Editing Æthelflæd (section)

==Lady of the Mercians==
[[File:Aethelfleda Monument, Tamworth - geograph.org.uk - 1740828.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Statue of Æthelflæd and her nephew Æthelstan|Statue in [[Tamworth, Staffordshire|Tamworth]] of Æthelflæd with her nephew [[Æthelstan]], erected in 1913 to commemorate the millennium of her fortification of the town.{{sfn|Ethelfleda and Athelstan}}]]

On her husband's death in 911, Æthelflæd became ''Myrcna hlædige'', "Lady of the Mercians".{{sfn|Costambeys|2004a}} Ian Walker describes her succession as the only case of a female ruler of a kingdom in Anglo-Saxon history and "one of the most unique events in early medieval history".{{sfn|Walker|2000|p=96}} In Wessex, royal women were not allowed to play any political role; Alfred's wife was not granted the title of queen and was never a witness to charters in the king's lifetime.{{sfn|Firth|2024|pp=22–23}} In Mercia, Alfred's sister Æthelswith had been the wife of King [[Burgred of Mercia]]; she had witnessed charters as queen and had made grants jointly with her husband and in her own name. Æthelflæd benefited from a Mercian tradition of queenly importance, and was able to play a key role in the history of the early tenth century as Lady of the Mercians, which would not have been possible in Wessex.{{sfn|Stafford|1981|pp=3–4}}

When Æthelred died, Edward took control of the Mercian towns of London and [[Oxford]] and their hinterlands, which Alfred had put under Mercian control.{{sfn|Costambeys|2004a}} Ian Walker suggests that Æthelflæd accepted this loss of territory in return for recognition by her brother of her position in Mercia.{{sfn|Walker|2000|p=99}} Alfred had constructed a network of fortified burhs in Wessex, and Edward and Æthelflæd now embarked on a programme of extending them to consolidate their defences and provide bases for attacks on the Vikings.{{sfn|Costambeys|2004a}} According to [[Frank Stenton]], Æthelflæd led Mercian armies on expeditions, which she planned.  He commented: "It was through reliance on her guardianship of Mercia that her brother was enabled to begin the forward movement against the southern Danes which is the outstanding feature of his reign".{{sfn|Stenton|1971|p=324}}

Æthelflæd had already fortified an unknown location called ''Bremesburh'' in 910 and in 912 she built defences at Bridgnorth to cover a crossing of the [[River Severn]]. In 913 she built forts at [[Tamworth, Staffordshire|Tamworth]] to guard against the Danes in [[Leicester]], and in [[Stafford]] to cover access from the [[Trent Valley]]. In 914 a Mercian army drawn from Gloucester and Hereford repelled a Viking invasion from Brittany, and the [[Iron Age]] [[Eddisbury hill fort]] was repaired to protect against invasion from Northumbria or Cheshire, while [[Warwick]] was fortified as further protection against the Leicester Danes. In 915 [[Chirbury]] was fortified to guard a route from Wales and [[Runcorn]] on the [[River Mersey]]. Defences were built before 914 at [[Hereford]], and probably [[Shrewsbury]] and two other fortresses, at ''Scergeat'' and ''Weardbyrig'', which have not been located.{{sfnm|1a1=Costambeys|1y=2004a|2a1=Stenton|2y=1971|2pp=325–327}}{{efn|Tim Clarkson's biography has a detailed discussion of Æthelflæd' burhs.{{sfn|Clarkson|2018}} }}

In 917 invasions by three Viking armies failed as Æthelflæd sent an army which captured [[Derby]] and the territory around it. The town was one of the [[Five Boroughs of the Danelaw]], together with Leicester, [[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]], [[Nottingham]] and [[Stamford, Lincolnshire|Stamford]]. Derby was the first to fall to the English. The ''Mercian Register'' states that she lost "four of her thegns who were dear to her" in the battle, an unusual statement which Matthew Firth argues indicates these to have been key members of her court.{{sfnm|1a1=Firth|1y=2024|1pp=64-66|2a1=Firth|2a2=Schilling|2y=2023|2pp=138-141}} Tim Clarkson, who describes Æthelflæd as "renowned as a competent war-leader", regards the victory at Derby as "her greatest triumph".{{sfn|Clarkson|2014|p=58}} At the end of the year, the East Anglian Danes submitted to Edward. In early 918, Æthelflæd gained possession of Leicester without opposition and most of the local Danish army submitted to her. A few months later, the leading men of Danish-ruled [[Scandinavian York|York]] offered to pledge their loyalty to Æthelflæd, probably to secure her support against Norse raiders from [[Ireland]], but she died on 12 June 918, before she could take advantage of the offer. No similar offer is known to have been made to Edward.{{sfn|Stenton|1971|pp=328–329}} According to the ''Three Fragments'', in 918 Æthelflæd led an army of Scots and Northumbrian English against forces led by the Norse Viking leader [[Ragnall ua Ímair|Ragnall]] at the [[Battle of Corbridge]] in Northumbria. Historians consider this unlikely, but she may have sent a contingent to the battle. Both sides claimed victory but Ragnall was able to establish himself as ruler of Northumbria.{{sfnm|1a1=Costambeys|1y=2004a|2a1=Woolf|2y=2007|2pp=142–144}} In the ''Three Fragments'', Æthelflæd also formed a defensive alliance with the Scots and the [[Kingdom of Strathclyde|Strathclyde British]], a claim accepted by Clarkson.{{sfn|Clarkson|2014|pp=59–61}}

Little is known of Æthelflæd's relations with the Welsh. The only recorded event took place in 916, when she sent an expedition to avenge the murder of a Mercian [[abbot]] and his companions; her men destroyed the royal [[crannog]] of [[Brycheiniog]] on [[Llangorse Lake]] and captured the queen and thirty-three of her companions.{{sfnm|1a1=Costambeys|1y=2004a|2a1=Fleming|2y=2010|2pp=222–226}} Matthew Firth states that these hostages were used to reestablish Mercian overlordship over Brycheiniog which had sworn allegiance to King Alfred in the late ninth century.{{sfn|Firth|2024|pp=63-64}} According to a version of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''  strongly sympathetic to Edward the Elder, after Æthelflæd's death "the kings among the Welsh, Hywel and Clydog and Idwal, and all the Welsh people sought to have [Edward] as their lord". [[Hywel Dda]] was king of [[Dyfed]] in south-west Wales, Clydog ap Cadell probably king of [[Powys]] in the north-east, and [[Idwal ab Anarawd]] king of [[Gwynedd]] in the north-west. [[Kingdom of Gwent|Gwent]] in south-east Wales was already under West Saxon lordship but, in the view of Charles-Edwards, this passage shows that the other Welsh kingdoms were under Mercian lordship until Edward took direct power over Mercia.{{sfnm|1a1=Charles-Edwards|1y=2001|1p=103|2a1=Charles-Edwards|2y=2013|2pp=497–510}}

No coins were issued with the name of Æthelred or Æthelflæd on them, but in the 910s silver pennies were minted in west Mercian towns with unusual ornamental designs on the reverse and this may have reflected Æthelflæd's desire to distinguish [[coin|specie]] issued under her control from that of her brother. After her death, west Mercian coin reverses were again the same as those on coins produced in Wessex.{{sfn|Lyon|2001|pp=67, 73}} No charters of Edward survive for the period between 910 and his death in 924,{{sfn|Keynes|2001|p=55}}. In contrast, two survive in Æthelflæd's sole name, S 224, possibly dating to 914 and S 225, dated 9 September 915, issued at ''Weardbyrig'', one of the burhs she built at an unidentified location.{{sfnm|1a1=Sawyer|1y=1979|1pp=1-2|2a1=Kelly|2y=2000|2pp=85-88}}