Editing Æthelred of Mercia (section)

==The southern kingdoms==
Two charters of 681 show Æthelred granting land near Tetbury, on what is now the border between [[Gloucestershire]] and [[Wiltshire]].<ref name=Kirby_117/><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=71 | title = Anglo-Saxons.net: S 71 | access-date=11 March 2008 |publisher=Sean Miller}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=73 | title = Anglo-Saxons.net: S 73 | access-date=11 March 2008 |publisher=Sean Miller}}</ref>  This may indicate that Æthelred was able to extend Mercian influence further into the territory of the West Saxons, as Wulfhere had done before him.<ref name=Kirby_115/><ref name=Kirby_117/>  The West Saxons managed a significant military resurgence under [[Cædwalla of Wessex|Cædwalla]], king of Wessex from about 685 to 688, but when Cædwalla departed for Rome on pilgrimage there may have been internal strife before [[Ine of Wessex|Ine]], his successor, took the throne. Cædwalla had successfully conquered the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Sussex|Sussex]] and [[Kingdom of Kent|Kent]], and his abdication may have contributed to the unsettled history of the southeast over the next few years.<ref name=Kirby_122>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;122.</ref> In Kent, [[Oswine of Kent|Oswine]] emerged as king, though only in eastern Kent; the western half of the kingdom was ruled by [[Swæfheard]], son of [[Sæbbi of Essex|Sæbbi]], the king of Essex. It is possible that Æthelred provided support to both Swæfheard and Oswine; for each king a charter survives in which Æthelred confirms land grants they made in Kent, and Æthelred's invasion of Kent in 676 indicates his opposition to the traditional Kentish royal house.<ref name=Kirby_122/><ref name=Yorke_30>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;30.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=10 | title = Anglo-Saxons.net: S 10 | access-date=11 March 2008 |publisher=Sean Miller}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=12 | title = Anglo-Saxons.net: S 12 | access-date=11 March 2008 |publisher=Sean Miller}}</ref> A charter of Swæfheard's dated 691 is also of interest as it indicates that Æthelred had invaded Kent; it has been suggested that Æthelred intended to place Wilfrid in the Archbishop's seat at Canterbury, but if so he was unsuccessful.<ref name=Kirby_126-7/><ref name=Brooks_77>Brooks, ''Early History of the Church at Canterbury'', p.&nbsp;77.</ref> Alternatively, Æthelred may have needed assistance in Kent from the East Saxons who may have been independent of Mercia for a decade or more by that time.<ref name=Kirby_123>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;123.</ref>  The East Saxons did return to the Mercian orbit over the next few years: a charter of Æthelred's, dated between 693 and 704, shows him granting land to Wealdhere, the bishop of London, and in 704 Æthelred consented to a grant made by Swæfheard.<ref name=Kirby_123/><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/kemble/pelteret/Lsp/Lsp%202.htm | title = Charters of St. Paul's: 2 | access-date = 11 March 2008 | publisher = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110606121535/http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/kemble/pelteret/Lsp/Lsp%202.htm | archive-date = 6 June 2011 | df = dmy-all }}</ref><ref name=S_65>{{cite web | url = http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=65 | title = Anglo-Saxons.net: S 65 | access-date=11 March 2008 |publisher=Sean Miller}}</ref> The latter charter also appears to show that a ''comes'', or local official, was put in place by the Mercians to protect their interests.<ref name=S_65/><ref name=Yorke_109>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;109.</ref>

Despite this evidence of Mercian involvement in the southeast there is very little indication that Æthelred had expansionist ambitions to the south.<ref name=Kirby_126-7>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp.&nbsp;126–127.</ref> The increasing strength of the West Saxons under Cædwalla and Ine would have limited Mercian opportunities in that direction.<ref name=Yorke_105>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;105.</ref> The Northumbrians were no longer a distraction; they had been contained north of the [[Humber]] since the Battle of the Trent, and became even less of a threat after their disastrous defeat in 685 at the hands of the Picts. A possible explanation is that Æthelred was preoccupied with war with the Welsh. It was also at this time that the [[Hwicce]] came more definitely into the Mercian orbit. The last Hwiccean ruler to take the title of king was [[Oshere]], who died in 685; but from the mid-670s he sought Æthelred's consent for his grants, and Æthelred regarded him as a subking. Further evidence of Æthelred's involvement among the Hwicce comes from a charter in which he grants land for a [[Minster (church)|minster]] in Gloucestershire, in Hwiccean territory; the charter is generally thought to be a fabrication, but it appears to be based on an authentic earlier source.<ref name=Kirby_126-7/><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=70 | title = Anglo-Saxons.net: S 70 | access-date=11 March 2008 |publisher=Sean Miller}}</ref>