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Aethelred of Mercia

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King of Mercia, succeeded his brother Wulfhere in A.D. 675. In 676 he ravaged Kent with fire and sword, destroying the monasteries and churches and taking Rochester. AEthelred married Osthryth, the sister of Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, but in spite of this connexion a quarrel arose between the two kings, presumably over the possession of the province of Lindsey, which Ecgfrith had won back at the close of the reign of Wulfhere. In a battle on the banks of the Trent in 679, the king of Mercia was victorious and regained the province. lElfwine, the brother of Ecgfrith, was slain on this occasion, but at the intervention of Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, !Ethelred agreed to pay a wergild for the Northumbrian prince and so prevented further hostilities. Osthryth was murdered in 697 and !Ethelred abdicated in 704, choosing Coenred as his successor. He then became abbot of Bardney, and, according to Eddius, recommended Wilfrid to Coenred on his return from Rome. !Ethelred died at Bardney in 716. (See Wilfrid.) SouRcEs. - Eddius, Vita Wilfridi (Raine), 2 3.4 0, 43, 45-4 8, 57; Bede, Hist. Ecc. (ed. Plummer), iii. I I, iv. 12, 21; Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 676, 6 79, 7 0 4, 716. (F. G. M. B.) Ethelred I., king of Wessex and Kent (866-871), was the fourth son of lEthelwulf of Wessex, and should, by his father's will, have succeeded to Wessex on the death of his eldest brother lEthelbald. He seems, however, to have stood aside in favour of his brother lEthelberht, king of Kent, to whose joint kingdoms he succeeded in 866. lEthelred's reign was one long struggle against the Danes. 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. In 871 the Danes encamped at Reading, where they defeated !Ethelred and his brother, but later in the year the English won a great victory at "lEscesdun." A fortnight later they were defeated at Basing, but partially retrieved their fortune by a victory at "Ma retun" (perhaps Marden in Wiltshire), though the Danes held the field. In the Easter of this year !Ethelred died, perhaps of wounds received in the wars against the Danes, and was buried at Wimborne. He left a son, lEthelwold, who gave some trouble to his cousin Edward the Elder, when the latter succeeded to the kingdom. lEthelweard the historian was also a descendant of this king.

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- The Saxon Chronicle, sub ann.; Birch, Cartul. Saxon. vol. ii. Nos. 516-526; D.N.B., s.v.; Eng. Hist. Review, i. 218-234. (A. Mw.)