Editing Æthelflæd (section)

==Æthelflæd and Æthelred==
Compared to the rest of England, much of English Mercia&nbsp;—Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire&nbsp;—was unusually stable in the Viking age. It did not suffer major attacks and it did not come under great pressure from Wessex.{{sfn|Blair|2005|p=306}} Mercian scholarship had high prestige at the courts of Alfred and Edward.{{sfn|Gretsch|2001|p=287}} [[Worcester, England|Worcester]] was able to preserve considerable intellectual and liturgical continuity and, with Gloucester, became the centre of a Mercian revival under Æthelred and Æthelflæd that extended into the more unstable areas of Staffordshire and Cheshire. Charters show the Mercian leaders supporting the revival by their generosity to monastic communities.{{sfn|Blair|2005|pp=306–309}} In 883 Æthelred granted privileges to Berkeley Abbey and in the 890s he and Æthelflæd issued a charter in favour of the church of Worcester. This was the only occasion in Alfred's lifetime when they are known to have acted jointly; generally Æthelred acted on his own, usually acknowledging the permission of King Alfred. Æthelflæd witnessed charters of Æthelred in 888, 889 and 896.{{sfnm|1a1=Firth|1y=2024|1p=42|2a1=Keynes|2y=1998|2pp=27–29}} In 901 Æthelflæd and Æthelred gave land and a golden chalice weighing thirty mancuses to the shrine of Saint [[Mildburh|Mildburg]] at [[Wenlock Priory|Much Wenlock church]].{{sfnm|1a1=Thacker|1y=1985|1p=5|2a1=Charter S 221}}

[[File:Charter S 221, dated 901, of Æthelred and Ætheflæd, rulers of the Mercians.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Charter S 221, dated 901, of Æthelred and Ætheflæd, donating land and a golden chalice to [[Wenlock Priory|Much Wenlock church]].{{sfnm|1a1=Lapidge|1y=1993|1p=13|2a1=Firth|2y=2025|3a1=Charter S 221}}|alt=Charter of Æthelred and Ætheflæd]]

At the end of the ninth century, Æthelred and Æthelflæd fortified Worcester, with the permission of King Alfred and at the request of Bishop [[Werferth]], described in the charter as "their friend". They granted the church of Worcester a half share of the rights of lordship over the city, covering land rents and the proceeds of justice, and in return the cathedral community agreed in perpetuity to dedicate a psalm to them three times a day and a mass and thirty psalms every Saturday. As the rights of lordship had previously belonged fully to the church, this represented the beginning of transfer from episcopal to secular control of the city. In 904 Bishop Werferth granted a lease of land in the city to Æthelred and Æthelflæd, to be held for the duration of their lives and that of their daughter Ælfwynn. The land was valuable, including most of the city's usable river frontage, and control of it enabled the Mercian rulers to dominate over and profit from the city.{{sfnm|1a1=Baker & Holt|1y=2004|1p=133|2a1=Thompson|2y=2004|2pp=18–19|3a1=Blair|3y=2005|3p=333}}

Æthelred's health probably declined several years before his death in 911, with the result that Æthelflæd became the [[de facto]] ruler of Mercia,{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=1991a|1p=27|2a1=Stenton|2y=1971|2p=324, n. 1|3a1=Wainwright|3y=1975|3pp=308–309}} perhaps as early as 902,{{sfnm|1a1=Bailey|1y=2001|1p=113|2a1=Hart|2y=1973|2p=116}} although he witnessed charters at a meeting attended by the king in 903.{{sfnm|1a1=Charter 367|2a1=Charter 367a|3a1=Clarkson|3y=2018|3p=95|4a1=Keynes|4y=2001|4pp=52-54}} According to the ''Three Fragments'', the [[Norwegians|Norse]] (Norwegian) Vikings were expelled from [[Dublin]] and then made an abortive attack on Wales. When this failed they applied to Æthelflæd for permission to settle near [[Chester]]. Æthelflæd agreed, perhaps in the hope that they would provide protection against attack by other Vikings. These events probably date to 902-903.{{sfnm|1a1=Wainwright|1y=1975|1pp=80-81|2a1=Downham|2y=2007|2p=208|3a1=Firth|3y=2022}} The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' states that in 907 Chester was "restored". Æthelflæd was probably responsible for restoriation of the town's Roman defences by running walls from the north-west and south-east corners of the fort to the [[River Dee, Wales|River Dee]].{{sfnm|1a1=Firth|1y=2022|2a1=Hadley|2y=2006|2p=170}} The Norse Vikings later joined with the Danes in an attack on Chester, but this failed because Æthelflæd had fortified the town, and she persuaded the Irish among the attackers to change sides. Most historians date the attack on Chester to 907, but Matthew Firth argues that 910 is more likely and that it may have been part of the invasion which ended in Viking defeat at the [[Battle of Tettenhall]].{{sfnm|1a1=Wainwright|1y=1975|1pp=79–85|2a1=Charles-Edwards|2y=2013|2pp=502–503 |3a1=Firth|3y=2022}} Simon Ward, who excavated an Anglo-Saxon site in Chester, sees the later prosperity of the town as owing much to the planning of Æthelflæd and Edward.{{sfn|Ward|2001|pp=162, 166}} After Æthelflæd's death, Edward encountered fierce resistance to his efforts to consolidate his control of the north-west and he died there in 924, shortly after suppressing a local rebellion.{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|p=167}}

In 909 Edward sent a West Saxon and Mercian force to the northern Danelaw, where it raided for five weeks.{{sfn|Stenton|1971|p=323}} The remains of the royal Northumbrian saint [[Oswald of Northumbria|Oswald]] were seized and taken from his resting place in [[Bardney Abbey]] in [[Lincolnshire]] to Gloucester.{{sfnm|1a1=Costambeys|1y=2004a|2a1=Firth|2y=2024|2pp=55-56}} In the late ninth century Gloucester had become a burh with a street plan similar to [[Winchester]], and Æthelred and Æthelflæd had repaired its ancient Roman defences. In 896 a meeting of the Mercian [[witan]] was held in the royal hall at Kingsholm, just outside the town.{{sfnm|1a1=Heighway|1y=2001|1pp=102–03|2a1=Baker & Holt|2y=2004|2pp=20, 366–367}} The Mercian rulers built a new minster in Gloucester and, although the building was small, it was embellished on a grand scale, with rich sculpture.{{sfn|Heighway & Hare|1999|pp=7–8}} The church appears to have been an exact copy of the [[Old Minster, Winchester]].{{sfn|Blair|Rippon|Smart|2020|pp=4, 103}} It was initially dedicated to St Peter but when Oswald's remains were brought to Gloucester in 909, Æthelflæd had them [[Translation (relic)|translated]] from Bardney to the new minster, which was renamed [[St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester|St Oswald's]] in his honour.{{sfnm|1a1=Costambeys|1y=2004a|2a1=Firth|2y=2024|2pp=55-56}} The relics gave the church great prestige as Oswald had been one of the most important founding saints of Anglo-Saxon Christianity as well as a ruling monarch, and the decision to translate his relics to Gloucester shows the importance of the town to Æthelred and Æthelflæd, who were buried in St Oswald's Minster.{{sfn|Heighway|1984|pp=45–46}} [[Simon Keynes]] describes the town as "the main seat of their power" and [[Carolyn M. Heighway|Carolyn Heighway]] believes that the foundation of the church was probably a family and dynastic enterprise, encouraged by Alfred and supported by Edward and Bishop Werferth.{{sfn|Keynes|1999|p=462}}{{sfn|Heighway|2001|pp=109–110}} Heighway and Michael Hare wrote:

{{quote|In the age when English scholarship and religion reached their lowest ebb, Mercia and in particular the lower Severn valley seem to have maintained traditional standards of learning. It is in this context that the establishment of a new minster at Gloucester by Æthelred and Æthelflæd is to be seen.{{sfn|Heighway & Hare|1999|p=10}}}}

Mercia had a long tradition of venerating royal saints and this was enthusiastically supported by Æthelred and Æthelflæd.{{sfn|Thacker|2001|p=256}} Saintly relics were believed to give supernatural legitimacy to rulers' authority, and Æthelflæd was probably responsible for the foundation or re-foundation of [[Chester Cathedral|Chester Minster]] and the transfer to it of the remains of the seventh-century Mercian princess [[Saint Werburgh]] from [[Hanbury, Staffordshire|Hanbury]] in Staffordshire. She may also have translated the relics of the martyred Northumbrian prince [[Alchmund of Derby|Ealhmund]] from Derby to Shrewsbury.{{sfnm|1a1=Thacker|1y=2014|1p=105|2a1=Meijns|2y=2010|2pp=473–476|3a1=Thacker|3y=2001|3p=256}} In 910 the Danes retaliated against the English attack of the previous year by invading Mercia, raiding as far as [[Bridgnorth]] in [[Shropshire]]. On their way back they were caught by an English army in [[Staffordshire]] and their army was destroyed at the Battle of Tettenhall, opening the way for the recovery of the Danish Midlands and East Anglia over the next decade.{{sfn|Stenton|1971|p=323}}