Leofwine (died in or after 1023) was appointed
Ealdorman of the
Hwicce
Hwicce () was a tribal kingdom in Anglo-Saxon England. According to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', the kingdom was established in 577, after the Battle of Deorham. After 628, the kingdom became a client or sub-kingdom of Mercia as a result of t ...
by King
Æthelred the Unready
Æthelred II ( ang, Æþelræd, ;Different spellings of this king’s name most commonly found in modern texts are "Ethelred" and "Æthelred" (or "Aethelred"), the latter being closer to the original Old English form . Compare the modern dial ...
of England in 994. The territory of the Hwicce was a kingdom in the Western Midlands in the early Anglo-Saxon period, which soon became a subdivision 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=
, ...
. Leofwine was the son of Ælfwine, who is otherwise unknown, but the family appears to have originated in the
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area tradi ...
. Leofwine and his sons were considered by the
See of Worcester as spoliators who seized church land, but East Midlands religious establishments regarded them as benefactors.
[ ]
Under Æthelred, Leofwine's sphere of office was in the Hwicce areas of Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, but these counties were given to Danes by King
Cnut
Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn rÃki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway ...
soon after he gained the throne in 1016. However, Leofwine kept his rank and may have been appointed Ealdorman of Mercia in 1017 in succession to
Eadric Streona, but Leofwine's eldest son
Northman was murdered on Cnut's orders in the same year. Leofwine is last recorded in surviving charters in 1023, when he was named as witness, and probably died soon afterwards. His son
Leofric was Earl of Mercia by 1032. Leofwine had two others sons, Edwine, who died at the
Battle of Rhyd-y-groes in 1039, and Godwine.
[
]
References
External links
* ; probably also identifiable with further entries
Anglo-Saxon ealdormen
10th-century English people
11th-century English people
11th-century deaths
Year of birth unknown
{{UK-noble-stub