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Mercia () was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons
Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the
River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the Midlands. The name is a Latinisation of the Old English language
Mierce, meaning "border people".
Mercia's neighbours included Northumbria,
Kingdom of Powys, the kingdoms of southern Wales,
Wessex, Kingdom of Sussex, Kingdom of Essex, and
East Anglia. Its name is still in use today by many bodies, including the West Mercia Constabulary, commercial radio station Mercia FM in Coventry, and two regiments of the
British Army - the new Mercian Regiment, and the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry.
Early history
Mercia's exact evolution from the Anglo-Saxons invasions is more obscure than that of Northumbria, Kent, or even Wessex.
Archaeology surveys show that
Angles settled the lands north of the River Thames by the sixth century. The name Mercia is
Old English language for "boundary folk" (
see marches), and the traditional interpretation was that the kingdom originated along the frontier between the Wales 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 king of Mercia about whom we know any details was Creoda, said to have been the great-grandson of Icel (person) (see List of monarchs of Mercia). He came to power about 585 and built a fortress at
Tamworth, which became the seat of the Mercian kings. He was succeeded by his son Pybba in 593. Cearl of Mercia, a kinsman of Creoda, followed Pybba in 606; in 615, Cearl gave his daughter Cwenburga in marriage to
Edwin of Northumbria, king of Deira (kingdom) whom he had sheltered while he was an exiled prince. The next Mercian king was
Penda of Mercia, 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
Paganism. However, Bede admits that it was Penda who freely allowed Early Christianity
missionary 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 of Northumbria in 655.
The battle led to a temporary collapse of Mercian power. Penda was succeeded first by his son Peada (who converted to Christianity at
Repton in 653), but in the spring of 656 he was murdered and Oswiu assumed control of the whole of Mercia. A revolt in 658 resulted in the appearance of another son of Penda, Wulfhere of Mercia, 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 of Mercia and Cenred of Mercia son of Wulfhere, are better known for their religious activities; the king who succeeded them (in 709), Ceolred of Mercia, 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
Ethelbald of Mercia, 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 of Wessex, 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 of Mercia. 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 of Mercia in December 796. In 821, Coenwulf himself was succeeded by his brother Ceolwulf I of Mercia, who demonstrated his military prowess by his attack on and destruction of the fortress of
Deganwy in
Powys. The power of the Wessex under
Egbert of Wessex was rising during this period, however, and in 825 Egbert defeated the Mercian king Beornwulf of Mercia (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 of Mercia, met the same fate. Another ealdorman, Wiglaf of Mercia, 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 of Mercia.
Arrival of the Danes
In 852, Burgred came to the throne and with Ethelwulf of Wessex subjugated north Wales. In 868,
Denmark 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 of Mercia, as king in 873 while the remaining independent section of Mercia was ruled by
Æthelred of Mercia, called an
earl, 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. Æthelflæd 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 River Severn estuary.
Mercian dialect
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 Tolkien's legendarium - especially in relation to the Rohan, otherwise known as the
Mark (a name cognate with
Mercia). Not only is the language of Rohan actually the Mercian dialect of Old English, but a number of its kings have the same names as monarchs who appear in the Mercian royal genealogy, e.g.
Fréawine,
Fréaláf Hildeson and
Éomer (see List of kings of the Angles).
Subdivisions of Mercia
For knowledge of 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 Hide (unit)), 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 the
14th century. It lists a number of peoples, such as the Hwicce, who have now vanished, except for reminders in various placenames (see map at the head of this article). The major subdivisions of Mercia were as follows:
The Mercians dwelling south of the River Trent. Smaller folk groups within included the
Tomsæte around
Tamworth and the
Pencersæte around Penkridge (approx. S. Staffordshire & N.
Warwickshire).
The Mercians dwelling north of the River Trent (approx. N.
Staffordshire, S. Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire).
An early phase of Mercian expansion, possibly 6th century (approx. S.
Lincolnshire,
Leicestershire,
Rutland,
Northamptonshire. & N. Oxfordshire).
Once a kingdom in its own right, disputed with
Northumbria in the 7th century before finally coming under Mercian control (approx. N. Lincolnshire).
A collection of many smaller folk groups under Mercian control from the 7th century, including the
Spaldas around Spalding, Lincolnshire, the
Bilmingas and
Wideringas near Stamford, Lincolnshire, the
North Gyrwe and
South Gyrwe near Peterborough, the
West Wixna,
East Wixna,
West Wille and
East Wille near Ely, the
Sweordora,
Hurstingas and
Gifle near Bedford, the
Hicce around Hitchin, the
Cilternsæte in the
Chilterns and the
Feppingas near Thame (approx. Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire,
Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and S. Oxfordshire).
Once a kingdom in its own right, disputed with
Wessex in the 7th century before finally coming under Mercian control. Smaller folk groups within included the
Stoppingas aroundWarwick and the
Arosæte near
Droitwich (approx.
Gloucestershire,
Worcestershire & S. Warwickshire).
A people of the Welsh border, also known as the Westerna, under Mercian control from the 7th century. Smaller folk groups within included the
Temersæte near
Hereford and the
Hahlsæte near
Ludlow (approx.
Herefordshire & S. Shropshire).
A people of the Welsh border under Mercian control from the 7th century. Smaller folk groups within included the
Rhiwsæte near
Wroxeter and the
Meresæte near
Chester (approx. N. Shropshire,
Flintshire & Cheshire).
An isolated folk group of the Peak District, under Mercian control from the 7th century (approx. N. Derbyshire).
A disorganised region under Mercian control from the 7th century (approx. S. Lancashire).
Taken over from kingdom of Essex in the 8th century, including
London (approx. Middlesex).
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.
Heraldic symbols
The silver, double-headed eagle surmounted by a gold, three-pronged Saxon crown has long been used by various units of the British Army as a heraldic device for Mercia, and is derived from the crest of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, Earl of Mercia in the 11th century. The examples on the left are from the Mercian Regiment and the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry respectively (the latter, being a merged unit, also sports the Lancastrian red rose and crown).
On the right is the
Saint Alban's Cross, a device attributed to the Kingdom of Mercia by mediaeval heralds.
St Alban was a native of what would later become Mercia, whose feast day was, and is, celebrated on
22 June. Heraldically the cross is described as
Azure, a saltire Or, i.e. gold (yellow) saltire on a blue field, and is still flown from Tamworth Castle, the ancient seat of the Mercian kings, to this day. The cross has also been incorporated into a number of
coat of arms of Mercian towns, such as St Albans (shown), Tamworth, Leek, Staffordshire and Blaby.
See also
Further reading
- Ian W. Walker. Mercia and the Making of England (2000) ISBN 0-7509-2131-5 (also published as Mercia and the Origins of England (2000) ISBN 0-7509-2131-5)
- Sarah Zaluckyj & Marge Feryok. Mercia: The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Central England (2001) ISBN 1-873827-62-8
- Michelle Brown & Carol Farr (eds). Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon Kingdom in Europe (2005) ISBN 0-8264-7765-8
- Margaret Gelling. 'The Early History of Western Mercia'. (p. 184-201; In: The Origins of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. S. Bassett. 1989) (Western Mercia and the upper Trent being the probable cradle of early Mercia).
- Simon Schama. 'A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World? - 3000 BC-AD 1603 Vol 1' BBC Books 2003
External links
- Mercian History: History Project
- Simon Keynes' bibliography (and brief notes) on the Mercian kingdom
- Recensions of manuscripts of the "Hidage"
Mercia () was one of the kingdoms of the
Anglo-Saxons Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the
Midlands. The name is a
Latinisation of the Old English language
Mierce, meaning "border people".
Mercia's neighbours included
Northumbria, Kingdom of Powys, the kingdoms of southern Wales,
Wessex, Kingdom of Sussex,
Kingdom of Essex, and
East Anglia. Its name is still in use today by many bodies, including the
West Mercia Constabulary, commercial radio station
Mercia FM in Coventry, and two regiments of the British Army - the new
Mercian Regiment, and the
Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry.
Early history
Mercia's exact evolution from the
Anglo-Saxons invasions is more obscure than that of Northumbria,
Kent, or even Wessex. Archaeology surveys show that Angles settled the lands north of the River Thames by the sixth century. The name Mercia is Old English language for "boundary folk" (
see marches), and the traditional interpretation was that the kingdom originated along the frontier between the Wales 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 king of Mercia about whom we know any details was Creoda, said to have been the great-grandson of
Icel (person) (see
List of monarchs of Mercia). He came to power about 585 and built a fortress at Tamworth, which became the seat of the Mercian kings. He was succeeded by his son
Pybba in 593.
Cearl of Mercia, a kinsman of Creoda, followed Pybba in 606; in 615, Cearl gave his daughter Cwenburga in marriage to Edwin of Northumbria, king of
Deira (kingdom) whom he had sheltered while he was an exiled prince. The next Mercian king was Penda of Mercia, 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
Paganism. However, Bede admits that it was Penda who freely allowed
Early Christianity missionary 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 of Northumbria in 655.
The battle led to a temporary collapse of Mercian power. Penda was succeeded first by his son
Peada (who converted to Christianity at Repton in 653), but in the spring of 656 he was murdered and Oswiu assumed control of the whole of Mercia. A revolt in 658 resulted in the appearance of another son of Penda,
Wulfhere of Mercia, 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 of Mercia and Cenred of Mercia son of Wulfhere, are better known for their religious activities; the king who succeeded them (in 709), Ceolred of Mercia, 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 Ethelbald of Mercia, 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 of Wessex, 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 of Mercia. 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 of Mercia in December 796. In 821, Coenwulf himself was succeeded by his brother
Ceolwulf I of Mercia, who demonstrated his military prowess by his attack on and destruction of the fortress of Deganwy in
Powys. The power of the Wessex under
Egbert of Wessex was rising during this period, however, and in 825 Egbert defeated the Mercian king Beornwulf of Mercia (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 of Mercia, met the same fate. Another ealdorman,
Wiglaf of Mercia, 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 of Mercia.
Arrival of the Danes
In 852, Burgred came to the throne and with
Ethelwulf of Wessex subjugated north
Wales. In
868,
Denmark 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 of Mercia, as king in 873 while the remaining independent section of Mercia was ruled by
Æthelred of Mercia, called an earl, 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. Æthelflæd 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
River Severn estuary.
Mercian dialect
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 Tolkien's legendarium - especially in relation to the Rohan, otherwise known as the
Mark (a name cognate with
Mercia). Not only is the language of Rohan actually the Mercian dialect of Old English, but a number of its kings have the same names as monarchs who appear in the Mercian royal genealogy, e.g. Fréawine, Fréaláf Hildeson and
Éomer (see
List of kings of the Angles).
Subdivisions of Mercia
For knowledge of 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 Hide (unit)), 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 the
14th century. It lists a number of peoples, such as the
Hwicce, who have now vanished, except for reminders in various placenames (see map at the head of this article). The major subdivisions of Mercia were as follows:
The Mercians dwelling south of the River Trent. Smaller folk groups within included the
Tomsæte around
Tamworth and the
Pencersæte around
Penkridge (approx. S.
Staffordshire & N.
Warwickshire).
The Mercians dwelling north of the River Trent (approx. N.
Staffordshire, S.
Derbyshire &
Nottinghamshire).
An early phase of Mercian expansion, possibly 6th century (approx. S.
Lincolnshire, Leicestershire,
Rutland, Northamptonshire. & N.
Oxfordshire).
Once a kingdom in its own right, disputed with
Northumbria in the 7th century before finally coming under Mercian control (approx. N. Lincolnshire).
A collection of many smaller folk groups under Mercian control from the 7th century, including the
Spaldas around
Spalding, Lincolnshire, the
Bilmingas and
Wideringas near Stamford, Lincolnshire, the
North Gyrwe and
South Gyrwe near Peterborough, the
West Wixna,
East Wixna,
West Wille and
East Wille near Ely, the
Sweordora,
Hurstingas and
Gifle near Bedford, the
Hicce around Hitchin, the
Cilternsæte in the
Chilterns and the
Feppingas near Thame (approx. Cambridgeshire,
Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire,
Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and S.
Oxfordshire).
Once a kingdom in its own right, disputed with
Wessex in the 7th century before finally coming under Mercian control. Smaller folk groups within included the
Stoppingas around
Warwick and the
Arosæte near Droitwich (approx. Gloucestershire, Worcestershire & S. Warwickshire).
A people of the Welsh border, also known as the Westerna, under Mercian control from the 7th century. Smaller folk groups within included the
Temersæte near
Hereford and the
Hahlsæte near Ludlow (approx. Herefordshire & S. Shropshire).
A people of the Welsh border under Mercian control from the 7th century. Smaller folk groups within included the
Rhiwsæte near Wroxeter and the
Meresæte near
Chester (approx. N. Shropshire,
Flintshire &
Cheshire).
An isolated folk group of the Peak District, under Mercian control from the 7th century (approx. N. Derbyshire).
A disorganised region under Mercian control from the 7th century (approx. S.
Lancashire).
Taken over from
kingdom of Essex in the 8th century, including
London (approx.
Middlesex).
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.
Heraldic symbols
The silver, double-headed eagle surmounted by a gold, three-pronged Saxon crown has long been used by various units of the British Army as a heraldic device for Mercia, and is derived from the crest of
Leofric, Earl of Mercia, Earl of Mercia in the 11th century. The examples on the left are from the
Mercian Regiment and the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry respectively (the latter, being a merged unit, also sports the Lancastrian red rose and crown).
On the right is the
Saint Alban's Cross, a device attributed to the Kingdom of Mercia by mediaeval heralds.
St Alban was a native of what would later become Mercia, whose feast day was, and is, celebrated on
22 June. Heraldically the cross is described as
Azure, a saltire Or, i.e. gold (yellow) saltire on a blue field, and is still flown from Tamworth Castle, the ancient seat of the Mercian kings, to this day. The cross has also been incorporated into a number of coat of arms of Mercian towns, such as
St Albans (shown),
Tamworth, Leek, Staffordshire and Blaby.
See also
Further reading
- Ian W. Walker. Mercia and the Making of England (2000) ISBN 0-7509-2131-5 (also published as Mercia and the Origins of England (2000) ISBN 0-7509-2131-5)
- Sarah Zaluckyj & Marge Feryok. Mercia: The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Central England (2001) ISBN 1-873827-62-8
- Michelle Brown & Carol Farr (eds). Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon Kingdom in Europe (2005) ISBN 0-8264-7765-8
- Margaret Gelling. 'The Early History of Western Mercia'. (p. 184-201; In: The Origins of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. S. Bassett. 1989) (Western Mercia and the upper Trent being the probable cradle of early Mercia).
- Simon Schama. 'A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World? - 3000 BC-AD 1603 Vol 1' BBC Books 2003
External links
- Mercian History: History Project
- Simon Keynes' bibliography (and brief notes) on the Mercian kingdom
- Recensions of manuscripts of the "Hidage"
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