Information about Mercia

Mercia (IPA: /ˈmɝsiə/) was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands. The name is a Latinisation of the Old English Mierce, meaning "border people".

Mercia's neighbours included Northumbria, Powys, the kingdoms of southern Wales, Wessex, Sussex, 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-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 king of Mercia about whom we know any details was Creoda, said to have been the great-grandson of Icel (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, 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 (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, 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 Cœnred 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 of Mercia, 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. 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 Severn estuary.

Mercian dialect

Main articles: Mercian (Anglo-Saxon) and AB language

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 legendarium - especially in relation to the Kingdom of 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 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 hides), 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:

• South Mercians

The Mercians dwelling south of the River Trent. Smaller folk groups within included the Tomsæte around Tamworth and the Pencersæte around Penkridge (approx. S. Staffs. & N. Warks.).

• North Mercians

The Mercians dwelling north of the River Trent (approx. N. Staffs., S. Derbys. & Notts.).

• Outer Mercia

An early phase of Mercian expansion, possibly 6th century (approx. S. Lincs., Leics., Rutland, Northants. & N. Oxon.).

• Lindsey

Once a kingdom in its own right, disputed with Northumbria in the 7th century before finally coming under Mercian control (approx. N. Lincs.).

• Middle Angles

A collection of many smaller folk groups under Mercian control from the 7th century, including the Spaldas around Spalding, the Bilmingas and Wideringas near Stamford, 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. Cambs., Hunts., Beds., Herts., Bucks. and S. Oxon.).

• Hwicce

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. Gloucs., Worcs. & S. Warks.).

• Magonsæte

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. Herefs. & S. Shrops.).

• Wreocansæte

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. Shrops., Flints. & Cheshire).

• Pecsæte

An isolated folk group of the Peak District, under Mercian control from the 7th century (approx. N. Derbys.).

• Land Between Ribble & Mersey

A disorganised region under Mercian control from the 7th century (approx. S. Lancs.).

• Middle Saxons

Taken over from 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 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 Cross of St Alban, 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 coats of arms of Mercian towns, such as St Albans (shown), Tamworth, Leek and Blaby.

See also

• J. R. R. Tolkien
• List of monarchs of Mercia
• Mercian – Anglo-Saxon dialect
• Old English
• Wessex
• Repton
• Tamworth

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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