Coenred of Mercia

Coenred was king of Mercia from 704 to 709. He was a son of the Mercian king Wulfhere. His brother Æthelred succeeded to the throne in 675. In 704 he abdicated in favour of Coenred to become a monk.

About Coenred of Mercia in brief

Coenred was king of Mercia from 704 to 709. He was a son of the Mercian king Wulfhere. His brother Æthelred succeeded to the throne in 675. In 704 he abdicated in favour of Coenred to become a monk. His reign is poorly documented, but a contemporary source records that he faced attacks from the Welsh. He is not known to have married or had children, although later chronicles describe him as an ancestor of Wigstan, a 9th-centuryMercian king. In 658, Coen red’s father came to the. throne of Mercian as the result of a coup, ending a three-year period of. Northumbrian control. His mother Ermenilda became a nun sometime after Wulf here’s death. His son Ceolred succeeded him as king ofMercia. He died in 709 and was buried in Rome, where he remained as a monk until his death. The main source for this period is Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, completed in about 731.

Charters, which recorded royal grants of land to individuals and to religious houses, provide further information on Coen Red’s reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, compiled in Wessex at the end of the 9th century, provides valuable information about the early Anglo- Saxon kingdoms. It appears to have incorporated much information recorded in earlier periods. CoenRed is also mentioned in two 8th- century hagiographies, those of Saint Wilfrid and Saint Guthlac. He may have ruled jointly two years before Æthelred, or the chroniclers may have recorded the same event twice in error. According to the 8th century life of St. Wilfid, he summoned his nephew and made him swear to support the church hierarchy in his conflict with the church.

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