91-540: The Gaini were an Anglo-Saxon tribe which occupied part of the kingdom of Mercia . The Gaini are only recorded in Asser 's life of King Alfred the Great , written in 893, which stated that in 868, before he became king, Alfred married Ealhswith , daughter of Æthelred, known as Mucel , ealdorman of the Gaini. Mucel witnessed Mercian charters between 814 and 866, with two subscribing in
182-757: A descendant of Vikings, successfully took the English throne and became the first Norman king of England. 1069 − Sweyn II of Denmark landed with an army, in much the same way as Harald Hardrada. He took control of York after defeating the Norman garrison and inciting a local uprising. King William eventually defeated his forces and devastated the region in the Harrying of the North . 1075 − One of Sweyn's sons, Knut , set sail for England to support an English rebellion, but it had been crushed before he arrived, so he settled for plundering
273-406: A fortress at Tamworth which became the seat of Mercia's kings. His son Pybba succeeded him in 593. Cearl , a kinsman of Creoda, followed Pybba in 606; in 615, Cearl gave his daughter Cwenburga in marriage to Edwin , king of Deira , whom he had sheltered while he was an exiled prince. The Mercian kings were the only Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy ruling house known to claim a direct family link with
364-522: A general agreement persists that the territory that was called "the first of the Mercians" in the Tribal Hidage covered much of south Derbyshire , Leicestershire , Nottinghamshire , Northamptonshire , Staffordshire and northern Warwickshire . The earliest person named in any records as a king of Mercia is Creoda , said to have been the great-grandson of Icel . Coming to power around 584, he built
455-525: A golden three-pronged Saxon crown has been used by several units of the British Army as a heraldic device for Mercia since 1958, including the Mercian Regiment . It is derived from the attributed arms of Leofric, Earl of Mercia in the 11th century. Leofric is sometimes attributed a black, single-headed eagle instead. The wyvern , a type of dragon , came to have a strong association with Mercia in
546-659: A heraldic visitation of the town in 1619. In Bram Stoker 's 1911 novel The Lair of the White Worm , explicitly set in Mercia (see above), the Mercian white wyvern sans legs of the Midland Railway was transformed into a monstrous beast, the eponymous worm of the title. The word "worm" is derived from Old English wyrm and originally referred to a dragon or serpent. "Wyvern" derives from Old Saxon wivere , also meaning serpent, and
637-802: A monk in Rome, Æthelbald was free to establish Mercia's hegemony over the rest of the Anglo-Saxons south of the Humber . Æthelbald suffered a setback in 752, when the West Saxons under Cuthred defeated him, but he seems to have restored his supremacy over Wessex by 757. In July 2009, the Staffordshire Hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold was discovered by Terry Herbert in a field at Hammerwich, near Brownhills and close to Lichfield in Staffordshire. Lichfield functioned as
728-551: A new football league was formed called the Mercian Regional Football League . Hits Radio Coventry & Warwickshire , a commercial radio station, was originally launched in 1980 as Mercia Sound , later becoming Mercia FM , and then Mercia . There is no authentic indigenous Mercian heraldic device, as heraldry did not develop in any recognizable form until the High Middle Ages . The saltire as
819-534: A pre-migration Continental Germanic monarchy. The next Mercian king, Penda , ruled from about 626 or 633 until 655. Some of what is known about Penda comes from the hostile account of Bede , who disliked him – both as an enemy to Bede's own Northumbria and as a pagan . However, Bede admits that Penda freely allowed Christian missionaries from Lindisfarne into Mercia and did not restrain them from preaching. In 633 Penda and his ally Cadwallon of Gwynedd defeated and killed Edwin, who had become not only ruler of
910-581: A puppet king on the Northumbrian throne. In response, King Æthelred of Wessex, along with his brother Alfred, marched against the Danes, who were positioned behind fortifications in Nottingham, but were unable to draw them into battle. In order to effect peace, King Burgred of Mercia ceded Nottingham to the Danes in exchange for leaving the rest of Mercia undisturbed. 868 − Danes captured Nottingham . 869 − Ivar
1001-613: A role in the administration of the Catholic Church in England (sponsoring the short-lived archbishopric of Lichfield , 787 to 799), and even negotiated with Charlemagne as an equal. Offa is credited with the construction of Offa's Dyke , which marked the border between Wales and Mercia. Offa exerted himself to ensure that his son Ecgfrith of Mercia would succeed him, but after Offa's death in July 796 Ecgfrith survived for only five months, and
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#17328445323461092-564: A silver badge by all uniformed employees. However, in 1897 the Railway Magazine noted that there appeared "to be no foundation that the wyvern was associated with the Kingdom of Mercia". It has been associated with Leicester since the time of Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster and Leicester (c. 1278–1322), the most powerful lord in the Midlands, who used it as his personal crest, and was recorded in
1183-549: A similar capture of Exeter in 877. 877 − Alfred laid in a siege, while the Danes waited for reinforcements from Scandinavia. Unfortunately for the Danes, the fleet of reinforcements encountered a storm and lost more than 100 ships, and the Danes were forced to return to East Mercia in the north. 878 − In January, Guthrum led an attack against Wessex that sought to capture Alfred while he wintered in Chippenham. Another Danish army landed in south Wales arrived and moved south with
1274-512: A symbol of Mercia may have been in use since the time of King Offa . By the 13th century, the saltire had become the attributed arms of the Kingdom of Mercia. The arms are blazoned Azure, a saltire Or , meaning a gold (or yellow) saltire on a blue field. The arms were subsequently used by the Abbey of St Albans , founded by King Offa of Mercia. With the dissolution of the Abbey and the incorporation of
1365-441: A temporary peace. From there, they moved north and attacked Northumbria, which was in the midst of a civil war between the deposed king Osberht and a usurper Ælla. The Danes used the civil turmoil as an opportunity to capture York, which they sacked and burned. 867 − Following the loss of York, Osberht and Ælla formed an alliance against the Danes. They launched a counter-attack, but the Danes killed both Osberht and Ælla and set up
1456-554: A term of surrender, King Alfred demanded that Guthrum be baptised a Christian; King Alfred served as his godfather . Edward the Elder and his sister, Æthelflæd , the Lady of the Mercians, conquered Danish territories in the Midlands and East Anglia in a series of campaigns in the 910s, and some Danish jarls who submitted were allowed to keep their lands. Viking rule ended when Eric Bloodaxe
1547-562: A term of the surrender, that Guthrum become baptised as a Christian, which Guthrum agreed to do, with Alfred acting as his godfather. Guthrum was true to his word and settled in East Anglia, at least for a while. 884 − Guthrum attacked Kent, but was defeated by the English. This led to the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum, which established the boundaries of the Danelaw and allowed for Danish self-rule in
1638-651: Is Mercia...". The British Army has made use of several regional identities in naming larger, amalgamated formations. After the Second World War, the infantry regiments of Cheshire , Staffordshire and Worcestershire were organised in the Mercian Brigade (1948–1968). Today, "Mercia" appears in the titles of two regiments, the Mercian Regiment , founded in 2007, which recruits in Cheshire, Derbyshire , Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire, and parts of Greater Manchester and
1729-507: Is etymologically related to viper . The ultimate source for the symbolism of white dragons in England would appear to be Geoffrey of Monmouth 's fictional work, The History of the Kings of Britain (c. 1136), which recounts an incident in the life of Merlin where a red dragon is seen fighting a white dragon and prevailing. The red dragon was taken to represent the Welsh and their eventual victory over
1820-446: Is first recorded (as mydlonde-shiris ) in 1475. John Bateman, writing in 1876 or 1883, referred to contemporary Cheshire and Staffordshire landholdings as being in Mercia. The most credible source for the idea of a contemporary Mercia is Thomas Hardy 's Wessex novels. The first of these appeared in 1874 and Hardy himself considered it the origin of the conceit of a contemporary Wessex. Bram Stoker set his 1911 novel The Lair of
1911-523: Is referred to as one of the laws together with those of Wessex and Mercia into which England was divided. 793 − Viking raid on Lindisfarne 800 − Waves of Danish assaults on the coastlines of the British Isles. 865 − Danish raiders first began to settle in England. Led by the brothers Halfdan and Ivar the Boneless, they wintered in East Anglia, where they demanded and received tribute in exchange for
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#17328445323462002-600: Is the Berkshire/North Wessex Downs now in Oxfordshire). Æthelred could not be found at the start of battle, as he was busy praying in his tent, so Alfred led the army into battle. Æthelred and Alfred defeated the Danes, who counted among their losses five jarls (nobles). The Danes retreated and set up fortifications at Basing ( Basingstoke ) in Hampshire, a mere 14 miles (23 km) from Reading. Æthelred attacked
2093-516: The Battle of Cynuit . The modern location of Cynuit is disputed but suggestions include Countisbury Hill, near Lynmouth , Devon , or Kenwith Castle, Bideford , Devon, or Cannington , near Bridgwater , Somerset . Alfred was forced into hiding for a time, before returning in early 878 to gather an army and attack Guthrum at Edington . The Danes were defeated and retreated to Chippenham, where King Alfred laid siege and soon forced them to surrender. As
2184-461: The Battle of Winwaed , in which Penda in turn lost the battle and his life. The battle led to a temporary collapse of Mercian power. Penda's son Peada , who had converted to Christianity at Repton in 653, succeeded his father as king of Mercia; Oswiu set up Peada as an under-king; but in the spring of 656 he was murdered and Oswiu assumed direct control of the whole of Mercia. A Mercian revolt in 658 threw off Northumbrian domination and resulted in
2275-619: The Five Boroughs . Borough derives from the Old English word burh ( cognate with German Burg , meaning castle), meaning a fortified and walled enclosure containing several households, anything from a large stockade to a fortified town. The meaning has since developed further. The Danelaw was an important factor in the establishment of a civilian peace in the neighbouring Anglo-Saxon and Viking communities. It established, for example, equivalences in areas of legal contentiousness, such as
2366-634: 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
2457-508: The Humber estuary. During King Offa 's reign, a dyke was created as the boundary between Mercia and the Welsh kingdoms. Nicholas Brooks noted that "the Mercians stand out as by far the most successful of the various early Anglo-Saxon peoples until the later ninth century", and some historians, such as Sir Frank Stenton , believe the unification of England south of the Humber estuary was achieved during Offa's reign. King Peada converted to Christianity around 656. The Diocese of Mercia
2548-562: The Kingdom of England . The kingdom became an earldom until 1071. Mercia's exact evolution at the start of the Anglo-Saxon era remains more obscure than that of Northumbria , Kent , or even Wessex . Mercia developed an effective political structure and was Christianised later than the other kingdoms. Archaeological surveys show that Angles settled the lands north of the River Thames by
2639-550: The Kingdom of Rohan , otherwise known as the Mark (a name cognate with Mercia ). The Mercian dialect is the basis of Tolkien's language of Rohan, and a number of its kings are given the same names as monarchs who appear in the Mercian royal genealogy, e.g., Fréawine, Fréaláf and Éomer (see List of kings of the Angles ). The first kings of Mercia were pagans, and they resisted the encroachment of Christianity longer than other kingdoms in
2730-536: The Norman Conquest in 1066. The name 'Mercia' is a Latinisation of an Old English word derived from the Mercian Old English , Merce , meaning "borderland". The dialect thrived between the 8th and 13th centuries and was referred to by John Trevisa , writing in 1387: For men of the est with men of the west, as it were undir the same partie of hevene, acordeth more in sownynge of speche than men of
2821-611: The 14th century. It lists a number of peoples, such as the Hwicce , who have now vanished, except for reminders in various placenames. The major subdivisions of Mercia were as follows: After Mercia was annexed by Wessex in the early 10th century, the West Saxon rulers divided it into shires modelled after their own system, cutting across traditional Mercian divisions. These shires survived mostly intact until 1974, and even today still largely follow their original boundaries. The term "midlands"
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2912-461: The 19th century. The Midland Railway , which used a white (silver) wyvern sans legs (legless) as its crest, having inherited it from the Leicester and Swannington Railway , asserted that the "wyvern was the standard of the Kingdom of Mercia", and that it was "a quartering in the town arms of Leicester". The symbol appeared on numerous stations and other company buildings in the region, and was worn as
3003-573: The 6th century. The name "Mercia" is Mercian Old English for "boundary folk" (see Welsh Marches ), and the traditional interpretation is that the kingdom originated along the frontier between the native Welsh and the Anglo-Saxon invaders. However, Peter Hunter Blair argued an alternative interpretation: that they emerged along the frontier between Northumbria and the inhabitants of the Trent river valley . Although its earliest boundaries remain obscure,
3094-426: The 830s and 840s. They may be father and son, with the later one being Ealhswith's father. The older was probably "Mucel son of Esne" recorded in a Mercian charter of 836. Esne attested Mercian charters in the late eighth and early ninth centuries. Ealhswith's father attested two West Saxon charters in 868, the year his daughter married Alfred. Ealhswith's brother, Æthelwulf, was a sub-ealdorman under Æthelred, Lord of
3185-559: The Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. Mercian rulers remained resolutely pagan until the reign of Peada in 656, although this did not prevent them joining coalitions with Christian Welsh rulers to resist Northumbria. The first appearance of Christianity in Mercia, however, had come at least thirty years earlier, following the Battle of Cirencester of 628, when Penda incorporated the formerly West Saxon territories of Hwicce into his kingdom. The conversion of Mercia to Christianity occurred in
3276-611: The Anglo-Saxon invaders, symbolised by the white dragon. The philologist and Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey has suggested that the Middle Kingdom in J. R. R. Tolkien's Farmer Giles of Ham , a story dominated by a dragon, is based on Mercia, the part of England where Tolkien grew up. This dragon, Chrysophylax , though mostly hostile, eventually helps Giles found a realm of his own, the Little Kingdom. Shippey states further that "the Mark",
3367-427: The Boneless returned and demanded tribute from King Edmund of East Anglia. 870 − King Edmund refused Ivar's demand. Ivar defeated and captured Edmund at Hoxne, adding East Anglia to the area controlled by the invading Danes. King Æthelred and Alfred attacked the Danes at Reading, but were repulsed with heavy losses. The Danes pursued them. 871 − On 7 January, Æthelred and Alfred made their stand at Ashdown (on what
3458-589: The Danes after this. The area occupied by the Danelaw was roughly the area to the north of a line drawn between London and Chester , excluding the portion of Northumbria to the east of the Pennines . Five fortified towns became particularly important in the Danelaw: Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Stamford and Lincoln, broadly delineating the area now called the East Midlands . These strongholds became known as
3549-524: The Danes brokered peace with Wessex in 876, when they captured the fortresses of Wareham and Exeter . Alfred laid siege to the Danes, who were forced to surrender after reinforcements were lost in a storm. Two years later, Guthrum again attacked Alfred, surprising him by attacking his forces wintering in Chippenham . King Alfred was saved when the Danish army coming from his rear was destroyed by inferior forces at
3640-446: The Danes, but his army was on the verge of collapse. Alfred responded by paying off the Danes for a promise of peace. During the peace, the Danes turned north and attacked Mercia, which they finished off in short order, and captured London in the process. King Burgred of Mercia fought in vain against Ivar the Boneless and his Danish invaders for three years until 874, when he fled to Europe. During Ivar's campaign against Mercia, he died and
3731-454: The Danish fortifications and was routed. The Danes followed up with another victory in March at Meretum (now Marton, Wiltshire). King Æthelred died on 23 April 871 and Alfred took the throne of Wessex. For the rest of the year Alfred concentrated on attacking with small bands against isolated groups of Danes. He was moderately successful in this endeavour and was able to score minor victories against
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3822-467: The Danish settlers' loyalty to the English crown. "Danelaw" is first recorded in the early 11th century as Dena lage . The Danelaw originated from the invasion of the Great Heathen Army into England in 865, but the term was not used to describe a geographic area until the 11th century. With the increase in population and productivity in Scandinavia , Viking warriors, having sought treasure and glory in
3913-403: The Great ruled over a unified English kingdom, itself the product of a resurgent Wessex, as part of his North Sea Empire , together with Denmark, Norway and part of Sweden. Cnut was succeeded in England on his death by his son Harold Harefoot , until he died in 1040, after which another of Cnut's sons, Harthacnut , took the throne. Since Harthacnut was already on the Danish throne, this reunited
4004-475: The King of Mercia. Slightly earlier, King Offa seems to have favoured Tamworth . It was there where he was crowned and spent many a Christmas. For 300 years (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 ( East Anglia , Essex , Kent , Sussex and Wessex ), Mercia dominated England south of
4095-472: The Kingdoms of Essex and East Anglia accepted Edward the Elder as their suzerain overlord. Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, took the borough of Derby. 918 − The borough of Leicester submitted peaceably to Æthelflæd's rule. The people of York promised to accept her as their overlord, but she died before this could come to fruition. She was succeeded by her brother, the Kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex united in
4186-648: The Mercian king Beornwulf (who had overthrown Ceolwulf in 823) at Ellendun . The Battle of Ellendun proved decisive. At this point, Mercia lost control of Kent , Sussex , Surrey , and possibly also Essex . Beornwulf was slain while suppressing a revolt amongst the East Angles, and his successor, a former ealdorman named Ludeca (reigned 826–827), met the same fate. Another ealdorman, Wiglaf , subsequently ruled for less than two years before Egbert of Wessex drove him out of Mercia. In 830 Wiglaf regained independence for Mercia, but by this time Wessex had clearly become
4277-448: The Mercians at the end of the ninth century, controlling western and possibly central Mercia. Mercia Mercia ( / ˈ m ɜːr s i ə , - ʃ ə , - s i ə / , Old English : Miercna rīċe , "kingdom of the border people"; Latin : Merciorum regnum ) was one of the three main Anglic kingdoms founded after Sub-Roman Britain was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called
4368-676: The North Sea Empire. Harthacnut lived only another two years, and from his death in 1042 until 1066 the monarchy reverted to the English line in the form of Edward the Confessor . Edward died in January 1066 without an obvious successor, and an English nobleman, Harold Godwinson , took the throne. Later that year, two rival claimants to the throne led invasions of England in short succession. First, Harald Hardrada of Norway took York in September, but
4459-689: The West Midlands, and the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry , founded in 1992 as part of the Territorial Army . In 1967, the police forces of Herefordshire , Shropshire and Worcestershire were combined into the West Mercia Constabulary , which changed its name to West Mercia Police in 2009. Telephone directories across the Midlands include a large number of commercial and voluntary organisations using "Mercia" in their names, and in 2012
4550-574: The White Worm in a contemporary Mercia that may have been influenced by Hardy, whose secretary was a friend of Stoker's brother. Although 'Edwardian Mercia' never had the success of 'Victorian Wessex', it was an idea that appealed to the higher echelons of society. In 1908 Sir Oliver Lodge, Principal of Birmingham University , wrote to his counterpart at Bristol , welcoming a new university worthy of "...the great Province of Wessex whose higher educational needs it will supply. It will be no rival, but colleague and co-worker with this university, whose province
4641-498: The accession of Æthelbald in 716 the Mercians conquered the region around Wroxeter , known to the Welsh as Pengwern or as "The Paradise of Powys". Elegies written in the persona of its dispossessed rulers record the sorrow at this loss. The next important king of Mercia, Æthelbald, reigned from 716 to 757. For the first few years of his reign he had to face two strong rival kings, Wihtred of Kent and Ine of Wessex . But when Wihtred died in 725, and Ine abdicated in 726 to become
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#17328445323464732-470: The amount of reparation that should be payable in wergild . Many of the legalistic concepts were compatible; for example, the Viking wapentake , the standard for land division in the Danelaw, was effectively interchangeable with the hundred . The use of the execution site and cemetery at Walkington Wold in east Yorkshire suggests a continuity of judicial practice. Under the Danelaw, between 30% and 50% of
4823-480: The appearance of another son of Penda, Wulfhere , who ruled Mercia as an independent kingdom (though he apparently continued to render tribute to Northumbria for a while) until his death in 675. Wulfhere initially succeeded in restoring the power of Mercia, but the end of his reign saw a serious defeat by Northumbria. The next king, Æthelred , defeated Northumbria in the Battle of the Trent in 679, settling once and for all
4914-487: The borough of St Albans the device was used on the town's corporate seal and was officially recorded as the arms of the town at an heraldic visitation in 1634. The saltire is used as both a flag and a coat of arms. As a flag, it is flown from Tamworth Castle , the ancient seat of the Mercian Kings, to this day. The flag also appears on street signs welcoming people to Tamworth , the "ancient capital of Mercia". It
5005-584: The brothers Æthelred and Alfred attempted to stop Ivar by attacking the Danes at Reading . They were repelled with heavy losses. The Danes pursued, and on 7 January 871, Æthelred and Alfred defeated the Danes at the Battle of Ashdown . The Danes retreated to Basing (in Hampshire ), where Æthelred attacked and was, in turn, defeated. Ivar was able to follow up this victory with another in March at Meretum (now Marton, Wiltshire ). On 23 April 871, King Æthelred died and Alfred succeeded him as King of Wessex. His army
5096-522: The city of York and surrounding area, before returning home. 1085 − Knut, now king, assembles a fleet for a major invasion against England. Informed of his planned crossing, William hurries back to England with a northern French army, and the Danish expedition is called off. Other than Eystein II of Norway taking advantage of the civil war during Stephen's reign , to plunder the east coast of England, there were no serious invasions or raids of England by
5187-479: The coastlines of Britain and Ireland. In 865, instead of raiding, the Danes landed a large army in East Anglia , with the intention of conquering the four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England. The armies of various Danish leaders had collaborated to make one combined force under a leadership that included Halfdan Ragnarsson and Ivar the Boneless , the sons of the legendary Viking leader Ragnar Lodbrok . The combined army
5278-483: The diocese was an archbishopric . The current bishop, Michael Ipgrave , is the 99th since the diocese was established. At the end of the 9th century, following the invasions of the Vikings and their Great Heathen Army , Danelaw absorbed much of the former Mercian territory. Danelaw at its height included London, all of East Anglia and most of the North of England. The final Mercian king, Ceolwulf II , died in 879 with
5369-433: The dominant power in England. Circa 840 Beorhtwulf succeeded Wiglaf. In 852, Burgred came to the throne, and with Ethelwulf of Wessex subjugated North Wales . In 868 Danish invaders occupied Nottingham . The Danes drove Burgred from his kingdom in 874 and Ceolwulf II took his place. In 877 the Danes seized the eastern part of Mercia, which became part of the Danelaw . Ceolwulf, the last king of Mercia, left with
5460-420: The end of the prospect of a Northern Viking Kingdom stretching from York to Dublin and the Isles. 1002 – St. Brice's Day massacre of the Danes 1066 − Harald Hardrada landed with an army, hoping to take control of York and the English crown. He was defeated and killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge . This event is often cited as the end of the Viking era. The same year, William the Conqueror , himself
5551-444: The fifth bishop to operate in Mercia. This controversial figure was given land by King Wulfhere to build a monastery at Lichfield . Evidence suggests that the Lichfield Gospels were made in Lichfield around 730. As in other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the many small monasteries established by the Mercian kings allowed the political/military and ecclesiastical leadership to consolidate their unity through bonds of kinship. For knowledge of
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#17328445323465642-402: The hegemony which his predecessor had exercised over the southern English, and he did this so successfully that he became the greatest king Mercia had ever known. Not only did he win battles and dominate Southern England , but also he took an active hand in administering the affairs of his kingdom, founding market towns and overseeing the first major issues of gold coins in Britain; he assumed
5733-410: The intent of intercepting Alfred should he flee from Guthrum's forces. However, they stopped during their march to capture a small fortress at Countisbury Hill, held by a Wessex ealdorman named Odda . The Saxons, led by Odda, attacked the Danes while they slept and defeated their superior forces, saving Alfred from being trapped between the two armies. Alfred was forced to go into hiding for the rest of
5824-433: The internal composition of the Kingdom of Mercia, we must rely on a document of uncertain age (possibly late 7th century), known as the Tribal Hidage – an assessment of the extent (but not the location) of land owned (reckoned in hides ), and therefore the military obligations and perhaps taxes due, by each of the Mercian tribes and subject kingdoms by name. This hidage exists in several manuscript versions, some as late as
5915-411: The kingdom appearing to have lost its political independence. Initially, it was ruled by a lord or ealdorman under the overlordship of Alfred the Great , who styled himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons". The kingdom had a brief period of independence in the mid-10th century and in 1016, by which time it was viewed as a province with temporary independence. Wessex conquered and united all the kingdoms into
6006-399: The kingdom passed to a distant relative named Coenwulf in December 796. In 821 Coenwulf's brother Ceolwulf succeeded to the Mercian kingship; he demonstrated his military prowess by his attack on and destruction of the fortress of Deganwy in Gwynedd . The power of the West Saxons under Egbert (King of Wessex from 802 to 839) grew during this period, however, and in 825 Egbert defeated
6097-503: The land of the Riders of Rohan – all of whom have names in the Mercian dialect of Old English – was once the usual term for central England, and it would have been pronounced and written "marc" rather than the West Saxon "mearc" or the Latinized "Mercia". 52°36′N 1°36′W / 52.6°N 1.6°W / 52.6; -1.6 Danelaw The Danelaw ( / ˈ d eɪ n ˌ l ɔː / , Danish : Danelagen ; Norwegian : Danelagen ; Old English : Dena lagu )
6188-541: The latter part of the 7th century, and by the time of Penda's defeat and death, Mercia was largely surrounded by Christian states. Diuma , an Irish monk and one of Oswiu's missionaries, was subsequently ordained a bishop – the first to operate in Mercia. Christianity finally gained a foothold in Mercia when Oswiu supported Peada as sub-king of the Middle Angles, requiring him to marry Oswiu's daughter, Alchflaed, and to accept her religion. Decisive steps to Christianise Mercia were taken by Chad (Latinised by Bede as Ceadda ),
6279-419: The long-disputed control of the former kingdom of Lindsey . Æthelred was succeeded by Cœnred , son of Wulfhere; both these kings became better known for their religious activities than anything else, but the king who succeeded them in 709, Ceolred , is said in a letter of Saint Boniface to have been a dissolute youth who died insane. So ended the rule of the direct descendants of Penda. At some point before
6370-632: The name of the West Saxon king. Æthelred had married Æthelflæd ( c. 870 – 12 June 918), daughter of Alfred the Great of Wessex ( r. 871–899 ), and she assumed power when her husband became ill at some time in the last ten years of his life. After Æthelred's death in 911 Æthelflæd ruled as "Lady of the Mercians", but Alfred's successor as King of the Anglo-Saxons, Edward the Elder ( r. 899–924 ), took control of London and Oxford , which Alfred had placed under Æthelred's control. Æthelflæd and her brother continued Alfred's policy of building fortified burhs , and by 918 they had conquered
6461-413: The nearby British Isles , "proceeded to plough and support themselves", in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 876. Danelaw can describe the set of legal terms and definitions created in the treaties between Alfred the Great , the king of Wessex, and Guthrum , the Danish warlord, written following Guthrum's defeat at the Battle of Edington in 878. In 886, the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum
6552-472: The newly unified Northumbria, but bretwalda , or high king, over the southern kingdoms. When another Northumbrian king, Oswald , arose and again claimed overlordship of the south, he also suffered defeat and death at the hands of Penda and his allies – in 642 at the Battle of Maserfield . In 655, after a period of confusion in Northumbria, Penda brought 30 sub-kings to fight the new Northumbrian king Oswiu at
6643-453: The north with men of the south, therfore it is that Mercii, that beeth men of myddel Engelond, as it were parteners of the endes, understondeth better the side langages, northerne and southerne, than northerne and southerne understondeth either other... J. R. R. Tolkien is one of many scholars who have studied and promoted the Mercian dialect of Old English and introduced various Mercian terms into his legendarium – especially in relation to
6734-522: The person of King Edward. 919 − Norwegian Vikings under King Ragnvald Sygtryggsson of Dublin took York. 920 − Edward was accepted as father and lord by the King of the Scots, by Rægnold, the sons of Eadulf , the English, Norwegians, Danes and others all of whom dwelt in Northumbria and the King and people of the Strathclyde Welsh. 954 − King Eric was driven out of Northumbria, his death marking
6825-466: The population in the countryside had the legal status of ' sokeman ', occupying an intermediate position between the free tenants and the bond tenants . This tended to provide more autonomy for the peasants. A sokeman was a free man within the lord's soke , or jurisdiction. According to many scholars, "... the Danelaw was an especially ‘free’ area of Britain because the rank and file of the Danish armies, from whom sokemen were descended, had settled in
6916-622: The region. 902 − Essex submitted to Æthelwald . 903 − Æthelwald incited the East Anglian Danes into breaking the peace. They ravaged Mercia before winning a pyrrhic victory that saw the death of Æthelwald and the Danish King Eohric; this allowed Edward the Elder to consolidate power. 911 − The English defeated the Danes at the Battle of Tettenhall . The Northumbrians ravaged Mercia but were trapped by Edward and forced to fight. 917 − In return for peace and protection,
7007-452: The religious centre of Mercia. The artefacts have tentatively been dated by Svante Fischer and Jean Soulat to around AD 600–800. Whether the hoard was deposited by Anglo-Saxon pagans or Christians remains unclear, as does the purpose of the deposit. After the murder of Æthelbald by one of his bodyguards in 757, a civil war broke out which concluded with the victory of Offa , a descendant of Pybba. Offa (reigned 757 to 796) had to build anew
7098-409: The southern Danelaw in East Anglia and Danish Mercia. When Æthelflæd died in 918, Ælfwynn, her daughter by Æthelred, succeeded as "Second Lady of the Mercians", but within six months Edward had deprived her of all authority in Mercia and taken her to Wessex. Edward was succeeded as king of the Anglo-Saxons by his eldest son Æthelstan ( r. 924–939 ), who had been brought up in Mercia, and he
7189-505: The throne of Northumbria as a puppet ruler. King Æthelred of Wessex and his brother, Alfred , led their army against the Danes at Nottingham , but the Danes refused to leave their fortifications. King Burgred of Mercia negotiated peace with Ivar, with the Danes keeping Nottingham in exchange for leaving the rest of Mercia alone. Under Ivar the Boneless, the Danes continued their invasion in 869 by defeating King Edmund of East Anglia at Hoxne and conquering East Anglia. Once again,
7280-428: The western half, reigned until 879. From about 883 until his death in 911 Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians , ruled Mercia under the overlordship of Wessex. Alfred changed his title from 'king of the West Saxons' to 'king of the Anglo-Saxons' to reflect the acceptance of his overlordship of all southern England not under Danish rule. All coins struck in Mercia after the disappearance of Ceolwulf in c. 879 were in
7371-452: The winter and spring of 878 in the Somerset marshes in order to avoid the superior Danish forces. In the spring, Alfred was able to gather an army and attacked Guthrum and the Danes at Edington. The Danes were defeated and retreated to Chippenham, where the English pursued and laid siege to Guthrum's forces. The Danes were unable to hold out without relief and soon surrendered. Alfred demanded, as
7462-579: Was also flown outside Birmingham Council House during 2009 while the Staffordshire Hoard was on display in the city before being taken to the British Museum in London. The cross has been incorporated into a number of coats of arms of Mercian towns, including Tamworth , Leek and Blaby . It was recognised as the Mercian flag by the Flag Institute in 2014. The silver double-headed eagle surmounted by
7553-640: Was defeated by Harold at the Battle of Stamford Bridge , in Yorkshire . Then, three weeks later, William of Normandy defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings , in Sussex , and in December he accepted the submission of Edgar the Ætheling , last in the line of Anglo-Saxon royal succession, at Berkhamsted . The Danelaw appeared in legislation as late as the early 12th century with the Leges Henrici Primi , where it
7644-474: Was described in the annals as the Great Heathen Army . After making peace with the local East Anglian king in return for horses, the Great Heathen Army moved north. In 867 they captured Northumbria and its capital, York ("Jórvík"), defeating both the recently deposed King Osberht of Northumbria and the usurper Ælla of Northumbria . The Danes then placed an Englishman, Ecgberht I of Northumbria , on
7735-670: Was driven out of Northumbria in 954. The reasons for the waves of immigration were complex and bound to the political situation in Scandinavia at that time; they occurred when Viking settlers were also establishing their presence in the Hebrides , Isle of Man , Orkney , Shetland , Faroe Islands , Ireland , Iceland , Greenland , L'Anse aux Meadows , France ( Normandy ), the Baltics, Russia and Ukraine (see Kievan Rus' ). The Danes did not give up their designs on England. From 1016 to 1035, Cnut
7826-605: Was formalised, defining the boundaries of their kingdoms, with provisions for peaceful relations between the English and the Vikings . The language spoken in England was affected by this clash of cultures, with the emergence of Anglo-Norse dialects. The Danelaw roughly comprised these contemporary 16 ceremonial counties and shires : Greater London , Leicester , York , Nottingham , Derby , Lincoln , Essex , Cambridge , Suffolk , Norfolk , Northampton , Huntingdon , Bedford , Hertford , Middlesex , and Buckingham . From around 800, there had been waves of Norse raids on
7917-526: Was founded in this year, with the first bishop ( Diuma ) based at Repton . The religion was firmly established in the kingdom by the late 7th century. After 13 years at Repton, 669 AD, Saint Chad (the fifth bishop) moved the bishopric to Lichfield and, in 691 AD, the Diocese of Mercia became the Diocese of Lichfield . There has been a diocese based in the city ever since. For a brief period between 787 and 799 or 803
8008-506: Was immediately accepted as king, but not in Wessex until the following year. In 927 he conquered Northumbria and thus became the first king of all England. Mercia briefly regained a political existence separate from Wessex in 955–959, when Edgar became king of Mercia, and again in 1016, when Cnut and Edmund Ironside divided the English kingdom between themselves, with Cnut taking Mercia. Mercia maintained its separate identity as an earldom until
8099-520: Was succeeded by Guthrum the Old. Guthrum quickly defeated Burgred and placed a puppet on the throne of Mercia. The Danes now controlled East Anglia, Northumbria and Mercia, with only Wessex continuing to resist. 875 − The Danes settled in Dorset , well inside Alfred's Kingdom of Wessex, but Alfred quickly made peace with them. 876 − The Danes broke the peace when they captured the fortress of Wareham, followed by
8190-438: Was the part of England between the early tenth century and the Norman Conquest under Anglo-Saxon rule in which Danish laws applied. The Danelaw originated in the conquest and occupation of large parts of eastern and northern England by Danish Vikings in the late ninth century. The term applies to the areas in which English kings allowed the Danes to keep their own laws following the tenth-century English conquest in return for
8281-446: Was weak and he was forced to pay tribute to Ivar in order to make peace with the Danes. During this peace, the Danes turned to the north and attacked Mercia, a campaign that lasted until 874. The Danish leader Ivar died during this campaign. Ivar was succeeded by Guthrum, who finished the campaign against Mercia. In ten years, the Danes had gained control over East Anglia, Northumbria and Mercia, leaving just Wessex resisting. Guthrum and
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