Mercia Sentence Examples

After Oswio's victory over Penda in 654-655 he annexed the northern part of Mercia to his kingdom and acquired a supremacy over the rest of England similar to that held by his predecessors.

Siward held the earldom till his death in 1055, when it was given to Tostig, son of earl Godwine, and after his banishment to Morkere, son of iElfgar, earl of Mercia.

In 1002 Wulfric, earl of Mercia, founded here a Benedictine abbey, and by charter of 1004 granted to it the town with other large endowments.

St Wilfrid was justified and was sent back to his see, with papal letters to the kings of Northumbria and Mercia.

The church of the Holy Trinity occupies the site of a Saxon monastery, which existed before 691, when the bishop of Worcester received it in exchange from Ethelred, king of Mercia.

The armies of Wessex and Mercia did no serious fighting, and the Danes were allowed to remain through the winter.

It is customary to ascribe to Offa a policy of limited scope, namely the establishment of Mercia in a position equal to that of Wessex and of Northumbria.

Shortly afterwards both brothers were slain by Penda of Mercia in his invasion of East Anglia, and Anna became king.

In 654 Anna was slain by Penda of Mercia, and was succeeded by his brother 2Ethelhere, who was killed in 655 at the Winwaed, fighting for the Mercian king against Oswio of Northumbria.

In 673 Archbishop Theodore divided the East Anglian diocese into two, Elmham being the seat of the northern, Dunwich that of the southern bishop. A long blank follows in the history of this kingdom, until in 792 we find Offa of Mercia slaying iEthelberht, king of East Anglia, who is said to have been his son-in-law.

East Anglia was subject to the supremacy of the Mercian kings until 825, when its people slew Beornwulf of Mercia, and with their king acknowledged Ecgberht (Egbert) of Wessex as their lord.

Cynegils' next struggle was with Penda of Mercia, and here again he was worsted, the battle being fought in 628 at Cirencester, and was probably compelled to surrender part of his kingdom to Mercia.

On the accession of her brother Edward, Æthelflaed and her husband continued to hold Mercia.

For some eighteen months Ælfwyn seems to have wielded her mother's authority, and then, just before the Christmas of 919, Edward took Mercia into his own hands, and Ælfwyn was "led away" into Wessex.

Later the district formed the northern division of Mercia, and in 848 the Mercian witenagemot assembled at Repton.

In the 9th century the district suffered frequently from the ravages of the Danes, who in 874 wintered at Repton and destroyed its famous monastery, the burial-place of the kings of Mercia.

In Anglo-Saxon England in the 7th and 8th centuries it seems certain that each of the larger kingdoms, Kent, Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria, had its separate witan, or council, but there is a difference of opinion as to whether this was identical with, or distinct from, the folkmoot, in which, theoretically at least, all freemen had the right to appear.

Wenlock (Weneloche) is said to be of pre-Roman origin, but owed its early importance to the nunnery founded c. 680 by St Milburg, daughter of Merewald, king of Mercia.

Together Canute and Edric harried Mercia, and were preparing to reduce London, when Ethelred died there on the 23rd of April 1016.

Edwy, to judge from the disproportionately large numbers of charters issued during his reign, seems to have been weakly lavish in the granting of privileges, and soon the chief men of Mercia and Northumbria were disgusted by his partiality for Wessex.

It is probable that no actual conflict took place, and in 959, on Edwy's death, Edgar acceded peaceably to the combined kingdoms of Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria.

Swithhelm's successors Sigehere and Sebbe were dependent on Wulfhere, the powerful king of Mercia, who on the apostasy of Sigehere sent Bishop Jaruman to restore the faith.

As the laws of Ine of Wessex speak of Erconwald as "my bishop," it is possible that the influence of Wessex for a short time prevailed in Essex; but a subsequent charter of Swefred is approved by Coenred of Mercia, and Offa, the son of Sigehere, accompanied the same king to Rome in 709.

In 743 or 745 lEthelbald of Mercia is found granting privileges at the port of London, and perhaps the western portion of the kingdom had already been annexed, for henceforward London is frequently the meeting-place of the Mercian council.

At Bury Bank, on the hills to the north, an earthwork is traditionally considered to be the site of the capital of the Kingdom of Mercia; there are other works in the neighbourhood at Saxon Low.

In 779 Offa of Mercia defeated him and took Bensington.

In a battle on the banks of the Trent in 679, the king of Mercia was victorious and regained the province.

In the year of his succession a large Danish force landed in East Anglia, and in the year 868 !Ethelred and his brother Alfred went to help Burgred, or Burhred, of Mercia, against this host, but the Mercians soon made peace with their foes.

South of the Humber, Lindsey seems to have had a dynasty of its own, though in historical times it was apparently always subject to the kings of Northumbria or Mercia.

The upper basin of the Trent formed the nucleus of the kingdom of Mercia (q.v.), while farther down the east coast was the kingdom of East Anglia.

In addition to slaves, who in early times seem to have been numerous, we find in Wessex and apparently also in Mercia three classes, described as twelfhynde, sixhynde and twihynde from the amount of their wergilds, viz.

The sheep was valued at a shilling in both Wessex and Mercia, from early times till the i ith century.

Sutton Coldfield (Svtone, Sutton in Colefeud, Sutton Colfild, King's Sutton) is mentioned in the Domesday Survey as a possession of the Conqueror and as having been held before that time by Edwin, earl of Mercia.

The Chase is generally considered to have been the scene of the battle of Heathfield in 633, when King Edwin of Northumbria fell before the heathen King Penda of Mercia.

Previous to the Conquest, Macclesfield (Makesfeld, Mackerfeld, Macclesfeld, Meulefeld, Maxfield) was held by Edwin, earl of Mercia; and at the time of the Domesday Survey it formed a part of the lands of the earl of Chester.

Merewald, king of Mercia, is said to have founded a religious house in Leominster (Llanlieni, Leofminstre, Lempster) in 660, and a nunnery existed here until the Conquest, when the place became a royal demesne.

For three years (665-668) he ruled his monastery at Ripon in peace, though acting as bishop in Mercia and Kent during vacancies in sees there.

When released he wandered first to Mercia, then to Wessex and finally to Sussex.

He was once more driven out in 691-692, and spent seven years in Mercia.

Not long after he died at Oundle in Northamptonshire as he was going on a visit to Ceolred, king of Mercia (709).

It was first used during the 16th century because of the belief held by Camden and other older historians, that during this period there were exactly seven kingdoms in England, these being Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex.

The story is that she was the beautiful wife of Leofric, earl of Mercia and lord of Coventry.

The same year the two brothers made an unsuccessful attempt to relieve Mercia from the pressure of the Danes.

Here Alfred blockaded them, and a relieving fleet having been scattered by a storm, the Danes had to submit and withdrew to Mercia.

By the next year (879) not only Wessex, but Mercia, west of Watling Street, was cleared of the invader.

But they were met by a large force under the three great ealdormen of Mercia, Wilts and Somerset, and forced to head off to the north-west, being finally overtaken and blockaded at Buttington, which some identify with Buttington Tump at the mouth of the Wye, others with Buttington near Welshpool.

In the parts of Mercia acquired by Alfred, the shire system seems now to have been introduced for the first time.

Comparatively early in his reign the South Welsh princes, owing to the pressure on them of North Wales and Mercia, commended themselves to Alfred.

There can be little doubt that the story told there of the reconquest of Northern Mercia by Edmund refers to the compact with Anlaf, made as a result of the campaign, and it is probable that Simeon's statement is a wide exaggeration, due in part at least to a confused reminiscence of the earlier pact between Alfred and Guthrum.

All Mercia south of a line from Dore (near Sheffield), through Whitwell to the Humber, was now in Edmund's hands, and the five Danish boroughs, which had for some time been exposed to raids from the Norwegian kings of Northumbria, were now freed from that fear.

In England under Edward the Elder and Aethelflaed, Mercia recovered a great portion of what had been ceded to the Danes.

According to Bede, dEthelwald, king of Sussex, had been previously baptized in Mercia at the suggestion of Wulfhere, who presented him with the Isle of Wight and the district about the Meon.

In 765 and 770 grants are made by a King Osmund, the latter of which is witnessed by Offa of Mercia.

The district remained in possession of the rulers of Mercia until the fall of that kingdom.

Together with the rest of English Mercia it submitted to King Alfred about 877-883 under Earl !Ethelred, who possibly himself belonged to the Hwicce.

No genealogy or list of kings has been preserved, and we do not know whether the dynasty was connected with that of Wessex or Mercia.

It is probable that down to the end of the 7th century, if not still later, the court poets of Northumbria and Mercia continued to celebrate the deeds of Beowulf and of many another hero of ancient days.

This was a foundation of Oswy, king of Northumbria, in 658, in fulfilment of a vow for a victory over Penda, king of Mercia.

He was now the first man in the kingdom, though his power was still balanced by that of the other great earls, Leofric of Mercia and Siward of Northumberland.

With the advent of the Normans, William the Conqueror, with the object of placing a firm feudal barrier between Wales and the earldom of Mercia, erected three palatine counties along the Cymric frontier.

There are also indications that in the ancient kingdom of Mercia the tithing was originally a district and not a mere association of persons; but in Northumbria it is doubtful whether the system of frankpledge and tithing, either personal or territorial, was ever established.

In 715 he fought a battle with Ceolred, king of Mercia, at Woodborough in Wiltshire, but the result is not recorded.

It formed part of the boundary between the kingdoms of East Anglia and Mercia, but is doubtless of much earlier origin.

Berhtwald the thane, in 788, and lEthelwulf of Mercia, in 857, affixed their seals to certain documents.

The fashion even spread to Britain, as is proved by the existence in the British Museum of a leaden bulla of Ceenwulf of Mercia, A.D.

In 853 AEthelwulf subdued the North Welsh, in answer to the appeal of Burgred of Mercia, and gave him his daughter AEthelswith in marriage.

Here Ethelfleda,widow of 2Ethelred of Mercia, in 916 constructed a castle.

A charter of Offa, king of Mercia (785), deals with the conveyance of certain land to the monastery of St Peter; and King Edgar restored the church, clearly defining by a charter dated 951 (not certainly genuine) the boundary of Westminster, which may be indicated in modern terms as extending from the Marble Arch south to the Thames and east to the City boundary, the former river Fleet.

During the Heptarchy what is now the shire formed part of Mercia; by the treaty of Wedmore, however, it became Danish territory, but was recovered by King Edward (919-921).

In 6J3 Cadwallon of North Wales and Penda of Mercia rose against Edwin and slew him at Hatfield near Doncaster.

They encamped in Nottingham in 868, and Northern Mercia was soon in their hands; in 870 Edmund, king of the East Anglians, fell before them.

During the next few years they maintained their hold on Mercia, and we have at this time coins minted in London with the inscription "Alfdene rex," the name of the Danish leader.

Thus Northern Mercia, East Anglia, the greater part of Essex and Northumbria were handed over to the Danes and henceforth constitute the district known as the Danelagh.

From 907 onwards Edward the Elder, working together with 'Ethelred of Mercia and his wife, worked for the recovery of the Danelagh.

Penda, the last heathen king of Mercia, determined the size and strength of that state, by absorbing into it the territories of the other Anglian kingdoms of the Midlands, and probably also by carrying forward its western border beyond the Severn.

The strength of Mercia or Northumbria might be mustered for, a single battle, but could not supply a standing army to hold down the vanquished.

His power was no greater than that of Oswio or Off a had been, and the supremacy might perhaps have tarried with Wessex no longer than it had tarried with Northumbria or Mercia if it had not chanced that the Danish raids were now beginning.

Perhaps the long predominance of Mercia, an essentially inland state, had something to do with the fact.

But though he might ward off blows from his own realm, he was helpless to aid Mercia or East Anglia, and still more the distant Northumbria.

In 874 they harried Mercia so cruelly that King Burgred fled in despair to Rome; the victors divided up his realm, taking the eastern half for themselves, and establishing in it a confederacy, whose jarls occupied the five boroughs of Stamford, Lincoln, Derby, Nottingham and Leicester.

The campaigning ranged from Appledore in Kent to Exeter, from Chester to Shoeburyness; but wherever the invaders transferred themselves, either the king, or his son Edward, or his son-in-law Ethelred, the ealdorman of Mercia, was promptly at hand with a competent army.

But now they had possessions of their own to defend, and could not raid at large in Wessex or Mercia without exposing their homes to similar molestation.

Holding respectively the great earidoms of West Mercia, Wessex and Northumbria, they reigned almost like petty sovereigns in their domains, and there seemed some chance that England might fall apart into semi-independent feudal states, just as France had done in the preceding century.

He won enthusiastic devotion from the men of Wessex and the South, but in Northumbria and Mercia lie was less liked.

Ultimately one of Leofrics grandsons, Edwin, was left as earl of Mercia, and the other, Morcar, became earl of Northumbria instead of Harolds unpopular brother Tostig.

In 633 Penda and Ceadwalla overthrew Edwin at Hatfield Chase; but after the defeat of the Welsh king at Oswald at "Hefenfelth" in 634, Mercia seems to have been for a time subject to Northumbria.

A church was built on the spot, c. 793, by King Offa of Mercia.

In the 7th century the supremacy over Lindsey alternated between Mercia and Northumbria, but few historical references to the district are extant until the time of Alfred, whose marriage with Ealswitha was celebrated at Gainsborough three years before his accession.

It formed part of the estates of Algar, earl of Mercia; at the time of the Domesday Survey it was held by the king; later it passed to the Ferrers family and was included in the honour of Tutbury.

The addition subtus lineam is found in ancient deeds and is due to the position of the place below the line or boundary of Cheshire, which once formed the frontier between the kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia.

Wulfhere of Mercia to succeed his bishop Jaruman, who died 667.

He died after he had held his bishopric in Mercia two and a half years, and was succeeded by Wynfrith.

He seems to have been the most powerful and energetic king of Mercia between Penda and Offa.

In later times Mercia successively absorbed all the other territories between the Humber and the Thames except East Anglia, and some districts even beyond the Thames.

During Edwin's reign Mercia was subject to his supremacy, though it may have been governed throughout by princes of its own royal family.

Mercia then came again under Northumbrian rule.

Peada, the eldest son of Penda, was allowed to govern the part south of the Trent, while north Mercia was put in charge of Northumbrian officials.

Wulfhere seems to have been a vigorous ruler, for he extended the power of Mercia as far as it had reached in the days of his father, and even farther.

He was expelled the same year by Offa, who soon restored the power of Mercia, which seems to have suffered some diminution during the later years of !Ethelbald.

Under these later kings Mercia seems to have extended from the Humber to the Thames, including London, though East Anglia was independent, and that part of Essex which corresponds to the modern county of that name had been annexed to Wessex after 825.

Again in 868 he called upon the West Saxon king !Ethelred for assistance against the Danes under L06brok's sons, who at this time invaded Mercia after their overthrow of the Northumbrians at York.

In 874 Ceolwulf, a king's thegn or baron, was made king by the Danes, and definitely acknowledged their overlordship. In 877, after the second invasion of Wessex, the Danes seem to have taken the eastern part of Mercia into their own hands.

About the year 884 the most important person in English Mercia was an earl, !Ethelred, who accepted the suzerainty of Alfred, and in or before the year 887 married his daughter Æthelflaed.

During the invasion of 893-97 English Mercia was again repeatedly ravaged by the Danes; but in the last of these years, by the united efforts of Alfred and Æthelred, they were at length expelled.

With this exception, `'Watling Street, the Ouse and the Lea, continued to be the boundary between Mercia and the Danish kingdom of East Anglia down to the death of "'Ethelred, between 910 and 912.

After her death in the latter year her daughter Ælfwyn was soon deprived of the government by Edward, and Mercia was definitely annexed to Wessex.

In the last century of the Saxon period the earls of Mercia frequently occupied a semi-royal position.

Below the cretaceous Tertiary escarpment, the low ground is underlain by soft sedimentary rocks of the Triassic Mercia Mudstone Group.

The geology of much of the western half of Leicestershire is dominated by the red mudstones of the Triassic aged Mercia Mudstone Group.

In the end Egfrith only outlived his father by 141 days. Offa himself had been involved in a struggle for the throne of Mercia.

He then took possession of part of Mercia, giving the rest to Peada.

It cannot be doubted, however, that at this time Mercia was a much more formidable power than Wessex.

On the accession of her brother Edward, Æthelflaed and her husband continued to hold Mercia.

For some eighteen months Ælfwyn seems to have wielded her mother's authority, and then, just before the Christmas of 919, Edward took Mercia into his own hands, and Ælfwyn was "led away" into Wessex.

In 886 Alfred overcame the Danes, restored London to its inhabitants, rebuilt its walls, reannexed the city to Mercia, and committed it to Ethelred, alderman of Mercia.

About the year 884 the most important person in English Mercia was an earl, !Ethelred, who accepted the suzerainty of Alfred, and in or before the year 887 married his daughter Æthelflaed.

During the invasion of 893-97 English Mercia was again repeatedly ravaged by the Danes; but in the last of these years, by the united efforts of Alfred and Æthelred, they were at length expelled.

After her death in the latter year her daughter Ælfwyn was soon deprived of the government by Edward, and Mercia was definitely annexed to Wessex.

West Mercia Police have refused to co-operate with this demand.

They responded with alacrity, marching into Mercia at the head of an army, but the Danes retained possession of the town.