Women In hIstory Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians

From 835 onwards, the Vikings attacked East Anglia, southern England and Ireland; the territories occupied and controlled by the Danish Vikings came to be known as Danelaw. In 865 a great Viking army landed again in England, where there were four important separate kingdoms: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia and Wessex. Alfred (849-899), King of Wessex – a Saxon kingdom in south-western England – fought a long-lasting struggle against the Vikings and defeated their king, Guthrum, at the Battle of Edington in 878. Alfred, the only English king known as ‘the Great’, is famous not only for his military successes but also for his social and educational reforms. He began to shape the English nation, founding cities, creating coinage and establishing law and government. Alfred had a strong belief in education and arranged for key books to be translated from Latin to Anglo-Saxon. He also gave his support to the compilation of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that reconstructed the history of the English people. It was the first history of a European people written in their own language. Alfred’s example was followed by his successors. Under his daughter Aethelflaed and his son Edward, the first step towards the unification of the kingdoms was taken.

The Last Kingdom

The Norman Conquest (1066)

When the Saxon king Edward the Confessor died in 1066, Harold of Wessex was chosen as the new monarch, but the throne was also claimed by William, Duke of Normandy (1028-87), who defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings in the same year. Norman armies soon conquered the rest of the country and the Duke was proclaimed King William I, but he did not give up his territorial possessions in France. The Normans brought new expertise in the construction of churches, cathedrals and especially castles that served as fortresses against external attacks. It was this military development which allowed the new nobility to assert control over the country and keep its boundaries safe from incursions from Wales and Scotland, where the Celts had retreated.

Women in history

Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians

Civic Literacy

She defeated bloodthirsty invaders, secured a kingdom and laid the foundations for England. Today, more than 1100 years after her death, one of the great forgotten figures in British history is emerging from the shadows.

Born during the war against the Viking invaders, Aethelflaed (872?-918), daughter of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, grew up in a realm on the brink1 of disaster because of the constant struggle with the Vikings. When she was 16, her marriage with Aethelred, Lord of Mercia, enabled an alliance between Mercia and Wessex, the last Saxon kingdom to resist a complete Viking victory. When Aethelflaed’s husband died, she became Queen of Mercia. She

led armies, built fortresses and

campaigned against the Vikings. She was a brilliant diplomat and her fame spread across the British Isles: she was beloved by her warriors and her people, who simply called her ‘the Lady of the Mercians’. She continued her father Alfred’s policies, which resulted in diminishing the power of the Vikings in Britain, and allowed for the final unification of the land under her brother Edward (the Elder), who extended his authority over almost all of England by conquering areas that were in the hands of the Danish invaders.

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CHECK IN

1. What problem affected Wessex when Aethelflaed was born? 2. Who was Aethelred and what relationship did he have with Aethelflaed? 3. Why was Aethelflaed appreciated by her people? 4. Who was Edward? 5. Discuss Aethelflaed was a diplomat. How important is diplomacy in wartime?