The true story of the Lady of the Mercians. At the end of the ninth century AD, a large part of what is now England was controlled by the Vikings – heathen warriors from Scandinavia who had been attacking the British Isles for more than a hundred years. Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, was determined to regain the conquered lands but his death in 899 meant that the task passed to his son Edward. In the early 900s, Edward led a great fightback against the Viking armies. He was assisted by the English rulers of Mercia: Lord Æthelred and his wife Æthelflæd (Edward's sister). After her husband's death, Æthelflæd ruled Mercia on her own, leading the army to war and working with her brother to achieve their father's aims. Known to history as the Lady of the Mercians, she earned a reputation as a competent general and was feared by her enemies. She helped to save England from the Vikings and is one of the most famous women of the Dark Ages. This book, published 1100 years after her death, tells her remarkable story.

The story of a medieval Boudicca, Alfred the Great's daughter, and her struggle to restore her people and reclaim their land

In the eighth century, the Danes sailed the North Sea and landed on the Northumbrian coast of England. In less than a hundred years they ravaged everything in their path, and eventually captured the city of London. King Alfred the Great of Wessex fought back. A key role in this fight was played by Alfred's oldest child, Aethelflaed, known as the Lady of the Mercians by her own people. This story is a fictionalized account of the life of Lady Aethelflaed. Her successful defense of the western border of English Mercia against the Scandinavian Vikings was a major factor in the success of the English campaigns. She was a warrior princess, a military tactician, and a treaty negotiator whose efforts, together with those of her husband, Ethelred, Overlord of Mercia, and her brother, Edward, eventually drove back the Viking invaders and united England under one crown. Years ago I came across the name of Aethelflaed in my readings in early English history and was intrigued that this heroic woman, who played such an important military role in the making of the English nation, should have received so little mention. In the early 1970s, I started reading every record of Anglo-Saxon history I could find. Clearly, I needed to go to England to find out more about this woman's life. One trip turned into three, and when I came back to the States after these trips, I started writing about her life as I imagined it might have been. Because little is known about the lives of Aethelflaed and her contemporaries, this account of her life should be read primarily as a story told against the backdrop of ninth and tenth century Anglo-Saxon England. I trusted that recorded events might serve as a guide to the characters of these people.

King Alfred is dead and the achievements that made him great are in jeopardy. Rebels challenge the succession of his son Edward to the Wessex throne, and his old ally in Mercia is sick. The Vikings in the Danelaw sense the time has come to complete their conquest of England. It falls on Alfred’s firstborn, his daughter, Æthelflæd, to unite the Anglo-Saxons. Reluctantly, she takes up the challenge. But can a woman rebuild ruined towns and lead men into battle against hardened Viking warriors? And can Æthelflæd fulfil her father’s dream of uniting England? Based on contemporary sources and archaeological evidence, King Alfred’s Daughter is rich in drama, family conflict and historical achievement.

The story of the daughter of Alfred the Great, who fought against Viking invaders and ruled a kingdom in the tenth century. Alfred the Great’s daughter defied all expectations of a well-bred Saxon princess. The first Saxon woman ever to rule a kingdom, Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, led her army in battle against Viking invaders. She further broke with convention by arranging for her daughter to succeed her on the throne of Mercia. To protect her people and enable her kingdom in the Midlands to prosper, Aethelflaed rebuilt Chester and Gloucester, and built seven entirely new English towns. In so doing she helped shape our world today. This book brings Aethelflaed’s world to life, from her childhood in time of war to her remarkable work as ruler of Mercia. The final chapter traces her legend, from medieval paintings to novels and contemporary art, illustrating the impact of a legacy that continues to be felt to this day.

This pioneering book re-examines the events of the mid-eighth to the mid-tenth centuries to provide a completely fresh and more balanced account of the period.

This biography of Alfred the Great, king of the West Saxons (871-899), combines a sensitive reading of the primary sources with a careful evaluation of the most recent scholarly research on the history and archaeology of ninth-century England. Alfred emerges from the pages of this biography as a great warlord, an effective and inventive ruler, and a passionate scholar whose piety and intellectual curiosity led him to sponsor a cultural and spiritual renaissance. Alfred's victories on the battlefield and his sweeping administrative innovations not only preserved his native Wessex from viking conquest, but began the process of political consolidation that would culminate in the creation of the kingdom of England. Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England strips away the varnish of later interpretations to recover the historical Alfredpragmatic, generous, brutal, pious, scholarly within the context of his own age.