Ceolred (died 716) was

King of Mercia The Kingdom of Mercia was a state in the English Midlands from the 6th century to the 10th century. For some two hundred years from the mid-7th century onwards it was the dominant member of the Heptarchy and consequently the most powerful of the ...

from 709 to 716.

Mercia at the end of the 7th century

By the end of the 7th century, England was almost entirely divided into kingdoms ruled by the

Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

, who had come to Britain two hundred years earlier. The kingdom of

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ye ...

occupied what is now the

English Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

, Yorke, "The Origins of Mercia" in Brown & Farr, ''Mercia'', pp. 15–16. bordered by

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

to the north,

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

to the east, and

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

, the kingdom of the West Saxons, to the south.

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, the kingdom of the East Saxons, included London and lay between East Anglia and the

kingdom of Kent la, Regnum Cantuariorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the Kentish , common_name = Kent , era = Heptarchy , status = vassal , status_text = , government_type = Monarchy ...

.Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms''. The main source for this period is

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

's ''

Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ( la, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict be ...

'' (Ecclesiastical History of the English People), completed in about 731. Despite its focus on the history of the church, this work provides valuable information about the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Bede had informants who supplied him with details of the church's history in Wessex and Kent, but he appears to have had no such contact in Mercia.Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 100. Charters of Ceolred's, recording royal grants of land to individuals and to religious houses, also survive, as does the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...

'', compiled in Wessex at the end of the 9th century, but incorporating earlier material.Simon Keynes, "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", in ''Blackwell Encyclopedia'', p. 35.

Ancestry and reign

Ceolred's father,

Æthelred Æthelred (; ang, Æþelræd ) or Ethelred () is an Old English personal name (a compound of '' æþele'' and '' ræd'', meaning "noble counsel" or "well-advised") and may refer to: Anglo-Saxon England * Æthelred and Æthelberht, legendary prin ...

, came to throne of Mercia in 675 on the death of his brother,

Wulfhere Wulfhere or Wulfar (died 675) was King of Mercia from 658 until 675 AD. He was the first Christian king of all of Mercia, though it is not known when or how he converted from Anglo-Saxon paganism. His accession marked the end of Oswiu of North ...

. Æthelred abdicated in 704 and went to Rome, leaving the kingdom to his nephew Coenred, Wulfhere's son. The reduced prestige of both Ceolred and his predecessor, Coenred, may have stirred unrest among the Mercian nobility: Æthelbald was in exile during Ceolred's reign, and the survival of a hostile account of Ceolred may indicate a more general dissatisfaction with the ruling line.Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 112. In 709 Coenred abdicated in favour of Ceolred.Kelly, "Coenred" Coenred went to Rome and was made a

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

there by Pope Constantine.Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 174. Historians have generally accepted Bede's report of Coenred's abdication, but

Barbara Yorke Barbara Yorke FRHistS FSA (born 1951, Barbara Anne Elizabeth Troubridge) is a historian of Anglo-Saxon England, specialising in many subtopics, including 19th-century Anglo-Saxonism. She is currently emeritus professor of early Medieval histor ...

has suggested that he may not have relinquished his throne voluntarily. There are instances of kings being forcibly removed and placed in holy orders to make them ineligible for kingship; one such was King

Osred II Osred II was King of Northumbria from 789 to 790. He was the son of Alhred and Osgifu, daughter of Eadberht. He succeeded Ælfwald, son of his mother's brother Oswulf, who was murdered by the ''patricius'' ( ealdorman) Sicga. Osred, even th ...

of Northumbria, who was forced into a monastery. Ceolred was

's son, but his mother was not

Osthryth Osthryth (died 697), queen of the Mercians, was the wife of King Æthelred and daughter of King Oswiu of Northumbria and his second wife Eanflæd. She probably married Æthelred before 679 and was murdered by the nobles of Mercia. Osthryth was ...

, Æthelred's only recorded wife.D. P. Kirby, ''The Earliest English Kings'' (1991, 2000 paperback), pages 108–109. He may have still been young at the time of his accession. Much of what is recorded about Ceolred is highly negative, accusing him of crimes and immorality; this may reflect poor treatment of the Church.Frank Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'' (1943, 1971, 1998 paperback), page 203. In 715, the Mercians under Ceolred fought a battle at "Woden's Barrow", either against the

West Saxons la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

under

Ine INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instituto Nacional de Estadística (disambiguation) * Instituto Nacional de Estatística (disambiguation) * Instituto Nacional Elec ...

or together with them against an unnamed opponent, possibly the British;''The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', translated by Michael Swanton (1996), manuscripts A and E, years 715 and 716. the outcome of this battle was not recorded.

Charters

Ceolred confirmed a grant to Waldhere, the Bishop of London, evidence that London was firmly under Mercian overlordship.Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp. 123–124. Later Mercian kings treated London as their direct possession, rather than as a province ruled by an underking, but Ceolred did not go that far.Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 203–205.Wormald, "The Age of Bede and Æthelbald", p. 95. Three possibly genuine charters of Ceolred's have survived.

Death and succession

In the next year, Ceolred died;

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant ...

later described him as dying in a crazed frenzy at a banquet, "gibbering with demons and cursing the priests of God". Æthelbald, a member of another branch of the Mercian royal line who had been forced into exile during Ceolred's rule, succeeded him.

Family

He was related to Coenred, the brother of Saint Werburgh of Mercia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ceolred 716 deaths Mercian monarchs 8th-century English monarchs Year of birth unknown House of Icel