Aethelflaed not only ruled skilfully but might even have led her armies into battle.
Aetlielflaed was the eldest child of Alfred the Great of Wessex. Through her mother, Ealhswith, she was descended from the Mercian royal house. Presumably, her childhood was shaped by Alfred's campaigns against the Danes, which resulted in his recovery of Wessex, but left much of Mercia in Danish control.
Nothing is known of Aethelflaed’s youth and she only enters the pages of history at the age of 15 or 16 when she was married to Aethelred.
There can be little doubt, however, that Alfred’s children were brought up in an atmosphere of piety, scholarship, and devotion to family and country which were all defining characteristics of the king. Arman notes how young women who dedicated themselves to the church and renounced the world were provided with a good education but that “there are allusions to all of Alfred’s five children, including his two daughters who did not go into the church, having enjoyed an education.”
Mercia consisted of the border areas (modern Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and northern West Midlands and Warwickshire) that lay between the districts of Anglo-Saxon settlement and the Celts or Wealas (meaning foreigners), as the Welsh were known to the Anglo-Saxons, It later covered the Hwicce territory (the rest of West Midlands and Warwickshire, eastern Hereford and Worcester, and Gloucestershire) and spread also into what was later Cheshire, Salop, and western Hereford and Worcester. The kingdom was constantly under attack from the Vikings.
In about 884 Aethelflaed joined her husband in resisting the invasions of the Vikings. Ethelred was killed in battle against the Vikings in 911, whereupon Aethelflaed, after the Battle of Tettenhall, a great victory over the Vikings, became the effective ruler of Mercia the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle styles her as the 'Lady of the Mercians'.
Aethelflaed built the new Saxon 'burh' of Chester. Bonewaldesthorne's Tower, on the Chester city walls, is rumoured to have been so named after an officer in her army. She rebuilt Chester's walls in around 907 A.D. extending them to the edge of the river on the South and Western sides of the old Roman fortress, to establish Chester at the centre of a line of burghs, stretching from Rhuddlan in North Wales to Manchester, to protect the northern frontier of Mercia.
Aethelflaed founded Tamworth Castle, as a burh to defend against the Vikings, a statue dedicated to her, with her young nephew, Athelstan, dating to 1913 - and the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of the castle stands outside.
Tamworth served as a residence of the Mercian kings, to which Edward took his mistress Egwynna, His two eldest illegitimate children were born there, probably his daughter first, who remained unnamed in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, and then his eldest son Aethelstan, who was a great favourite of his grandfather, Alfred the Great, who ennobled him and presented him with a mantle of royal purple, a girdle set with precious stones and a Saxon seax (sword) in a golden scabbard.
Ethelfleda brought up her nephew and his sister at Tamworth. She feared her brother Edward, whom she was not always on the best of terms, would soon marry and Athelstan would be placed in danger if more sons were born to Edward. Fears that later materialized when Aethelstan was left out of the succession and unsuccessful attempts were made on his life. Aethelflaed worked towards her nephew gaining the crown, who was eventually recognized as King of England.
She captured Derby from the Vikings and defeated them at Leicester. She had received an agreement from the citizens of York to take the city and was on her way to York but died suddenly at Tamworth in 918 before the campaign was completed. She was buried beside her husband, Ethelred, at St Peter's Church (now St Oswald's priory) in Gloucester alongside the bones of St Oswald a former Christian king of Northumbria. Her tombstone is now displayed in Gloucester City Museum.
Mercia was inherited by Ethelred and Aethelflaed's daughter, Aelfwynn, born before 903. Aelfwynn submitted to her uncle, King Edward the Elder, who took her captive, after which Mercia was annexed to Wessex and thus Edward solidified his control over most of England.
Aethelflaed is best known as the "Lady of the Mercians" who defeated the Vikings. She established English rule which would be consolidated by her brother Edward the Elder and lay the foundation for the reign of the first recognized English king, Aethelstan, who was king of the Anglo-Saxons and King of the English.
Aethelflaed was described as ‘our greatest woman general,’ she remains one of the most powerful and influential women of Anglo Saxon Britain. Those recording the period in British history described her as powerful and, “a woman of enlarged soul.”
Aethelflaed's name most likely means “overflowing with nobility” according to scholar Joanna Arman. “Aethel” means “noble” but the meaning of “flaed”, again according to Arman, is unclear but “could mean something like `flood’, or something flowing over.”. Her name has also been translated as “noble beauty”.
Quotes from others about the person
Dr Clare Downham from the University of Liverpool: "She must have had quite a force of personality to overcome the assumptions of her time."
Dr Clare Downham: "It is a mark of her success in male-dominated times she was accepted as a ruler and achieved incredible - even unique - things."
Dr Clare Downham: "Mercia had a stronger tradition of women taking part in the life of court and administration. Here Aethelflaed's talents could shine."
Alison Hudson: "It's about who wrote the history. The main source for the period, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, comes in different versions."
Alison Hudson: "The most commonly used version was written in Wessex, under the reign of Edward, and it almost writes her out of existence."
Alison Hudson: "While Aethelflaed is subduing the Welsh and Viking raids, taking Derby and Leicester, the Wessex chronicle concentrates entirely on Edward."
Alison Hudson: "This contains something called the Mercian Register, which gives far more credit to Aethelflaed."
Alison Hudson: "Tellingly, records from Ireland and Wales, beyond the reach of an Edward who has designs on Mercia, really big her up."
Aetlielflaed was married to father's fellow campaigner, Ealdorman Aethelred, ruler of Mercia. They had one known child.
Alfred (Old English-Aelfred) was the fifth and youngest son of Ethelwulf of Wessex and his Jutish first wife, Osburh.
Ealhswith was married to King Alfred in 868, was the daughter of Ethelred Mucel, Alderman of the Hwicce, an area which mainly covered modern Herefordshire, by his wife Edburgh, a daughter of Cenwulf, King of Mercia (796-821) who was descended from King Penda`s brother Cenwealh.
Aethelred agreed to sign an alliance with Alfred the Great, a pact that effectively forced Mercia to acknowledge Wessex as the dominant Anglo-Saxon power in central and southern England. In order to ‘seal the deal’, Alfred also decided to marry off his eldest daughter Aethelflaed to Aethelred, even though she was only around 16 years old at the time.
Aelfwynn (c. 888–after 919) was the daughter of Aethelred, ruler of English Mercia, and Æthelflaed, daughter of King Alfred the Great and herself ruler of Mercia after her husband's death.
Following the death of her mother on 12 June 918, Aelfwynn too was for a short time ruler of Mercia.
(c. 874 – 17 July 924)
(877 – 7 June 929)
(d. 920 or 922)
