Æthelred of Mercia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the later earl, see Earl Aethelred of Mercia.

Æthelred (?640s–after 704) was a son of King Penda of Mercia. He succeeded his brother Wulfhere as King of Mercia in 675. The Kingdom of Mercia was then tributary to King Ecgfrith of Northumbria, but following a decisive battle by the river Trent in 679, Æthelred re-established Mercian independence, but was unable to re-establish Mercian domination of southern Britain.

Unlike his brother and father, Æthelred did not have a great reputation as a warrior, but was a notably pious and religious king, and a friend of Wilfrid. His wife Osthryth was murdered in unknown circumstances in 697, and in 704 Æthelred abdicated, leaving the throne to Wulfhere's son Cenred. Æthelred became a monk at Bardney, a monastery which he had founded with his wife, and was buried there.

1 King
2 Abbot
3 Notes
4 References
5 External link

[edit] King

Æthelred became king in 675, following the death of his brother Wulfhere.^[1] A year earlier Wulfhere had been defeated by the Northumbrian King Ecgfrith son of Oswiu. As a result, Ecgfrith took control of Lindsey, a region which had been contested between the Northumbrians and Mercians for half a century. In addition, Mercia paid tribute to Ecgfrith. Earlier in 675 King Æscwine, one of the several rulers of the West Saxons had rebelled against Wulfhere. Æthelred married Ecgfrith's sister, Osthryth certainly before 679, and probably soon after becoming king.

The first challenge to Æthelred came from Hlothhere of Kent, the brother of King Ecgberht of Kent. Hlothhere had probably been excluded from the Kentish throne in favour of his nephews, Ecgberht's sons, by Æthelred's brother Wulfhere. Wulfhere was married to Hlothhere and Ecgberht's sister Eormenhild. Wulfhere apparently ruled Kent for his nephews, but on his death Hlotthere made himself king. As a result, Bede reports: "At the head of a cruel army Æthelred devastated Kent, profaning churches and monasteries. He also destroyed Rochester."^[2]

Æthelred "caused such damage in the Rochester diocese that two successive bishops gave up their positions for lack of funds."^[3] Hlothhere, ruling together with Ecgberht's elder son Eadric, accepted Æthelred's overlordship.^[4]

In 679, continuing the long-running feud between the Kings of Mercia and the Kings of Northumbria—the fatalities including King Edwin of Deira and Saint Oswald for the Northumbrians, and Penda and his brother Eowa for the Mercians—Kings Æthelred and Ecgfrith met in battle on the banks of the River Trent. Among the death was Ecgfrith and Osthryth's brother, Æthelred's brother-in-law, Ælfwine, the sub-king of Deira, the southern part of Northumbria. Bede writes that due as a result of Ælfwine's death:

There was now reason to expect a more bloody war, and more lasting enmity between those kings and their fierce nations; but Theodore the bishop, beloved of God, relying on the Divine assistance, by his wholesome admonitions extinguished the dangerous fire that was breaking out; so that the kings and their people on both sides being appeased, no man was put to death, but only the usual mulct [i.e. wergild] paid to the king for his brother that had been killed; and this peace continued long after between those kings and their kingdoms.^[5]

As a result of the war, Lindsey returned to Mercian control. Although wars would be fought between Northumbria and Mercia, the Battle of the Trent effectively ended major Northumbrian involvement in southern Britain for many years.^[6]

[edit] Abbot

In 704, Æthelred became a monk, leaving the kingship to his nephew Cenred. He entered the monastery of Bardney, which he and his wife had established. He became Abbot there. The date of his death is not certainly known. He was buried at Bardney, where relics of Saint Oswald had been placed earlier in his reign.^[7]

Æthelred and Osthryth had at least one son, Ceolred, and may have had a second son named Ceolwald.

[edit] Notes

^ The year of Æthelred's birth is unknown, but Wulfhere was aged about thirty-five at his death, etc.
^ Bede, HE, IV, 12.
^ Yorke, p. 106, citing what?
^ Zaluckyj, p. 130.
^ Bede, HE, IV, 21.
^ Somewhere, should be stronger IIRC.
^ Stancliffe.

[edit] References

(HE) Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, tr. Leo Sherley-Price, ed. D.H. Farmer. London: Penguin, 1990. ISBN 0-14-044565-X
Higham, N.J., The Convert Kings: Power and religious affiliation in early Anglo-Saxon England. Manchester: Manchester U.P., 1997. ISBN 0-7190-4828-1
Kirby, D.P., The Earliest English Kings. London: Unwin Hyman, 1991. ISBN 0-04-445691-3
Williams, Ann, Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England, c. 500–1066. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999. ISBN 0-333-56798-6
Yorke, Barbara, Kings and Kingdoms in Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Seaby, 1990. ISBN 1-85264-027-8
Zaluckyj, Sarah, Mercia: The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Central England. Logaston: Logaston Press, 2001. ISBN 1-873827-8.