Æthelflæd warrior Anglo Saxon Queen

jane burton

jane burton

Newbie
I am researching this lady! She is Æthelflæd a warrior Anglo Saxon Queen who ruled the Mercia region of Old England in early 900. She helped establish Stafford as a garrison town and fortified it. North and South Walls were her doing. If any one out there knows of anything can you help or just point me in the right direction. I have spoken with a lady who organised an exhibition up at the castle last year on this era and she has helped but has no more information for me. Sometimes its you locals that have the interesting info that the library doesn't. I have been to the reference libraries in the Staffordshire area but have come unstuck. Hope you can help, thanks folks x​
 
Withnail

Withnail

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jane burton said:
North and South Walls were her doing.
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Actually, the original burh is thought to have been rectangular, following roughly the lines of Greengate/Gaolgate Sts -> Stafford/Broad Sts -> Earl St -> Mill St -
Stafford.jpg


-the walls being extended round the whole of the peninsula during the later Middle Ages, and certainly by 1610 -

127.jpg


Being the anniversary year of Stafford's foundation (913), and the hundreth anniversary of the Millenary Pageant, i believe there are to be a number of events, exhibitions and the like this year celebrating this era in general, and quite possibly Aethelflaed in particular.

Also, there is a link here -
http://www.staffordforum.com/xf/index.php?threads/anglo-saxon-stafford.5341/
- to the archaeological record of Anglo-Saxon Stafford that may be of interest.
 
Withnail

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Her entry in the ODNB -

http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8907

- is interesting.

It might be worth pointing out that, though the daughter of one king and brother of another, she wasn't actually a queen but a 'lady'. Interestingly, the word 'lady' derives from the OE hlæfdige meaning 'bread (loaf) server'. The word 'lord' has a similar etymology OE hlæfweard - 'bread (loaf) keeper (ward)'.

Also it isn't clear as to whether she actually took part in any fighting herself, though by no means impossible i personally think it rather unlikely.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Withnail said:
Her entry in the ODNB -

http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8907

- is interesting.

It might be worth pointing out that, though the daughter of one king and brother of another, she wasn't actually a queen but a 'lady'. Interestingly, the word 'lady' derives from the OE hlæfdige meaning 'bread (loaf) server'. The word 'lord' has a similar etymology OE hlæfweard - 'bread (loaf) keeper (ward)'.

Also it isn't clear as to whether she actually took part in any fighting herself, though by no means impossible i personally think it rather unlikely.
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Sister, surely?

Or she would have had a more interesting entry...
 
Withnail

Withnail

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jane burton said:
If any one out there knows of anything can you help or just point me in the right direction.
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The original source material is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which has been gutenburged here -

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1443148&pageno=52

I have linked to the first page in which she appears, but the Alfredian wars against the Danes have already been going on for 20 years or so by this time, so if you want a bit more context you can go back a few pages.

Two of the ASC versions include material from a source known as the 'Mercian Register'- i'm assuming that the entries in parentheses in the above link are from here - but i have been unable to find a separate MS of it, only incorporated into the ASC or referred to in relation to other things. It might be worth pursuing as it ostensibly deals with the Mercian campaigns of this time, and possibly has more to say about Aetheflæd than is recorded in the chronicles.

While searching for the Mercian Register, i did discover this -

King Alfred's Daughter The Lady of the Mercians

- which is an historical novel about her from 2009. It looks like the whole book is available to read but i can't be sure.

Happy reading. :)
 
Gadget

Gadget

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I wonder if this is the Lady who was possibly mother to Lady Wulfrun, founder of Wolverhampton?
 
Withnail

Withnail

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Gadget said:
I wonder if this is the Lady who was possibly grandmother to Lady Wulfrun, founder of Wolverhampton?
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Not likely i'm afraid.

Æthelflæd had one daughter, Ælfwynn, who assumed the overlordship of Mercia after her mother's death. A few months later her uncle, King Edward the Elder deprived her of her lordship and assumed it himself. Ælfwynn was sent to Wessex, where she disappears from recorded history.

It is assumed that she got her hence, or rather was sent, to a nunnery - this was a common practice for dealing with relatives who might produce offspring with a claim to the throne back in them days.
 
jane burton

jane burton

Newbie
Just poked my head in and wow thanks folks, there is enough here to keep me busy for a while and I will certainly keep you posted. If you think of anything else just throw it at me it all helps. Off now to do some more reading ; - )
 
Gadget

Gadget

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Withnail said:
Not likely i'm afraid.

Æthelflæd had one daughter, Ælfwynn, who assumed the overlordship of Mercia after her mother's death. A few months later her uncle, King Edward the Elder deprived her of her lordship and assumed it himself. Ælfwynn was sent to Wessex, where she disappears from recorded history.

It is assumed that she got her hence, or rather was sent, to a nunnery - this was a common practice for dealing with relatives who might produce offspring with a claim to the throne back in them days.
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I read that too. So much is lost to the mists of time, as a naturally historically nosey person, it gets quite frustrating.
 
Withnail

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jane burton said:
I have been to the reference libraries in the Staffordshire area but have come unstuck. Hope you can help, thanks folks x
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Was reading earlier today about another potential source of info known as the Annals of St. Neots.

A translation is in print -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anglo-Saxon-Chronicle-17-annals-St-Neots/dp/0859911179
- but as might be imagined with such a 'niche' product it comes with a fairly hefty price tag. Depending on how seriously you want to dig, it sounds at least from the description i've just read to be potentially worth the wonga, though i can't guarantee that it gives a huge amount of info about Æthelflæd.

Though it must be presumed it gives enough for the author to make this rather bold claim -

Eric John said:
In 911, the year of Tettenhall (sic), Ealdorman Æthelred of Mercia died. He was succeeded by his extremely competent widow, Æthelfleda*, under the title of the Lady of the Mercians. Edward** took control of Oxford and London. The move does not seem to have been resented. Æthelfleda did what no Anglo-Saxon lady had done before: she fought campaigns and won them. She was a kind of tenth-century Boudicca but she was successful. She kept the Mercians loyal, and there is no doubt she planned and led campaigns in the Midlands. She built burhs. We know little of them but they must explain how Edward was able to bottle the Vikings up in Colchester and make London impregnable.
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* there are a few alternative spellings - i can think of four off the top of my head
** Edward the Elder
 
Withnail

Withnail

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As luck - and the big G.'s strange prescience - would have it, this Friday's 'The Essay - Anglo-Saxon Portraits' on Radio 3 is devoted to our Lady -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pzrhp

Martin Carver on Aethelflaed, lady of the Mercians, queen, mother and field marshal. There are 30 Aethelflaeds in the surviving Anglo-Saxon records, but one stands out about them all. Martin assesses Aethelflaed, Alfred's daughter who played such an important role in English history, yet is not as well known as she deserves to be. With the help of written and archaelogical evidence, we gain an intriguing insight into the life of this brilliant tactician and leader, afraid of nothing and nobody.
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- and NB by the one and only Martin Carver, the - and when i say 'the' i mean of course the - authority on this burh's history.
 
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