Æthelflæd - Lady of the Mercians, A Talk at Stafford

Wednesday 16th September, 1.30pm @ Stafford Library

This free talk will focus on the remarkable life of Æthelflæd, the only woman ruler of an Anglo Saxon Kingdom, and Stafford's role in the fight against the Vikings.

Æthelflæd ruled as Lady of the Mercians in the English Midlands from 911 until her death at Tamworth on 12th June 918. 

Born c. 870 during the turbulent period of raids by the Danes deep into Anglo-Saxon England, she was the eldest child of Alfred the Great, king of Wessex.

With her husband Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, she was instrumental in recovering Mercia beyond the Danelaw frontier by establishing a series of fortified burhs throughout the Midlands. After Æthelred’s death in 911, the year after the battle of Tettenhall, Æthelflæd ruled alone as the Lady of the Mercians, Queen in all but name.

From 911 Æthelflæd continued to establish burhs on the West Mercian boundary at Scergeat,  Bridgnorth, Eddisbury, Warwick, Chirbury, Weardbyrig, Runcorn.

The Anglo Saxon Chronicle records for the year “913 - Æthelflæd went with all the Mercians to Tamworth and built the burh there, afterwards before Lammas built the fortress at Stafford.”

Commemoration
Outside Tamworth castle is a grand 6m tall column mounted with a statue of Æthelflæd with her nephew Æthelstan, first king of all England. Yet at Stafford, which also functioned as a vital Mercian burh at this time, all we have is a simple round white plaque commemorating the 1100th anniversary of the foundation of Stafford in 913. Is it not time the local authorities showed their pride in Stafford’s history and commissioned a proper statue of Æthelflæd in memory of her foundation of the county town?

See: Æthelflæd & Vikings – a series of articles celebrating the 1100th anniversary of the foundation of Stafford in 913 and the death of Æthelflæd the last Queen of the Mercians.

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