Editing Æthelflæd (section)

==Family==
Æthelflæd was born around 870, the oldest child of King [[Alfred the Great]] and his [[Mercia]]n wife, [[Ealhswith]], who was a daughter of [[Æthelred Mucel]], [[ealdorman]] of the [[Gaini]], one of the tribes of Mercia.{{efn|Marios Costambeys dates Æthelflæd's birth to the early 870s,{{sfn|Costambeys|2004a}} but Maggie Bailey argues that as she was her parents' first child and they married in 868, she was probably born in 869–70{{sfn|Bailey|2001|p=112}}}} Ealhswith's mother, Eadburh, was a member of the Mercian royal house, probably a descendant of King [[Coenwulf of Mercia|Coenwulf]] (796–821).{{sfnm|1a1=Costambeys|1y=2004a|2a1=Stafford|2y=2001|2pp=44–45}} Æthelflæd was thus half-Mercian and the alliance between Wessex and Mercia was sealed by her marriage to Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians.{{sfn|Bailey|2001|pp=112–113}} They are mentioned in Alfred's will, which probably dates to the 880s. Æthelflæd, described only as "my eldest daughter", received an estate and 100 [[mancus]]es, while Æthelred, the only ealdorman to be mentioned by name, received a sword worth 100 mancuses.{{sfn|Keynes|Lapidge|1983|pp=175, 177, 321, 323}} Æthelflæd was first recorded as Æthelred's wife in a charter of 887, when he granted two estates to the [[see of Worcester]] "with the permission and sign-manual of King Alfred" and the attestors included "Æthelflæd ''conjux''". The marriage may have taken place earlier, perhaps when he submitted to Alfred following the recovery of London in 886.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1998|1pp=27–28|2a1=Bailey|2y=2001|2pp=112–113}} Æthelred was much older than Æthelflæd and they had one known child, a daughter called [[Ælfwynn]]. [[Æthelstan]], the eldest son of Edward the Elder and future king of England, may have been brought up in their court, though this is information does not appear until the twelfth century and is unsupported outside of William of Malmesbury's ''[[Gesta Regum Anglorum]]''.{{sfn|Foot|2011|pp=12,35–37}} In the view of Martin Ryan, if Æthelstan was raised at the Mercian court, he would certainly have joined the campaigns against the Vikings.{{sfn|Ryan|2013|p=301}}

Æthelred's descent is unknown. [[Richard Abels]] describes him as "somewhat of a mysterious character", who may have claimed royal blood and been related to Æthelred Mucel.{{sfn|Abels|1998|pp=180–181}} In the view of Ian Walker: "He was a royal ealdorman whose power base lay in the south-west of Mercia in the former kingdom of the [[Hwicce]] around [[Gloucester]]".{{sfn|Walker|2000|p=69}} [[Alex Woolf]] suggests that he was probably the son of King Burgred of Mercia and King Alfred's sister [[Æthelswith]], although that would mean that the marriage between Æthelflæd and Æthelred was [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|uncanonical]], because [[Catholic Church|Rome]] then forbade marriage between first cousins.{{sfn|Woolf|2001|p=98}}