Aethelflaed: Lady of the Mercians

Daughter of Alfred The Great, sister of Edward The Elder, aunt of Aethelstan, Aethelflaed, Lady of Mercians, was associated, by blood, with the 3 greatest kings in English history. However, Aethelflaed was not defined by the men she happened to be related to. Her contributions to the uniting of England were truly immense. Today, in search of female trailblazers, most historians are drawn towards the brilliant Tudor queen, Elizabeth I. However, without Aethelflaed’s tireless efforts 700 years earlier, the magnificence of Elizabeth’s reign, and of other English monarchs, may have taken on an altogether different nature. Here, we take a closer look at the life of Aetheflaed.

There is uncertainty over the date of Aethelflaed’s birth but it is most likely to have been in 870, shortly before her father, Alfred, became king of Wessex. And her birth place is equally mysterious with one historian suggesting Chippenham although that is purely speculation. Aethelflaed’s mother was Ealhswith who was married to Alfred for over 30 years, having married him in 868 and remaining his wife until Alfred’s death in 899. Ealhswith’s father was Aethelred Mucel, a Mercian nobleman. Aethelflaed’s ties with Mercia grew even stronger when she married the Lord of the Mercians, another Aethelred. Aethelflaed’s childhood came as her father fought valiantly against the Vikings although he did not forget the importance of education for his children. It has been suggested that young Aethelflaed was sent to the court of her aunt, Aethelswith, who was the wife of King Burgred of Mercia, for her upbringing although the evidence for that is flimsy.

The precise date of Aethelflaed’s marriage to Aethelfred again is unknown. She was recorded as being the wife of the Mercian ruler in a charter of 887 so it seems likely that she was married to Aethelred no earlier than 885. With him, Aetheflaed would remain married for around a quarter of a century until Aethelred’s death in 911, producing one child together, a daughter. Asser, the contemporary biographer of Alfred The Great, makes reference to two Welsh princes submitting to Alfred in order to escape, in the words of Asser, “the tyranny” of Aethelred. But, during her marriage to Aethelred, Aethelflaed must have grown in stature. If she hadn’t, then that would make her accomplishments as sole ruler as “Lady of the Mercians” even more remarkable. Whilst there is not exactly an abundance of evidence for Aethelred and Aethelflaed’s marriage, the latter’s name did appear frequently in charters and the royal couple strengthened the defences of Worcester somewhere towards the end of the 800s. Whilst Aethelred has had his fair share of criticism over the centuries, it is clear that he and Aethelflaed provided Mercia with a degree of stability, certainly when stood in contrast with other regions, not just in England, but across the channel also. However, when Aethelred died, Aethelflaed became more ambitious.Simply repelling the Vikings was no longer good enough. Areas that had been conquered by the invaders must be retaken.

Aethelflaed’s father died in 899. For more than 2 decades, Alfred The Great had been plagued by the debilitating Crohn’s disease but still that didn’t stop from pressing on with his duties. Asser praises him as such;”And what of the cities and towns to be rebuilt and of others to be constructed when there were previously none….and what of the royal halls and chambers marvellously constructed of stone and wood at his command? And what of the royal residences of masonry, moved from their old position and splendidly reconstructed at more appropriate places by his royal command?” Alfred’s brilliant went went beyond construction. Militarily, he had learned lessons from the reign of his brother, another Aethelred, and proved to be a magnificent commander, defeating the Vikings at Edington in 878, retaking London which he granted to Aethelred and Aethelflaed and even enjoyed naval success over the invaders as well. But perhaps his greatest legacy was the way he had prepared his children for life in the Viking age. Aethelflaed, as Aethelred’s consort, was already proving herself and her brother, Edward The Elder, would be a magnificent successor to Alfred The Great.

In 909, a combined force of men from Wessex and Aethelflaed and Aethelred’s Mercians defeated the Vikings at Tettenhall but ,the year before Aethelred died, in 910, a Viking army swept into Mercia and raided in their devastating fashion. When Aethelflaed became sole ruler of Mercia, she would have been well aware of the courage that she would need in times as harsh as these. As she would prove, she had that in abundance. Shortly after the victory at Tettenhall, the Anglo Saxon Chronicles states that Aethelflaed built the stronghold of “Bremesbyrig” which appears to have either have been in Gloucestershire or Herefordshire. Regardless of location, it was a clear indication of Aethelflaed’s authority.

In 912, Aethelflaed built strongholds at a site that the Anglo Saxon Chronicles calls “Scergeat” a site that remains unidentified before building another at Bridgenorth in Shropshire. She continued in 913 with more building work at Tamworth and Stafford with Warwick’s defences strengthened in 914. That year, a Mercian force repulsed a Viking army that had crossed the channel from Brittany. In 917, Aethelflaed captured Derby which one historian describes as being “Aethelflaed’s greatest triumph”, That success came at a personal price for Aethelflaed however. 4 thegns who were, in the words of the Anglo Saxon Chronicles, “dear to Aethelflaed” were killed in the campaign but still, like her brother Edward The Elder, Aethelflaed continued on her relentless mission to not only halt the Viking incursions but drive them back and perhaps even expel them from England completely.

The next year, Aethelflaed showed a different side to her character. She had demonstrated brilliantly, that she could organise armies, build defences and protect her people. In 918, she showed she could expand her territories by guile as Aethelflaed “peaceably got control of Leicester”. The brilliance of Aethelflaed’s leadership had earned her enough renown that her enemies were now willing to surrender to her and her forces without too much extensive resistance.

Not long after, the men of York, in Danish hands, came to swear loyalty to Aetheflaed but, shortly after, Aethelflaed died. On her death, on the 12th June 918, Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, was on the warpath. She, along with Edward The Elder, had achieved brilliant successes and Mercia would come under Edward’s control. Edward profited immeasurably from the efforts of his sister and, on hearing of her death, he rode to Tamworth where he must have been sorrowful at her passing and, also, grateful for what she had accomplished. Even in the age of the Viking wars, Aethelflaed had shown, particularly during her relatively brief time as sole ruler of Mercia, that female rule was not only possible but it could also be spectacularly successful.

The chronicler, William of Malmesbury, praises Aethelflaed extensively and paints a picture of a strong willed woman. William attributes Aethelflaed only having one child with Aethelred as the result of a particularly difficult labour and refused her husband’s sexual advances from that point on. To his credit, Aethelred seems to have respected Aethelflaed’s wishes. From there on, Aethelflaed instead dedicated her life to a very different cause, that of a warrior, one not expected of a woman. William praises Aethelflaed as a woman “with an enlarged soul…and a spirited heroine” who “aided her brother greatly with her advice and of building cities.” Fierce to the end, Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, is a woman you cannot help but admire tremendously.