Person:Æthelred, Ealdorman of Mercia (1)

Disputed Relationships

Many websites give Burgred as his father, but there appear to be no original sources to support this. (The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England site lists none.) And Maggie Bailey, in her article on Ælfwynn, states that his descent is unknown, but he is unlikely to have been closely related to Burgred.

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians (or Ealdorman Æthelred of Mercia; died 911) became ruler of English Mercia shortly after the death or disappearance of its last king, Ceolwulf II in 879. Æthelred's rule was confined to the western half, as eastern Mercia was then part of the Viking-ruled Danelaw. His ancestry is unknown. He was probably the leader of an unsuccessful Mercian invasion of Wales in 881, and soon afterwards he acknowledged the lordship of King Alfred the Great of Wessex. This alliance was cemented by the marriage of Æthelred to Alfred's daughter Æthelflæd.

In 886, Alfred took possession of London, which had suffered greatly from several Viking occupations. Alfred then handed London over to Æthelred, as it had traditionally been a Mercian town. In 892, the Vikings renewed their attacks, and the following year, Æthelred led an army of Mercians, West Saxons and Welsh to victory over a Viking army at the Battle of Buttington. He spent the next three years fighting them alongside Alfred's son, the future King Edward the Elder. At some time after 899 Æthelred's health may have declined, and Æthelflæd may have become the effective ruler of Mercia.

After Æthelred's death, Æthelflæd ruled as Lady of the Mercians until her own death in 918. The couple's only child, a daughter called Ælfwynn, then ruled briefly until deposed by her uncle, King Edward.

1. ↑ Æthelred, Ealdorman of Mercia, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
2.   Anglo Saxon Bishops, Kings & Nobles, Eng. 104, p. 300, 342.
3.   Dict. of Nat'l Biog., Eng. Pub. A, v. 18, p. 21-22.
4. ↑ Æthelred 1 (Male), in The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England.
5. ↑ Earle, John (ed.), and Charles (ed.) Plummer. Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892)
   p. 48.

   "912. Her gefor Æðered ealdormon on Mercum;" (Baldwin notes that the year was originally labelled 911.)

6. ↑ Ælfred "the Great", in Baldwin, Stewart, and Todd Farmerie. The Henry Project (King Henry II ): Ancestors of King Henry II.

   Baldwin cites W. S. Angus, "The Chronology of the Reign of Edward the Elder", English Historical Review 53 (1938), pp. 203-204

7. ↑ ÆTHELRED, in Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families.
8.   Earle, John (ed.), and Charles (ed.) Plummer. Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892)
   p. 47.

   Manuscript E gives a 910 death date: "Æðered Myrcena ealdor forð ferde."

9. ↑ Earle, John (ed.), and Charles (ed.) Plummer. Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892).

   Manuscript C, under 911: "Ða ðæs oþres geares gefor Æðered Myrcna hlaford."

10.   Bailey, Maggie. "Ælfwynn, Second Lady of the Mercians.", in Higham, N.J. (ed.), and D.H. (ed.) Hill. Edward the Elder: 899-924. (London: Routledge, 2001)
    p. 113.

    "Ælfwynn's father appears unlikely to have been closely related to his two immediate predecessors, Burgred (?853-74) and Ceolwulf II (c. 874-7). Æthelred's descent is unknown (Yorke 1990:123), but his name suggests a collateral descent from earlier Mercian rulers, or possibly a connection with Mercian nobles, such as Æthelmund of the Hwicce (died at Kempsford in 800) or Æthelwulf of Berkshire, (died at the battle of Reading in 871)."