Beorhtwulf of Mercia
Beorhtwulf | |
---|---|
Burgred | |
Died | 852 AD |
Consort | Sæthryth |
Issue | Beorhtric Beorhtfrith |
Beorhtwulf (Old English:
Beorhtwulf and his wife, Sæthryth, may have had two sons, Beorhtfrith and Beorhtric. Beorhtric is known from witnessing his father's charters, but he ceased to do so before the end of Beorhtwulf's reign. Beorhtfrith appears in later sources which describe his murder of Wigstan, the grandson of Wiglaf, in a dispute over Beorhtfrith's plan to marry Wigstan's widowed mother Ælfflæd. Beorhtwulf's death is not recorded in any surviving sources, but it is thought that he died in 852.
Background and sources
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/British_kingdoms_c_800.svg/250px-British_kingdoms_c_800.svg.png)
For most of the 8th century, Mercia was the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom.[1] Mercian influence in the south-eastern kingdoms of Kent, East Anglia, and Essex continued into the early 820s under Coenwulf of Mercia.[2] However, Coenwulf's death in 821 marked the beginning of a period in which Mercia suffered from dynastic conflicts and military defeats that redrew the political map of England.[3] Four (possibly five) kings, from what appear to be four different kin-groups, ruled Mercia throughout the next six years. Little genealogical information about these kings has survived, but since Anglo-Saxon names often included initial elements common to most or all members of a family, historians have suggested that kin-groups in this period can be reconstructed on the basis of the similarity of their names. Three competing kin-groups are recognizable in the charters and regnal lists of the time: the C, Wig and B groups. The C group, which included the brothers Coenwulf, Cuthred of Kent, and Ceolwulf I, was dominant in the period following the deaths of Offa of Mercia and his son Ecgfrith in 796. Ceolwulf was deposed in 823 by Beornwulf, perhaps the first of the B group, who was killed fighting against the East Anglians in 826. He was followed by Ludeca, not obviously linked to any of the three groups, who was killed in battle the following year. After Ludeca's death, the first of the Wig family came to power: Wiglaf, who died in 839 or 840. Beorhtwulf, who succeeded to the throne that year, is likely to have come from the B group, which may also have included the ill-fated Beornred who "held [power] a little while and unhappily" after the murder of King Æthelbald in 757.[4]
An alternative model of Mercian succession is that a number of kin-groups may have competed for the succession. The sub-kingdoms of the
An important source for the period is the
Accession and coinage
It is possible that Beorhtwulf is the same person as the Beorhtwulf who witnessed a charter of Wiglaf's in 836. If so, this is Beorhtwulf's first appearance in the historical record.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Beorhtwulf_charter_845.png/300px-Beorhtwulf_charter_845.png)
Almost no Mercian coins are known from the 830s, after Wiglaf regained Mercia from
The earliest of Beorhtwulf's coins were issued in 841–842, and can be identified as the work of a
Reign
Beorhtwulf's kingship began auspiciously. In the battle of Catill and later sources imply (see below) that he was able to subjugate the northern Welsh after this.
However, the
Berkshire appears to have passed out of Mercian hands and become a part of the kingdom of Wessex at some point during the late 840s. In 844 Ceolred, the bishop of Leicester, granted Beorhtwulf an estate at Pangbourne, in Berkshire, so the area was still in Mercian hands at that date. Asser, writing in about 893, believed that King Alfred the Great was born between 847 and 849 at Wantage in Berkshire. The implication is that Berkshire had previously come under the control of Wessex, though it is also possible the territory was divided between the two kingdoms, possibly even before Beorhtwulf's accession. Whatever the nature of the change, there is no record of how it occurred. It appears that the Mercian ealdorman Æthelwulf remained in office afterwards, implying a peaceful transition.[10][18][19][20][21]
In 853, not long after Beorhtwulf's death, the Welsh rebelled against Burgred and were subdued by an alliance between Burgred and Æthelwulf.[22][23]
Charters
The synod at Croft held by Wiglaf in 836, which Beorhtwulf may have attended, was the last such conclave called together by a Mercian king. During Beorhtwulf's reign and thereafter, the kingdom of Wessex had more influence than Mercia with the
Holders of land were under an obligation to the king to support the king's household, though exemptions could be obtained. A charter of the late 840s released the monastery of Breedon on the Hill from the requirement to supply food and lodging to Beorhtwulf's servants and messengers, including "the royal hawks, huntsmen, horses, and their attendants". The exemption cost a substantial sum, and did not release the monastery from every burden; the obligation to feed messengers from neighbouring kingdoms or from overseas was excluded from the exemption.[27][28]
End
In 851, a Viking army landed at
No surviving contemporary source records Beorhtwulf's death, but according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle his successor, Burgred, reigned for twenty-two years and was driven from his throne by the Vikings in 874, implying that Beorhtwulf died in 852. From Burgred's charters it is known that his reign began before 25 July 852.[11] It has been suggested that an otherwise unknown king named Eanred may have reigned briefly between Beorhtwulf and Burgred; the evidence for this consists of a single silver penny inscribed "EANRED REX", which has similarities to some of Beorhtwulf's and Æthelwulf's pennies and hence is thought to have been produced after 850. The only recorded King Eanred ruled in Northumbria and is thought to have died in 840, though an alternative chronology of the Northumbrian kings has been proposed that would eliminate this discrepancy. Generally the penny is considered to belong to "an unknown ruler of a southern kingdom", and it cannot be assumed that an Eanred succeeded Beorhtwulf.[30][31]
Family
Beorhtwulf was married to Sæthryth, apparently a figure of some importance in her own right as she witnessed all of his charters between 840 and 849, after which she disappears from the record.[21][32] Beorhtwulf is said to have had two sons, Beorhtfrith and Beorhtric.[33] Beorhtric is known from witnessing his father's charters, but he ceased to do so before the end of Beorhtwulf's reign.[34]
The story of Beorhtwulf's other known son, Beorhtfrith, is told in the Passio sancti Wigstani, which may include material from a late 9th-century source, with some corroboration in the chronicle of John of Worcester. Beorhtfrith wished to marry the royal heiress Ælfflæd, King Ceolwulf's daughter, widow of Wiglaf's son Wigmund and mother of Wigstan. Wigstan refused to allow the marriage, since Beorhtfrith was a kinsman of Wigmund's and was also Wigstan's godfather. In revenge, Beorhtfrith murdered Wigstan, who was subsequently venerated as a saint. The story, though of late origin, is regarded as plausible by modern historians.[21][35]
Notes
- ^ Hunter Blair, Roman Britain, p. 274.
- ^ Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, p. 121.
- ^ Kirby, Earliest English Kings, p. 185
- ^ ISBN 0-7524-3139-0
- ^ Campbell, Anglo-Saxon State, p. 144.
- ^ Hunter Blair, Roman Britain, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Campbell, The Anglo-Saxons, pp. 95–98.
- ^ Whitelock, English Historical Documents, 67, pp. 453–454.
- ^ Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England, "Beorhtwulf 3 (Male)"; Keynes, "Mercia and Wessex in the Ninth Century", p. 317.
- ^ a b c Zaluckyj & Zaluckyj, "Decline", pp. 238–239.
- ^ a b Kirby, Earliest English Kings, p. 194.
- ^ Williams, "Mercian coinage", pp. 223–226.
- ^ Blackburn & Grierson, Medieval European Coinage, pp. 292–293.
- ^ Kirby, Earliest English Kings, p. 195.
- ^ The Annals of Wales (B text), p. 10.
- ^ Chronicle of the Princes, entry 838.
- ^ Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 62–65, Ms. A, s.a. 838 & 839, Ms. E. s.a. 837 & 839; Cowie, "Mercian London", pp. 207–208.
- ^ Keynes & Lapidge, Alfred the Great, p. 228, note 2; Kirby, p. 195; Williams, pp. 65–66.
- ^ Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 234.
- ^ Whitelock, English Historical Documents, 87, pp. 480–481.
- ^ a b c d Kelly, "Berhtwulf"
- ^ Kirby, Earliest English Kings, pp. 192, 195.
- ^ a b Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 64–65, Ms. A, s.a. 850 & 853, Ms. E. s.a. 850 & 852.
- ^ Whitelock, English Historical Documents, 86, pp. 479–480. A mancus was about 4 grams (0.14 oz) of gold; see Campbell, "The East Anglian Sees Before the Conquest", p. 119.
- ^ Wormald, "The Ninth Century", p. 139.
- ^ Wormald, "The Ninth Century", p. 139. Wormald includes the quote from Bede, which is from chapter 11 of Bede's letter to Egbert.
- ^ Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, p. 125.
- ^ Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 289.
- ^ Kirby, Earliest English Kings, p. 211.
- ^ Kirby, Earliest English Kings, p. 198.
- ^ Blackburn & Grierson, Medieval European Coinage, p. 301.
- ^ Stafford, "Political women in Mercia", pp. 42–43.
- ^ Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, table 14.
- ^ Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England, "Beorhtric 2 (Male)".
- ^ Thacker, "Kings, Saints and Monasteries", pp. 12–14; Kirby, Earliest English Kings, p. 194; Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, pp. 119–122. The detail of Wigmund having been king is regarded as suspect, however; see Kirby, for example.
References
Primary sources
- Keynes, Simon; Lapidge, Michael (1983), Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources, London: Penguin, ISBN 0-14-044409-2
- Swanton, Michael (1996), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, New York: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-92129-5
- Whitelock, Dorothy (1968), English Historical Documents v.l. c.500–1042, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode
Secondary sources
- Blackburn, Mark & Grierson, Philip, Medieval European Coinage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, reprinted with corrections 2006. ISBN 0-521-03177-X
- Hunter Blair, Peter (1966), Roman Britain and Early England: 55 B.C. – A.D. 871, W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0-393-00361-2
- Campbell, James (2000), "The East Anglian Sees Before the Conquest", The Anglo-Saxon State, Hambledon and London, ISBN 1-85285-176-7
- Cowie, Robert (2001), "Mercian London", in Brown, Michelle P.; Farr, Carol Ann (eds.), Mercia, an Anglo-Saxon Kingdom in Europe, New York: Leicester University Press, pp. 194–209, ISBN 0-8264-7765-8
- Hunt, William (1885). Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 4. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- Kelly, S.E. "Berhtwulf". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
- Keynes, Simon (2001), "Mercia and Wessex in the Ninth Century", in Brown, Michelle P.; Farr, Carol Ann (eds.), Mercia, an Anglo-Saxon Kingdom in Europe, New York: Leicester University Press, pp. 310–328, ISBN 0-8264-7765-8
- Kirby, D.P. (1991), The Earliest English Kings, London: Unwin Hyman, ISBN 0-04-445691-3
- ISBN 0-8264-7765-8
- Thacker, Alan (1985), "Kings, Saints and Monasteries in Pre-Viking Mercia" (PDF), Midland History, 10: 1–25, ISSN 0047-729X, archived from the original(PDF) on 29 May 2008, retrieved 10 January 2008
- Williams, Ann; Smyth, Alfred; Kirby, D.P. (1991), A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain, London: Seaby, ISBN 1-85264-047-2
- Williams, Gareth (2001), "Mercian Coinage and Authority", in Brown, Michelle P.; Farr, Carol Ann (eds.), Mercia, an Anglo-Saxon Kingdom in Europe, New York: Leicester University Press, pp. 210–228, ISBN 0-8264-7765-8
- Williams, Gareth (2001), "Military Institutions and Royal Power", in Brown, Michelle P.; Farr, Carol Ann (eds.), Mercia, an Anglo-Saxon Kingdom in Europe, New York: Leicester University Press, pp. 295–309, ISBN 0-8264-7765-8
- Williams, Ann (1999), Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England c. 500–1066, Basingstoke: Macmillan, ISBN 0-333-56798-6
- ISBN 0-14-014395-5
- ISBN 1-85264-027-8
- Zaluckyj, Sarah (2001), Mercia: the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Central England, Almeley: Logaston Press, ISBN 1-873827-62-8
External links