Ælfwynn
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Ælfwynn
__NOTOC__ Ælfwynn was the ruler of Mercia as the 'Second Lady of the Mercians' for a few months in 918, following her mother's death on 12 June 918. She was the daughter of Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, Æthelred and Æthelflæd, the rulers of Mercia. Her accession was the only example of rule passing from one woman to another in the early medieval period in the British Isles. Manuscript C of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' (ASC C) states: "Here also the daughter of Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, was deprived of all control in Mercia, and was led into Wessex three weeks before Christmas; she was called Ælfwynn." ASC C dates Æthelflæd's death as 12 June 918 and Ælfwynn's deposition to December 919, but most historians revise the deposition to 918. George Molyneux gives the period of Ælfwynn's power as "six or eighteen months". ASC C is the only version of the ''Chronicle'' to mention Ælfwynn. Other versions reflect a West Saxon view point and ASC A states that Edward too ...
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Ælfwynn, Wife Of Æthelstan Half-King
Ælfwynn or Ælfwyn (died 8 July 983) was a member of a wealthy Anglo-Saxon family in Huntingdonshire who married Æthelstan Half-King, the powerful ealdorman of East Anglia, in about 932. She is chiefly known for having been foster-mother to the future King Edgar the Peaceful following his mother's death in 944, when he was an infant. She had four sons, and the youngest, Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia, Æthelwine, became the chief secular magnate and leading supporter of the English Benedictine Reform, monastic reform movement. Ælfwynn donated her estates for his foundation of Ramsey Abbey in 966 and was probably buried there. Life and family Ælfwynn was the wife of Æthelstan Half-King, Ealdorman of East Anglia, who was called the Half-King because it was believed that he was so powerful that King Edmund I ( 940–946) and his brother King Eadred ( 946–955) depended on his advice. He was a strong supporter of the English Benedictine Reform, monastic reform movement ...
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Æthelflæd
Æthelflæd ( – 12 June 918) ruled as Lady of the Mercians in the English Midlands from 911 until her death in 918. She was the eldest child of Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, and his wife Ealhswith. Æthelflæd was born around 870 at the height of the Viking Age, Viking invasions of England in the Middle Ages, England. By 878, most of England was under Danish Viking rule – Kingdom of East Anglia, East Anglia and Northumbria having been conquered, and Mercia partitioned between the English and the Vikings – but in that year Alfred won a crucial victory at the Battle of Edington. Soon afterwards the English-controlled western half of Mercia came under the rule of Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, who accepted Alfred's overlordship. Alfred adopted the title King of the Anglo-Saxons (previously he was titled King of the West Saxons like his predecessors) claiming to rule all Anglo-Saxon people not living in areas under Viking control. In the mid-8 ...
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Æthelred, Lord Of The Mercians
Æthelred (died 911) became Lord of the Mercians in England shortly after the death or disappearance of Mercia's last king, Ceolwulf II, in 879. He is also sometimes called the Ealdorman of Mercia. Æthelred's rule was confined to the western half, as eastern Mercia was then part of the Viking-ruled Danelaw. His 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. This 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. Alfred then handed London over to Æthelred, as it had traditionally been a Mercian town. 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 thre ...
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Æthelstan Half-King
Æthelstan Half-King (fl. 932 – 956) was an Ealdorman of East Anglia who served five kings of England, including Edgar, King of England, Edgar, who was brought up by Æthelstan's wife Ælfwynn, wife of Æthelstan Half-King, Ælfwynn, following the death of Edgar's mother. He was called the "half-king" because he was respected so highly that kings were said to depend on his advice. Many of Æthelstan's close relatives were also involved in important affairs. Soon after the death of King Eadred in 955 he left his position and became a monk at Glastonbury Abbey. Origins Æthelstan was the son of Æthelfrith of Mercia, Æthelfrith, an Ealdorman who held lands in Somerset, Berkshire, and Middlesex. His mother was Æthelgyth, daughter of Æthelwulf. His elder brother Ælfstan and his younger brothers Æthelwold and Eadric, Ealdorman of Wessex, Ædric were Ealdormen of south and east Mercia, Kent and central Wessex, respectively.Hart, 2004 Æthelfrith was an ealdorman in Mercia in the ...
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Edward The Elder
Edward the Elder (870s?17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin Æthelwold ætheling, Æthelwold, who had a strong claim to the throne as the son of Alfred's elder brother and predecessor, Æthelred I. Alfred had succeeded Æthelred as king of Wessex in 871, and almost faced defeat against the Danish Vikings until his decisive victory at the Battle of Edington in 878. After the battle, the Vikings still ruled Northumbria, Kingdom of East Anglia, East Anglia and eastern Mercia, leaving only Wessex and western Mercia under Anglo-Saxon control. In the early 880s Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, the ruler of western Mercia, accepted Alfred's lordship and married his daughter Æthelflæd, and around 886 Alfred adopted the new title King of the Anglo-Saxons as the ruler of all Anglo-Saxons not subject to D ...
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Edgar The Peaceful
Edgar (or Eadgar; 8 July 975), known sometimes as Edgar the Peacemaker or the Peaceable, was King of the English from 959 until his death in 975. He became king of all England on his brother Eadwig's death. He was the younger son of King Edmund I and his first wife, Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, Ælfgifu. A detailed account of Edgar's reign is not possible, because only a few events were recorded by chroniclers and monastic writers, who were more interested in recording the activities of the leaders of the church. Edgar mainly followed the political policies of his predecessors, but there were major changes in the religious sphere. The English Benedictine Reform, which he strongly supported, became a dominant religious and social force. It is seen by historians as a major achievement, and it was accompanied by a literary and artistic flowering, mainly associated with Æthelwold of Winchester, Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester. Monasteries aggressively acquired estates from lay land ...
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King Eadred
Eadred (also Edred, – 23 November 955) was King of the English from 26 May 946 until his death in 955. He was the younger son of Edward the Elder and his third wife Eadgifu of Kent, Eadgifu, and a grandson of Alfred the Great. His elder brother, Edmund I, Edmund, was killed trying to protect his Dish-bearers and butlers in Anglo-Saxon England, seneschal from an attack by a violent thief. Edmund's two sons, Eadwig and Edgar, King of England, Edgar, were then young children, so Eadred became king. He suffered from ill health in the last years of his life and he died at the age of a little over thirty, having never married. He was succeeded successively by his nephews, Eadwig and Edgar. Eadred's elder half-brother Æthelstan inherited the kingship of England south of the Humber in 924, and conquered the south Northumbrian Viking kingdom of York in 927. Edmund and Eadred both inherited kingship of the whole kingdom, lost it shortly afterwards when York accepted Viking kings, a ...
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Æthelstan
Æthelstan or Athelstan (; ; ; ; – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Modern historians regard him as the first King of England and one of the "greatest Anglo-Saxon kings". He never married and had no children; he was succeeded by his half-brother, Edmund I. When Edward died in July 924, Æthelstan was accepted by the Mercians as king. His half-brother Ælfweard may have been recognised as king in Wessex, but died within three weeks of their father's death. Æthelstan encountered resistance in Wessex for several months, and was not crowned until September 925. In 927, he conquered the last remaining Viking kingdom, York, making him the first Anglo-Saxon ruler of the whole of England. In 934, he invaded Scotland and forced Constantine II to submit to him. Æthelstan's rule was resented by the Scots and Vikings, and in ...
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Lady Of The Mercians
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 Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. During this period its rulers became the first English monarchs to assume such wide-ranging titles as ''King of Britain'' and ''King of the English''. Spellings varied widely in this period, even within a single document, and a number of variants exist for the names given below. For example, the sound ''th'' was usually represented with the Old English letters ð or þ. For the Continental predecessors of the Mercians in Angeln, see List of kings of the Angles. For their successors see List of English monarchs. Kings of the Mercians The traditional rulers of Mercia were known as the Iclingas, descendants of the kings of the Angles. When the Iclingas became extinct in the male line, a number of other families, ...
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List Of Monarchs 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 Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. During this period its rulers became the first English monarchs to assume such wide-ranging titles as ''King of Britain'' and ''King of the English''. Spellings varied widely in this period, even within a single document, and a number of variants exist for the names given below. For example, the sound ''th'' was usually represented with the Old English letters ð or þ. For the Continental predecessors of the Mercians in Angeln, see List of kings of the Angles. For their successors see List of English monarchs. Kings of the Mercians The traditional rulers of Mercia were known as the Iclingas, descendants of the kings of the Angles. When the Iclingas became extinct in the male line, a number of other families, ...
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Mercia
Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlands of England. The royal court moved around the kingdom without a fixed capital city. Early in its existence Repton seems to have been the location of an important royal estate. According to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', it was from Repton in 873–874 that the Great Heathen Army deposed the King of Mercia. Slightly earlier, Offa of Mercia, King Offa seems to have favoured Tamworth, Staffordshire, Tamworth. It was there where he was crowned and spent many a Christmas. For the three centuries between 600 and 900, known as Mercian Supremacy or the "Golden Age of Mercia", having annexed or gained submissions from five of the other six kingdoms of the Heptarchy (Kingdom of East Anglia, East Anglia, Kingdom of Essex, Essex, Kingdom of Kent, K ...
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