• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

The Staffordshire Hoard and its Historical Significance.

Thylacine

Thylacine

master brummie
[The Staffordshire Hoard was briefly mentioned recently on the "See Birmingham by Postcard" thread. In view of the significance of this treasure trove, BHF members and visitors might appreciate a summary of the find and its significance. I've included links for further reading and viewing. Apologies if this has already been covered on the Forum. Corrections, additions and comments are welcome.]

On 5 July 2009, metal detectorist Terry Herbert was searching in a field owned by Fred Johnson at Hammerwich near Lichfield. Imagine his excitement when his detector announced "gold and lots of it". [Excuse my crude way of describing the event: I know almost nothing about the metal detecting art.] Mr Herbert had made one of the greatest discoveries of Anglo-Saxon treasure ever recorded. When the find was completely excavated, it was found to comprise five kilograms of gold and more than a kilogram of silver. But it is the antiquity and remarkable craftsmanship of the 1,600 objects that have attracted the attention of scholars and fired the imagination of the public.

Mr Herbert did the right thing and reported his discovery to the local archaeological authorities. Before long, the local coroner declared the Staffordshire Hoard (as it came to be known) to be treasure, and hence the property of the Crown. By November 2009, the Treasure Valuation Committee had valued the hoard at a cool £3.285 million, this being the sum that had to be paid as a reward to the finder and landowner by the institution acquiring the treasure.

The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery (PMAG) jointly raised the required sum from a combination of grants and donations (including £900,000 given by the public). So the treasure is now securely in the care of these prestigious Midlands institutions for the benefit of local people and the wider world. The fund-raising appeal continues, so as to secure a further £1.7 million for conservation, study, interpretation and display.

Many BHF members and visitors will have taken the opportunity to view this treasure at BMAG or PMAG. Those (such as myself) who are unable to attend the museums can enjoy this BMAG flickr collection of images.

The treasure is remarkable in many ways, not least because it contains none of the usual "feminine" items such as personal jewellery. The majority of the objects are of a military or martial nature, such as the sword hilt fitting pictured below left. There is much interpretive work to be done, but the hoard has been tentatively assigned to the 7th or 8th century. It is clearly associated in some way with the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, about which there are very few written records for the period in question. This means that the treasure will be very important as an aid to the elucidation of the obscure history of the times. Scholars are going to be busy with the Staffordshire Hoard for a long time to come.

It is difficult to get a feel for what England was like in Anglo-Saxon times. One way to "tune in" is via the poem Beowulf, one the most precious English literary relics. Beowulf survives in a single manuscript (officially known as "British Library MS Cotton Vitellius A.xv") dating from the 10th or 11th century. The poem itself was composed at some time between the 8th and 11th centuries (scholars are still debating the point: Tolkien favoured the 8th century). The language of the poem is Old English, which is incomprehensible to modern English speakers without a great deal of study. The actual setting of the poem is pagan Scandinavia of the early 6th century, but numerous references to Christianity have been interpolated. The heroic tale of warriors and monsters is very much part of the Anglian tradition (the Angles came from what is now the Angeln peninsula in modern Germany, just south of the Danish border). The poem could well have been composed at the Mercian royal court in Tamworth. The earliest known owner of the manuscript was the 16th century antiquarian Laurence Nowell, who was possibly (head)master of Bishop Vesey's Grammar School at Sutton Coldfield in the period 1546-1550.

[Note added: it was antiquarian Laurence Nowell's cousin (of the same name!) who was headmaster of BVGS.]

Pictured below right is the first page of the Beowulf manuscript. And here is a video clip of a remarkable interpretation of part of the poem by Julian Glover (introduced by the late great John Gielgud).
 
Last edited:
Having seen some of the hoard on display at the Birmingham Art Gallery, I must say it is an amazing find. Many of the items are damaged, by the look of them before they were abandoned in the ground, as if en route for melting down for their precious metal content.
Perhaps stolen, perhaps salvaged from a battlefield, the individual pieces are bent and folded as if to be easier to pack or carry - a cross, for instance, has all four arms bent inward to reduce its size.
Perhaps we shall never know the full story behind the items and how they got there, in the damaged state - but it is fascinating to guess and speculate!
 
Thankfully the Museums raised the £3.3M to save the treasure from being sold off. They are now continuing the fund-raising effort for conservation and to open so that the full story of the Hoard can be told with a Mercian Trail and special individual displays. Working with Lichfield, Tamworth and Staffordshire Councils,the trail will take visitors on a voyage of Anglo-Saxon Discovery. https://birminghamculture.org/news/anglo-saxon-hoard-saved-
 
The hoard is amazing and the find too as the field had been scanned before several times by detectorists. The reason it was found is the farmer deep ploughed the field. We noticed something going on as we pass the area regularly on the way to our caravan. We actually thought because of the police activity that a body had been found. It was kept secret for a while as they didn't want hoards of people turning up at the site. I actually knew about it as the farmer uses the same pub as my brother. I hope he will add to this thread. We have noticed they have now built a lovely bungalow at the farm. Good luck to him I say!

I hope Tamworth gets something to display at the Castle. As an aside we went to a firework display last night in the grounds of Tamworth Castle it was lovely to see so many people standing on the parapit watching the display.
 
Thylacine said:
...
It is difficult to get a feel for what England was like in Anglo-Saxon times. One way to "tune in" is via the poem Beowulf, one the most precious English literary relics. Beowulf survives in a single manuscript (officially known as "British Library MS Cotton Vitellius A.xv") dating from the 10th or 11th century. The poem itself was composed at some time between the 8th and 11th centuries (scholars are still debating the point: Tolkien favoured the 8th century). The language of the poem is Old English, which is incomprehensible to modern English speakers without a great deal of study. The actual setting of the poem is pagan Scandinavia of the early 6th century, but numerous references to Christianity have been interpolated. The heroic tale of warriors and monsters is very much part of the Anglian tradition (the Angles came from what is now Angeln in modern Denmark). The poem could well have been composed at the Mercian royal court in Tamworth. The earliest known owner of the manuscript was the 16th century antiquarian Laurence Nowell, who was possibly (head)master of Bishop Vesey's Grammar School at Sutton Coldfield in the period 1546-1550.

...
Click to expand...

Although Beowulf gets all the press (and movie rights) and undoubtedly conjures up the right image of the supposed "Dark Ages" it is essentially a Scandinavian Saga complete with witches and Dragons. For those who, like me, struggle a bit with the old english, I think an idea of it is best given via Noggin The Nog.

For historical idea of the times, I'd recommend the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The annals were initially created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great. Multiple manuscript copies were made and distributed to monasteries across England (perhaps to the Priory that was buried underneath Birmingham's (old) Square) and were independently updated. In one case, the chronicle was still being actively updated in 1154. Read more at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/657
 
Last edited:
Interesting comments, Aidan.

You're quite right about Beowulf, which is in essence a 6th century pagan Nordic saga (albeit refracted through the prism of a Christianized Anglo-Saxon England). It does speak of the Anglo-Saxon "world view" though.

I'm all in favour of accessing history through popular culture (with a critical and discerning eye of course). But Peter Firmin's Saga of Noggin the Nog was inspired by the wonderful Lewis (or Uig) Chessmen, which were probably made in 12th century Norway. So Noggin the Nog is more a window on the later "Viking Age" than a picture of Anglo-Saxon England. But of course there is a close relationship between the two worlds.

I have no quibble about the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which, thanks to the foresight and scholarship King Alfred of Wessex, is one of the (few) primary sources for the history of the Anglo-Saxons. Thanks for making it accessible. (I'm going to be busy today!).

Another important source is Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People, circa 731), accessible in English translation here (and elsewhere). Bede is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest historians (of all time), and we are fortunate indeed that he chose to write this early history of England. Incidentally, he was one of the first scholars to employ the "Anno Domini" chronology.

Unfortunately for Midlands history buffs, Bede was from Christian Northumbria and wrote at a time when Mercia (Northumbria's bitter rival) was still pagan. So his view of the kingdom of Mercia is a little jaundiced.

[Note added: actually Mercia was well and truly Christianized by the time of Bede's history. See post #15 below.]
 
Last edited:
Héahgeweorc!

Touché with the mot juste of the Venerable Bede. A rare rank - according to a legend the epithet was miraculously supplied by angels. Who could forget his De temporibus and De temporum ratione about computus. Milred, bishop of Worcester from 745 to 777, was a fan of his epigrams.

There is of course a dearth of secular works of this time. Byrhtferth of Ramsey, whose books Handboc and Manual were studies of mathematics and rhetoric and Bald's Leechbook are of note amongst the extant poetry, riddles and legal texts.

That it was a savage time (necessitating the war goods in the Hoard) there can be no doubt. As Bede reports in Chapter 12 "The Britons, being for a time delivered from foreign invasions, wasted themselves by civil wars, and then gave themselves up to more heinous crimes"
 
A good many of the Anglo Saxon Chronicles were not contempory with the events that were written in them. They should be taken with a very large pinch of salt!!
They are skewed towards the christian thinking of the day and most do not represent the true nature of viking 'attacks'. The vikings had learned from their sashays into Europe and more often than not would not kill, but steal riches from the churches then ransome them back! They also got 'protection' money by negotiating with churches and the local communities NOT to attack them.
 
Welcome to the thread, Glynis.

You make a very good point. When King Alfred decreed that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle should be written, he was under serious threat from the Vikings, who had occupied much of England. The annals are not only Christian propaganda directed against the heathen Vikings, but also "spin" designed to aggrandize the history of Wessex. So Mercia gets a poor run there too!

Nevertheless, the ASC is a valuable historical source, and if read critically, along with other contemporary sources (such as the Frankish annals), adds significantly to our knowledge of England in those times.

The Vikings in many ways can be seen as a civilizing influence on the British Isles. They held sway in Scotland, Ireland (they founded Dublin) and many parts of England and Wales at various times. King Knut of England was of course a "late" Viking, albeit Christian.

And let's not forget that the Vikings "discovered" North America (though the Native Americans found it first!).
 
glynis said:
...
They are skewed towards the christian thinking of the day and most do not represent the true nature of viking 'attacks'....
Click to expand...

I think they certainly demanded Danegeld ie a ransom to pay tribute to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged - indeed it has passed into our language and folklore. But probably not before "Setting an example" on some hapless place to ensure the villagers/monastery considered their options.

Their special weapons were Berserkers (or berserks), Norse warriors who are reported in the Old Norse literature to have fought in a nearly uncontrollable, trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the English word berserk. Berserkers are attested in numerous Old Norse sources. Most historians believe that berserkers worked themselves into a rage before battle, but some think that they might have consumed drugged foods. A representation is best shown on the Lewis Chess Rooks (pic attached) who is shown gnawing his shield.
 
Last edited:
Saints and Warriors.

Aidan said:
... the Venerable Bede ... according to a legend the epithet was miraculously supplied by angels ...
Click to expand...

Indeed. The Catholic Encyclopedia tells the story:
The title Venerabilis seems to have been associated with the name of Bede within two generations after his death. There is of course no early authority for the legend repeated by Fuller of the "dunce-monk" who in composing an epitaph on Bede was at a loss to complete the line: Hac sunt in fossa Bedae . . . . ossa and who next morning found that the angels had filled the gap with the word venerabilis.​
Saints and Warriors.

The period when the Staffordshire Hoard was abandoned (for whatever reason) was an age of saints and warriors.

The saintly brothers Cedd (died 664) and Chad (died 672) were raised and educated by Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne (I kid you not!). Between them, they were largely responsible for the Christianization of the Midlands.

The last prominent pagan king of Mercia was Penda (reigned 626-655). He was not one to let religion get in the way of foreign policy. He allied with King Cadwallon of Gwynedd (reigned 625-634), who was Christian, and together they defeated and killed King Edwin of Northumbria (reigned 616-633) at the Battle of Hatfield Chase. After lording it over Northumbria for more than twenty years, Penda finally got his come-uppance at the hands of King Oswiu of Bernicia (reigned 642-670) at the Battle of the Winwaed.

Incidentally, the name "Penda" and those of his father (Pybba) and son (Peada) don't appear to be Anglo-Saxon. It has been suggested that he might have been of British (i e Celtic) origin, which might explain his connection with Cadwallon of Gwynedd. This is not as strange as it might sound. The British were by no means completely destroyed (or driven into Wales) by the invading Anglo-Saxons. The kingdom of Wessex had at least two kings with Celtic-sounding names: Cerdic (reigned 519-534) and Caedwalla (reigned 685-688).

Tales of saints and warriors and spectacular finds of buried treasure naturally capture the imagination. But the story of the ordinary people of Anglo-Saxon times and their everyday lives can only be revealed by the painstaking work of archaeologists. Such important research is demonstrated in TV programmes such as Time Team.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
History of the Place Name "Tamworth"

Aidan has posted some very relevant notes about the historical significance of Tamworth on another thread.

Tamworth is very important in the history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. As early as the fourth quarter of the 7th century, the vicus (settlement) of King Aethelred I (reigned 675-704) was named "Tomtun", which is strongly suspected to have been Tamworth (nowhere else seems to fit the evidence). The place name has its own quirky history, and lorenzor's very interesting blog "Tamworth Time Hikes" gives a list of no less than twenty-two different spellings. The author falls into the trap of confusing the Anglo-Saxon letter wynn (modern "w") with "p" (very easily done), and even the Latin-trained scribes of the time tended to confuse the letter eth with "d". After removing these ambiguities, we are still left with seventeen different spellings:
7th century: Tomtun; 8th century: Tamoworthie, Tamoworthige, Tomeworthige; 9th century: Tomanworthie, Tomanworthigne, Tomeweording, Tomeworthig, Tomweordin; 9th and 10th centuries: Tomeworthie; 10th century: Tamanweorthe, Tamewaert; Tameweorthige, Tamwurthe; 11th century: Tamworthe (Domesday); 13th century: Tameworth; 16th century: Tamworth.
​
[I am reminded of the multitude of ways to spell "Birmingham". Our friend and mentor Bill Dargue has an excellent webpage on the subject.]
 
Last edited:
Most of the Royal Houses, especially those of Mercia and Northumbria, had married into British Royal families ... usually as an alliance against attack, or for some other political gain. Notwithstanding too, the occasional boy-meets-girl senario. The division between Celt and Anglo-Saxon is often overly stated; and, according to modern genetic studies, is rather more a case of an East/West division, than a wholly racial/political one following on from the so-called Saxon invasions following the departure of the Romans. The peoples of the lands yet to be called 'Northumbria' were already stocked with, genetically speaking, non-celts.
 
I was thinking this morning that the word "invasion" is hardly appropriate to describe the influx of Teutonic peoples (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians etc) into the British Isles. The process took two centuries or more, and may perhaps be better characterized as a "mass migration".

All work and no play ... ;)

Here's a link to a light-hearted post of mine on another thread, which includes a lovely picture of a gold "dinar" minted in the reign of King Offa "the Mighty" of Mercia (reigned 757-796), whose court was at Tamworth.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thylacine said:
Tales of saints and warriors and spectacular finds of buried treasure naturally capture the imagination. But the story of the ordinary people of Anglo-Saxon times and their everyday lives can only be revealed by the painstaking work of archaeologists. Such important research is demonstrated in TV programmes such as Time Team.
Click to expand...

The Anglo-Saxon Charters, when translated, give a great insight into the less spectacular life of the people.

Having just read the Landscape of Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire by Della Hooke, I am lucky enough to be able to trace on foot the land mentioned in the Grant of Wolverhampton and Trescott by King Ethelred to Wulfrun AD 985. (other charters are mentioned)

Unlike a lot of Birmingham, the land around Penn has not been entirely covered in housing and many names still endure in places and field names, but I am sure areas can be found with a little ingenuity.

I will take some pictures on my travels and post them if anyone is interested.

All the best Peter
 
Wulfrun and Cynethryth.

Peter, thanks for reminding us of Lady Wulfrun (aka Wulfruna), who is universally acknowledged as the founder of Wolverhampton (Wulfruneheantun). [Though Wikipedia churlishly dares to suggest that the town might be named after the much earlier King Wulfhere of Mercia (reigned 658-675).]

Lady Wulfrun.

Wulfrun (flourished 943-1005) is an example of a tradition of prominent Mercian women. Not much is known about her life, but she was probably of royal lineage and may have been a sister of King Edgar "the Peaceful" (reigned 959-975). She is first heard of in 943 when she had the misfortune to be "seized" (for ransom) by the "Danes":
Anlaf broke down Tamworth and great slaughter fell on either side, and the Danes had the victory and led away great war-booty with them. There Wulfrun was taken in that raid. [Anglo-Saxon Chronicle sub anno 943. By courtesy of Wikipedia.]
​
"Anlaf" is the Old English appelation of Amlaíb mac Sitric (Irish) aka Óláfr Sigtryggson (Old Norse), who was Norse-Gaelic rather than Danish. He was King of Northumbria (reigned 941-944 and 949-952) and King of Dublin (reigned 945-947 and 952-980).

Lady Wulfrun survived the ordeal, and was the beneficiary (as Peter has informed us) in 985 of the famous charter granted by King Aethelred "the Ill-Advised" (reigned 978-1013 and 1014-1016). She is last mentioned in a charter of 1005, in which she made a grant of land "with her dying breath".


Queen Cynethryth.

Continuing the theme of "prominent Mercian women", this time a little closer to the date of the Staffordshire Hoard ...

Queen Cynethryth of Mercia wasn't queen regnant, though she was in charge of the royal household at Tamworth. She was the consort of King Offa "the Mighty" (reigned 757-796), and is remarkable for being the first (and for a long time the only) English woman to be depicted on a coin. King Offa (whose coinage is stylistically quite remarkable) ordered his moneyers to mint silver pennies with Cynethryth's name on the reverse. Some of these also carried her portrait, hadsomely done in late Roman style. Pictured below is a particularly fine example (courtesy of the British Museum). "Eoba" is the name of the moneyer, who was based at Canterbury.

The reason for the production of these coins is hotly debated by Anglo-Saxon specialists. Perhaps they were to be used by Cynethryth for donations to the religious institutions she supported. But the mighty Offa (whose domain extended into many other parts of England) enjoyed a long reign, and he rather fancied himself as an imperial figure. So he may simply have been emulating the late Roman emperors, who were quite fond of putting their consorts on the coinage.

Detectorist Clive Nobbs was fortunate enough to stumble on one of the Cynethryth portrait coins early in 2009 in a ploughed field near Worthing in West Sussex (part of Offa's "sphere of influence"). His find was only the sixteenth Cynethryth penny ever recorded (only a handful of those bear her portrait). The coin (in "good fine" condition) was auctioned on 9 June 2009 by Morton and Eden Ltd, and though its value had been estimated at £1,500-2,000 it realised £4,200. As coin specialist Tom Eden explained:
Cynethryth's coins are the only examples struck in the name of a queen throughout the Dark Ages, both in England and Europe. In fact, no other women appear on English coins until the 12th century, when very rare pennies depicting Matilda were struck during the civil war in the reign of King Stephen. So Cynethryth's coins are the first to depict an English woman and as such are of significant importance from an iconographic point of view.
​
Mr Nobbs also had a keen historical appreciation of his find:
The monetary value of the coin is second to its historical significance. The whole ethos of my metal detecting is to try to bring history alive and see it shared. I would love to see the coin purchased by a museum, placed in public ownership and displayed for all to see. The sale itself will bring closure to an amicable shared ownership arrangement with the land owner.
​
[Source: CoinLink. Next in the series: Æthelflæd, "Lady of the Mercians". Watch this space.]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thylacine, many thanks, I enjoyed your Queen Cynethryth piece

One wonders if Offa's Romanic choice of coin design might have been influenced by 'finds' discovered during the 'navigation'/excavation of his famous Dyke; much of which was an earlier Roman land-division, which Offa deepened, and extended.

It would be trés droll to imagine a Saxon equivalent of a modern metal-detectorist, digging-up Roman coins!

Certainly it was rare, or even unique (?) for a Saxon to favour the Roman style, as it cannot be over-stated the extent to which the Romans were utterly despised by the early Anglo-Saxons. It was their wont to pierce Roman coinage, and hang upside-down, as a necklace, indicating their attitude to all things Roman. I have a couple of such coins, and other bits of Roman jewllery, that have been over-faced by Saxon designs; especially so a number of Roman bronze rings, which have been redecorated with the classic Saxon 'ring and dot' motifs ... as a sort of: 'well, who's the daddy now!'
 
I appreciate your comments, John, and welcome your contributions. I am by no means an expert on these matters, but find the subject fascinating. The Staffordshire Hoard has given us all an opportunity to learn more about our Anglo-Saxon forebears. But it is a very large subject!

As you say, the Anglo-Saxons were originally disdainful of their Roman predecessors, perhaps because they had never been part of the Roman Empire in their continental homelands. They rather ostentatiously refused to occupy Roman towns and neglected the Roman roads. The defacement of Roman coinage and jewellery that you describe exemplifies this mind-set.

However, by the time they had become Christianized (which process was in a way a second Roman occupation, but spiritual and intellectual rather than military), the Anglo-Saxons had become more sympathetic to Rome and ex-Roman Europe. King Offa maintained diplomatic relations with the Pope and with the Frankish supremo Charlemagne ("Emperor of the Romans"). Numerous English scholars and churchmen (for example Ealhwine aka Alcuin) had important positions at European courts and abbeys.

As I said, Offa had delusions of grandeur. When Charlemagne demanded one of Offa's daughters as a wife for one of his sons, Offa countered with a claim for one of Charlemagne's daughters as a wife for his son Ecgfrith. So infuriated was the great Charlemagne with the effrontery of this petty English king, that he broke off diplomatic and trade relations for quite some time!
 
Last edited:
You may be interested in my hero, Carl Chin's, article "Pagan deity's link to Tyseley" where he starts off with the imortal line "FENRIR was the monstrous wolf of Norse mythology. The son of the devilish god Loki and a giantess called Angerboda", through the land of the Dark Elves, a one-handed guy called Tiw (Tuesday) - obviously respected in the Birmingham area, Red Horse of Tysoe (see thread on Poly-Olbion for more), ending up in Tissa's place or Tisseleye or 'the sacred grove of Tiw' or Tyseley. Brilliant

Gee, I wish I could write like that....
 
[Thanks, Aidan: great article by the great Chinn! So Wednesbury and Wednesfield are named after Woden aka Odin (eponym of Wednesday). Are there any places in the Midlands named after Thor (Thursday) or Frige (Friday)?]

Æthelflæd "Lady of the Mercians".

Continuing the theme of prominent women of Mercia, I have compiled a chronology of the life and times of Æthelflæd (c 870 – 918; aka Ethelfled or Ethelfleda), who was the last ruler of independent Mercia. She was not only the effective queen regnant but also a brilliant military strategist and war leader. So unusual was this combination of qualities in a woman (certainly in Anglo-Saxon times), that historians have found it difficult to reconcile her femininity with her abilities and achievements. In the twelfth century, historian Henry of Huntingdon was moved to extol her virtues in the following terms:
O Elfleda potens, O terror virgo virorum
Victrix naturæ, nomine digna viri.
Te, quo splendidior fieres, natura puellam,
Te probitas fecit nomen habere viri.
Te mutare decet, sed solam, nomina sexus,
Tu regina potens, rexque trophæa parans.
Jam nec Cæsarei tantum meruere triumphi,
Cæsare splendidior, virgo virago, vale.
[Henrici Huntingdoniensis Historia anglorum.]​
Heroic Æthelflæd! great in martial fame,
A man in valour, woman though in name;
Thee warlike hosts, thee, nature too obey'd,
Conqu'ror o'er both, though born by sex a maid.
Chang'd be thy name, such honour triumphs bring,
A queen by title, but in deeds a king.
Heroes before the Mercian heroine quail'd:
Caesar himself to win such glory fail'd.
[Translation by Thomas Forester from The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon (London: Bohn, 1853).]​
Chronology:

Circa 870. Æthelflæd is born, the first child of King Alfred "the Great" of Wessex (reigned 871-899) and Queen Ealhswith. Her mother is Mercian, the daughter of an Ealdorman of the Gaini (Gainsborough in Lincolnshire).
Circa 884. She marries Æthelred, ruler of Western or English Mercia (Eastern Mercia is under the control of the Danes). This is a political union, as King Alfred needs to cement an alliance with English Mercia ready for his campaign against the Danes. After the marriage, Æthelred is Alfred's "right hand man" (technically Ealdorman) in Mercia.
Circa 888. A daughter Ælfwynn is born. It is a difficult birth, and afterwards Æthelflæd resolves "to devote herself solely to a life of heroism and the care of her country's good, instead of indulging in the happiness of maternity" [Hall].
889 – 899. Æthelred and Æthelflæd fortify Worcester. At this period, their principal residence is at Gloucester.
899. Æthelflæd's brother, the new King Edward "the Elder" of Wessex (reigned 899-924) confirms Æthelred and Æthelflæd jointly as Subreguli Merciorum (Subkings of Mercia).
Circa 902. After much hard campaigning against the Danes in the service of his overlords Kings Alfred and Edward, Æthelred is not a well man. Æthelflæd becomes effective ruler of Mercia.
907. Æthelflæd fortifies Chester. She allies with Scotland and Strathclyde against the Norse of Cumbria, and makes friendly overtures to the English rulers of Bamburgh.
909. The relics of the Northumbrian royal saint King Oswald are translated from Bardney to Gloucester, where a new church has been built by Æthelred and Æthelflæd to receive them.
910. The Battle of Tettenhall launches the English onslaught against Danish settlements. The English victory cripples the kingdom of Jórvik (Scandinavian York). Shortly afterwards Æthelred dies. Æthelflæd becomes Myrcna Hlæfdige (Lady of the Mercians), queen regnant in all but title.
911. Æthelflæd fortifies Sceargeat (unidentified), Bridgnorth and Bremesbyrig (possibly Bromsgrove).
912. Æthelflæd fortifies Tamworth and Stafford.
914. Æthelflæd fortifies Eddisbury and Warwick. Hereford and Gloucester are also fortified by this year.
916. Æthelflæd fortifies Weardburh (unidentified), Chirbury and Runcorn.
917. Æthelflæd's army ravages the small Welsh kingdom of Brycheiniog (around modern Brecon). Æthelflæd captures Derby, with the help of her brother King Edward.
918. Leicester falls to Æthelflæd without a fight. A faction of the Danes of York offer her their allegiance.
12 June 918. Æthelflæd dies at Tamworth. Authority formally passes to her daughter Ælfwynn, but King Edward puts his foot down. Ælfwynn is probably ordered to "get thee to a nunnery" and disappears from history. Mercia is absorbed into the kingdom of Wessex, but King Edward's domain has already begun to be known as Englaland (England).

In 1913 both Tamworth and Stafford held millenary celebrations of the liberation of their towns from Danish rule. At Tamworth castle (a Norman motte-and-bailey, but on the site of Æthelflæd's tower), a monument made by local sculptor Henry Mitchell was erected, topped by a statue of Æthelflæd with her nephew and fosterling (and later king) Athelstan. This statue, which is still in place, is pictured below. At Stafford, the celebrations involved local woman Nora Knight playing the role of Lady of the Mercians (also pictured below). Both pictures are by courtesy of the excellent Staffordshire Past-Track website.

[Sources and further reading: Wikipedia articles linked to in the text; Mrs Matthew Hall's Lives of the Queens of England Before the Norman Conquest (Boston: Brown, Taggard & Chase, 1859); A Williams, A P Smyth and D P Kirby's Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain (1991). Note: the Old English letter "æ" is pronounced like the "a" in "hat".]]
 
Last edited:
I'd just like to pint out that christianity was not legally enforced until the middle of the 17th century, before that you could be pagan if you wanted as you were not forced to go to church, in fact many pagans worshipped at their local church with christians, their only insistence that they entered by a door in the north wall.
As for the comment about Ethelfled or Ethelfleda
" So unusual was this combination of qualities in a woman (certainly in Anglo-Saxon times), that historians have found it difficult to reconcile her femininity with her abilities and achievements."
It was not unusual in Anglo Saxon times for a woman to be a warrior, it was a fact well embedded in history. This line was obviously penned in Victorian times (when most history books became available) when the attitude to women was completely different.
* Women would farm and protect their land while men were off fighting from very early times, there were places in what is now France that even the vikings were wary of because of the ferocity of the women defending their land!!
 
Thanks, Glynis. I meant it as a comment on how historians have traditionally viewed Æthelflæd, not as a judgement about the fighting abilities of Anglo-Saxon women in general.
 
Last edited:
Glynis - I think 'pagans' may have received SOME local tolerance, is all. I fear your assertions may owe more to recent 'revisionism' than to fact. However, the term 'pagan' is too amorphous to contend with. It would be much easier if the debate concerned 'witches' - which of course, is not necessarily the same thing, I know.
 
"Beorma" and Birmingham.

Thanks, Glynis and Aidan, for your contributions.

Beorma, the conjectural eponym of Birmingham, certainly deserves a mention on this thread, as he may well have lived in the 7th century when the Staffordshire Hoard was assembled and abandoned. The Wikipedia article on him bears careful reading. It explores the subject quite thoroughly, along with some alternative hypotheses for the origin of the placename. "Conjectural" is the appropriate word, as Birmingham does not appear in the written records until the year 1086 (Domesday), in the following rather cryptic Latin text (illustrated below):
De W ten' Ricoard' iiii hid' in Bermingeha'. T're e' vi car'. In d'nio e' una et v uill'i et iiii bord' cu' ii car'. Silua dim' leu'u' l'g' et ii q'rent' lat'. Valuit et ual' xx sol'. Vluuin' lib'e tenuit T R E.​
This can be (somewhat freely) translated as follows:
From William Fitz Ansculf, Richard holds four hides in Birmingham. The arable land employs six ploughteams. One hide is in the demesne. There are five villeins and four bordars with two ploughteams. The woodland is half a league long and two furlongs broad. The value was and is twenty shillings. Ulwin held it freely in the time of King Edward "the Confessor" (reigned 1042-1066).​
And who was Ulwin (aka Wulfwin aka Alwyne), the former owner of Birmingham? The ever informative and entertaining Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham (1885) explains at length:
Ulwin. — Though nearly last in our list, Ulwin, or Alwyne, the son of Wigod, and the grandson of Woolgeat, the Danish Earl of Warwick, must rank first among our noteworthy men, if only from the fact that his name is absolutely the first found in historical records as having anything to do with Birmingham. This was in King Edward the Confessor's time, when Alwyne was Sheriff (vice-comes) and through his son Turchill, who came to be Earl of Warwick, the Ardens and the Bracebridges trace their descent from the old Saxon kings, Alwyne's mother being sister to Leofric III, Earl of Mercia. Whether Alwyne thrived on his unearned increment or not, the politicians of the time have not told us, but the possessions that came to him by the Dano-Saxon marriage of his parents seem to have been rather extensive, as it is written that he owned not only the manor of Birmingham, but also Halesowen, Escelie, Hagley, and Swinford in Wirecescire (Worcestershire), Great Barr, Handsworth, Penn, Rushall and Walsall in Staffordshire, as well as Aston, Witton, Erdington, and Edgbaston. The modern name of Allen is deducible from Alwyne, and the bearers thereof, if so inclined, may thus be enabled to also claim a kingly descent, and much good may it do them.​
[Sources: William Reader (translator). Domesday Book for the County of Warwick. Coventry: Reader, 1835; Thomas T Harman. Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham. Birmingham: Cornish Brothers, [1885]; Bill Dargue's History of Birmingham Places & Placenames ... from A to Y; PASE (Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England); Wikipedia articles linked to in the text.]
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top