Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians became ruler of English Mercia shortly after the death of its last king, Ceolwulf II in 879. His rule was confined to the western half, as eastern Mercia was then part of the Viking-ruled Danelaw. His ancestry is unknown, and he does not appear to have been closely related to his immediate Mercian predecessors. He may have been related to King Alfred’s father-in-law, Æthelflæd, who ruled until her own death in 918.
About Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians in brief
Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians became ruler of English Mercia shortly after the death of its last king, Ceolwulf II in 879. His rule was confined to the western half, as eastern Mercia was then part of the Viking-ruled Danelaw. 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. In 892 the Vikings renewed their attacks, and the following year he led an army of MerciANS, West Saxons and Welsh to victory over a Viking army at the Battle of Buttington. He spent the next three years fighting them alongside Alfred’s son, the future King Edward the Elder. His ancestry is unknown, and he does not appear to have been closely related to his immediate Mercian predecessors. He may have been related to King Alfred’s father-in-law, Æthelflæd, who appears to have ruled until her own death in 918. The couple’s only child, a daughter called Ælfwynn, then ruled briefly until deposed by her uncle, King Edward. He is not listed in the two surviving charters of CeolWulf, but he is not in the late 8s60ss man of the same name who attested two Mercian charters in late 860s, but is not mentioned at all in the early 9th century.
He died in 909, and his wife may have become the effective ruler of Mercia after his death. His name suggests his descent is from earlier Mercian kings, although his name suggests he may have have been a member of the Mu-incel-inlaw family of Mercian bishops. His descendants include King Alfred, King Edward the Elder, and King Alfred the Great, the son of Alfred and his brother, King Alfred. He had a son, King Edward the Elder, who ruled from 918 until his death in 1031. He also had a daughter, Æthelsa, who was deposed as ruler by King Edward in 1041. He left a son called Edward the Younger, who became King of England in 1042. He never married, and died in 899, when he was still in his 80s. His son Edward was the first king of England to be crowned King of the West Anglians in 1034. He was also the last king of the East Anglian kingdom to die in battle, in 886. His descendants were: Burgred, Alfred, Alfred and Alfred’s brother Alfred, as well as Alfred’s son Edward, and King Alfred’s grandson, King Richard the Great. The king of Wessex, Alfred and Alfred The Great, who died in 1037, was the last Mercian king.
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