Æthelred "Mucel", Ealdorman of the Gaini

Æthelred "Mucel", Ealdorman of the Gaini, was an Anglo-Saxon noble from Mercia.

Background

Æthelred, witnessed several charters between 867 and 895 AD, and he is probably identical with the Ealdorman Mucel who witnessed Mercian charters between 836 and 866 AD, He may have been the son of another Ealdorman Mucel who witnessed Mercian charters from 814 to the 840s.

Family

Æthelred was father of Ealhswith the wife of Alfred the great, and Æthelwulf who would rule Æthelred's Gaini himself between 895 and 901 AD, their mother Eadburh (Æthelred's wife) is claimed to be a descendant of King Coenwulf of Mercia and his wife Elfrida in a charter of the year 868 AD, Asser (King Alfred's biographer) also saying that "Edburga of the royal line of Mercia…was a venerable lady and after the decease of her husband, she remained many years a widow, even till her own death", whether this is true or not no one will ever know but Æthelred's granddaughter Æthelflæd (Ealhswith's daughter) was treated as a queen of Mercia; she was only Lady of the Mercian's but a true warrior queen.

Primary sources

• Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
• Anglo-Saxon charters
• Asser