Notes |
- AEthelflaed was the eldest child of AElfred the Great. In or about
884 when she was about sixteen, she married the Mercian Ealdorman
AEthelred, who had been created "Lord of the Mercians" by AElfred.
AEthelflaed often signed charters jointly with AEthelred and by 900
had started to take over administration as AEthelred's illness drained
his strength. AEthelflaed had inherited much of the resolve of her
father, and continued her husband's campaigns against the Welsh. She
also led the defense against the Vikings who, having established
themselves in the north and east, now began to settle in the Wirral.
AEthelflaed negotiated with their leader, Ingimund, to control the
settlement, but in 905 the Vikings attacked Chester, causing
AEthelflaed to fortify the town. She recognized that the Vikings
might destroy the Saxon relics in the north and wherever possible she
sought to salvage objects of veneration. These included the relics of
Oswald of Northumbria which were translated to Gloucester in 909. When
AEthelred died in 922, AEthelflaed continued to rule, though subject
to her brother, Edward the Elder of Wessex. She created new fortified
boroughs against the Welsh and Vikings, including those at Bridgnorth
and Bromsgrove, and she sought to assist the Scots and Strathclyde
Britons against the Norse of Dublin and York. AEthelflaed was one of
the great warrior queens of England, and was highly respected by her
enemies. She died at Tamworth on June 12, 918, about age fifty.
Although she was succeeded by her daughter Elfwynn, it is evident that
she expected AEthelstan, the eldest son of Edward the Elder, whom she
had fostered and raised, to become king, which he eventually did.
(Source: Mike Ashley, "British Monarchs")
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