry is unknown. He was probably the leader of an unsuccessful Mercian invasion of Wales in 881, and soon afterwards he acknowledged the lordship of King Alfred the Great of Wessex. The alliance was cemented by the marriage of Æthelred to Alfred's daughter Æthelflæd.

In 886 Alfred took possession of London, which had suffered greatly from several Viking occupations; as it had traditionally been a Mercian town, he handed control to Æthelred. In 892 the Vikings renewed their attacks, and the following year Æthelred led an army of Mercians, West Saxons and Welsh to victory over a Viking army at the Battle of Buttington. He spent the next three years fighting them alongside Alfred's son, the future King Edward the Elder. At some time in the decade 899 to 909, Æthelred's health may have declined, and Æthelflæd may have become the effective ruler of Mercia.

After Æthelred's death, Æthelflæd ruled as Lady of the Mercians until her own death in 918. The couple's only child, a daughter called Ælfwynn, then ruled briefly until deposed by her uncle, King Edward.