   #copyright

Mercia

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and
before (including Roman Britain)

   The Kingdom of Mercia at its greatest extent (7th to 9th centuries) is
   shown in green, with the original core area (6th century) given a
   darker tint.
   The Kingdom of Mercia at its greatest extent (7th to 9th centuries) is
   shown in green, with the original core area (6th century) given a
   darker tint.

   Mercia (Old English: Mierce, "border people"; IPA: [ˈmɜːʃiə]) was one
   of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy, centred on the valley of
   the River Trent and its tributaries in what is now the Midlands of
   England.

   Mercia's neighbours included Northumbria, Powys, the kingdoms of
   southern Wales, Wessex, Sussex, Essex, and East Anglia. The term
   survives today in the name of the West Mercia Constabulary, commercial
   radio station Mercia FM in Coventry, and also in two regiments of the
   British Army, the new Mercian Regiment, and the Royal Mercian and
   Lancastrian Yeomanry. The name of Mercia is used politically by the
   Mercian Nationalist Party and the Mercian Socialist Partywho campaign
   for increased autonomy and full devolution of the Midlands region from
   the United Kindgom.

Early history

   Mercia's exact evolution from the Anglo-Saxon invasions is more obscure
   than that of Northumbria, Kent, or even Wessex. Archaeological surveys
   show that Angles settled the lands north of the River Thames by the
   sixth century. The name Mercia is Old English for "boundary folk" (see
   marches), and the traditional interpretation was that the kingdom
   originated along the frontier between the Welsh and the Anglo-Saxon
   invaders, although P. Hunter Blair has argued an alternative
   interpretation that they emerged along the frontier between the kingdom
   of Northumbria and the inhabitants of the Trent river valley.

   The earliest known king of Mercia was named Creoda, said to have been
   the great-grandson of Icel. He came to power about 585 and was
   succeeded by his son Pybba 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 next Mercian king was Penda, who ruled from about 626 or
   633 until 655. Some of what is known about Penda comes through the
   hostile account of Bede, who disliked him both for being an enemy king
   to Bede's own Northumbria, but also for being a pagan. However, Bede
   admits that it was Penda who freely allowed Christian missionaries from
   Lindisfarne into Mercia, and did not restrain them from preaching.
   After a reign of successful battles against all opponents, Penda was
   defeated and killed at the Battle of Winwaed by the Northumbrian king
   Oswiu in 655.

   The battle led to a temporary collapse of Mercian power. Penda was
   succeeded first by his son Peada, but in the spring of 656 Oswiu
   assumed control of the whole of Mercia after Peada's murder. A revolt
   in 658 resulted in the appearance of another son of Penda, Wulfhere,
   who ruled Mercia until his death in 675. Wulfhere was initially
   successful in restoring the power of Mercia, but the end of his reign
   saw a serious defeat against Northumbria. The next two kings, Æthelred
   and Cenred son of Wulfhere, are better known for their religious
   activities; 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 the accession of Æthelbald, the Mercians conquered
   the region around Wroxeter, known to the Welsh 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 was Æthelbald (716 - 757). For the
   first few years of his reign he had to face the obstacles of two strong
   rival kings, Wihtred of Kent and Ine of Wessex. But when Wihtred died
   in 725, and Ine abdicated his throne the following year to become a
   monk in Rome, Æthelbald was free to establish Mercia's hegemony over
   the rest of the Anglo-Saxons south of the Humber. Because of his
   prowess as a military leader, he acquired the title of Bretwalda.
   Æthelbald suffered a setback in 752, when he was defeated by the West
   Saxons under Cuthred, but he seems to have restored his supremacy over
   Wessex by 757.

Reign of Offa and rise of Wessex

   Following the murder of Æthelbald by one of his bodyguards in 757, a
   civil war followed, which was concluded with the victory of Offa. Offa
   was forced to build the hegemony over the southern English of his
   predecessor anew, but he not only did so successfully, he became the
   greatest king Mercia ever knew. Not only did he win battles and
   dominate southern England, he also took an active hand to administering
   the affairs of his kingdom by founding market towns and overseeing the
   first major issues of gold coins in Britain, assumed a role in the
   administration of the Catholic church in England, and even negotiated
   with Charlemagne as an equal. Offa is credited with the construction of
   Offa's Dyke, marking the border between Wales and Mercia.

   Offa exerted himself to ensure that his son Ecgfrith of Mercia would
   succeed him, but after his death in July 796, Ecgfrith survived for
   only five more months, and the kingdom passed to a distant relative
   named Coenwulf in December 796. In 821, Coenwulf himself was succeeded
   by his brother Ceolwulf, who demonstrated his military prowess by his
   attack on and destruction of the fortress of Deganwy in Powys. The
   power of the West Saxons under Egbert was rising during this period,
   however, and in 825 Egbert defeated the Mercian king Beornwulf (who had
   overthrown Ceolwulf in 823) at Ellendun.

   The Battle of Ellendun proved decisive. Beornwulf was slain suppressing
   a revolt amongst the East Angles, and his successor, a former ealdorman
   named Ludeca, met the same fate. Another ealdorman, Wiglaf,
   subsequently ruled for less than two years before being driven out of
   Mercia by Egbert. In 830, Wiglaf regained independence for Mercia, but
   by this time Wessex was clearly the dominant power in England. Wiglaf
   was succeeded by Beorhtwulf.

Arrival of the Danes

   In 852, Burgred came to the throne and with Ethelwulf of Wessex
   subjugated north Wales. In 868, Danish armies occupied Nottingham. The
   Danes drove Burgred, the last king of Mercia from his kingdom in 874.
   In 886, the eastern part of the kingdom became part of the Danelaw,
   while Mercia was reduced to its western portion only. The Danes
   appointed a Mercian thegn, Ceolwulf II, as king in 873 while the
   remaining independent section of Mercia was ruled by Æthelred, called
   an ealderman, not a king. He ruled from 883 until 911, in a close and
   trusting alliance with Wessex. Æthelred had married Æthelflæd, daughter
   of Alfred the Great of Wessex. She gradually assumed power as her
   husband sickened after about 900, possibly as a result of his wounds
   gained at the decisive battle against the Vikings at Tettenhall where
   the last large Viking army to ravage England suffered a crushing defeat
   at the hands of the combined Mercian and Wessex army. After Aethelred's
   death she ruled alone until her death in 918 when her brother, Edward
   the Elder of Wessex became king. Ethelfleda freely gave London and
   Oxford to her brother in Wessex as a token of loyalty, and concentrated
   on fortifying Mercia's existing borders — east towards Nottingham,
   north to Chester, along the Welsh marches, and down to the Severn
   estuary.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercia"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
