Editing Mercia (section)

== Mercian religion ==
{{Main article|Religion in Mercia|Chad of Mercia|Cedd|Wulfhere|Merewalh}}[[Image:The Lichfield Angel.jpg|thumb|right|180px|The [[Lichfield Angel]] carving]]The first kings of Mercia were pagans, and they resisted the encroachment of Christianity longer than other kingdoms in the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bede|title=Ecclesiastical History of the English People|pages= Book 3, chapter 21}}</ref>

Mercian rulers remained resolutely pagan until the reign of Peada in 656, although this did not prevent them joining coalitions with Christian Welsh rulers to resist Northumbria. The first appearance of Christianity in Mercia, however, had come at least thirty years earlier, following the [[Battle of Cirencester]] of 628, when Penda incorporated the formerly West Saxon territories of Hwicce into his kingdom.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3FRsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA137|title=The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare|first= Jim |last=Bradbury|page=137|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn= 978-0415221269}}</ref>

The conversion of Mercia to Christianity occurred in the latter part of the 7th century, and by the time of Penda's defeat and death, Mercia was largely surrounded by Christian states. [[Diuma]], an Irish monk and one of Oswiu's missionaries, was subsequently ordained a bishop – the first to operate in Mercia. Christianity finally gained a foothold in Mercia when Oswiu supported Peada as sub-king of the Middle Angles, requiring him to marry Oswiu's daughter, Alchflaed, and to accept her religion.<ref>{{cite book |author=Bede |author-link=Bede |title=[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]] |at=Book 3, chapter 21}}</ref>

Decisive steps to Christianise Mercia were taken by [[Chad of Mercia|Chad]] (Latinised by Bede as ''Ceadda''), the fifth<ref>{{cite book |author=Bede  |author-link=Bede |title=[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]] |at=Book 3, chapter 24}}</ref> bishop to operate in Mercia. This controversial figure was given land by King Wulfhere to build a monastery at [[Lichfield]]. Evidence suggests that the [[Lichfield Gospels]] were made in Lichfield around 730. As in other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the many small monasteries established by the Mercian kings allowed the political/military and ecclesiastical leadership to consolidate their unity through bonds of kinship.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fletcher |first=Richard |title=The Conversion of Europe |pages=172–174, 181–182 |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1997 |isbn=0-00-255203-5}}</ref>