Editing Æthelflæd (section)

==Legacy==
{{see also|Cultural depictions of Æthelflæd}}

To the West Saxon version of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', Æthelflæd was merely King Edward's sister, whereas for the ''Mercian Register'' she was Lady of the Mercians.{{sfn|Wainwright|1975|p=309}} Irish and Welsh annals described her as a queen and the [[Annals of Ulster]], which ignore the deaths of Alfred and Edward, described her as ''famosissima regina Saxonum'' (renowned Saxon queen).{{sfnm|1a1=Charles-Edwards|1y=2013|1p=497|2a1=Wainwright|2y=1975|2p=320}} She was also praised by Anglo-Norman historians such as John of Worcester and William of Malmesbury, who described her as "a powerful accession to [Edward's] party, the delight of his subjects, the dread of his enemies, a woman of enlarged soul". He claimed that she declined to have sex after the birth of her only child because it was "unbecoming of the daughter of a king to give way to a delight which, after a time, produced such painful consequences". According to Nick Higham, "successive medieval and modern writers were quite captivated by her" and her brother's reputation has suffered unfairly in comparison.{{sfn|Higham|2001a|pp=3–4}} In the twelfth century, [[Henry of Huntingdon]] paid her his own tribute:
:O mighty Æthelflæd! O virgin, the dread of men,
:conqueror of nature, worthy of a man’s name!
:Nature made you a girl, so you would be more illustrious;
:your prowess made you acquire the name of man.
:For you alone it is right to change the name of your sex:
:you were a mighty queen and a king who won victories.
:Even Caesar’s triumphs did not bring such great rewards.
:Virgin heroine, more illustrious then than Caesar, farewell.{{sfn|Henry of Huntingdon|1996|pp=308–309}}

[[File:Æthelflæd - MS Royal 14 B V.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Æthelflæd in the thirteenth-century ''Genealogical Chronicle of the English Kings'', [[British Library]] Royal MS 14 B V|alt=Æthelflæd in the thirteenth century ''Genealogical Chronicle of the English Kings'']]
Some historians believe that Æthelred and Æthelflæd were independent rulers. In the ''Handbook of British Chronology'', [[David Dumville]] refers to "Q. Æthelflæd" and comments, "The titles given her by all sources (''hlæfdige, regina'') imply that she wielded royal power and authority".{{sfn|Dumville|1996|p=17}} Alex Woolf concurs{{sfn|Woolf|2007|p=132}} and [[Pauline Stafford]] describes Æthelflæd as "the last Mercian queen", referred to in charters in such terms as "by the gift of Christ's mercy ruling the government of the Mercians". Stafford argues that Æthelred and Æthelflæd exercised most or all of the powers of a monarch after Alfred's death but it would have been a provocative act formally to claim regality, especially after Æthelwold's rebellion. Stafford sees her as a "warrior queen", "Like&nbsp;... [[Elizabeth I|Elizabeth{{nbsp}}I]] she became a wonder to later ages."{{sfn|Stafford|2001|pp=45–49}} According to Charles Insley,

{{quote|The assumption that Mercia was in some sort of limbo in this period, subordinate to Wessex and waiting to be incorporated into "England" cannot be sustained&nbsp;... Æthelred's death in 911 changed little, for his formidable wife carried on as sole ruler of Mercia until she died in 918. Only then did Mercia's independent existence come to an end.{{sfn|Insley|2009|p=330}}}}

Wainwright sees Æthelflæd as willingly accepting a subordinate role in a partnership with her brother and agreeing to his plan of unification of Wessex and Mercia under his rule. Wainwright argues that he probably sent his oldest son Æthelstan to be brought up in Mercia, to make him more acceptable to the Mercians as king; Æthelflæd does not appear to have tried to find a husband for her daughter, who must have been nearly thirty by 918.{{sfn|Wainwright|1975|pp=310, 323–324}} In Wainwright's view, she was ignored in West Saxon sources for fear that recognition of her achievements would encourage Mercian separatism:

{{quote|[Æthelflæd] played a vital role in England in the first quarter of the tenth century. The success of Edward's campaigns against the Danes depended to a great extent upon her cooperation. In the Midlands and the North she came to dominate the political scene. And how she used her influence to make the unification of England possible under the kings of the West Saxon royal house. But her reputation has suffered from bad publicity, or rather from a conspiracy of silence among her West Saxon contemporaries.{{sfn|Wainwright|1975|p=305}}}}

[[Simon Keynes]] points out that all coins were issued in Edward's name, and while the Mercian rulers were able to issue some charters on their own authority, others acknowledged Edward's lordship. In 903 a Mercian ealdorman "petitioned King Edward, and also Æthelred and Æthelflæd, who then held rulership and power over the race of the Mercians under the aforesaid king". Keynes argues that a new polity was created when Æthelred submitted to Alfred in the 880s, covering Wessex and English (western) Mercia. In Keynes's view, "the conclusion seems inescapable that the Alfredian polity of the kingship 'of the Anglo-Saxons' persisted in the first quarter of the tenth century, and that the Mercians were thus under Edward's rule from the beginning of his reign".{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1998|1pp=37–38|2a1=Keynes|2y=1999|2pp=459–464}} Ryan believes that the Mercian rulers "had a considerable but ultimately subordinate share of royal authority".{{sfn|Ryan|2013|p=298}}

In Higham's view, Keynes makes a strong case that Edward ruled over an Anglo-Saxon state with a developing administrative and ideological unity but that Æthelflæd and Æthelred did much to encourage a separate Mercian identity, such as establishing cults of Mercian saints at their new burhs, as well as reverence for their great Northumbrian royal saint at Gloucester:

{{quote|There must remain some doubt as to the extent to which Edward's intentions for the future were shared in all respects by his sister and brother-in-law, and one is left to wonder what might have occurred had their sole offspring been male rather than female. Celtic visions of Æthelred and Æthelflæd as king and queen certainly offer a different, and equally valid, contemporary take on the complex politics of this transition to a new English state.{{sfn|Higham|2001b|pp=307–308}} }}