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Aethelbald of Mercia

Aethelbald of Mercia (680-757) was King of Mercia from 716 to 758, succeeding Ceolwald and preceding Offa.

Biography[]

Aethelbald was born in 680, a distant cousin of King Ceolred of Mercia. His cousin had him exiled to prevent him from claiming the throne, but on the death of both Ceolred and his brother Ceolwald of Mercia in 716, Aethelbald succeeded to the vacant throne. He oversaw a resurgence of Mercian power, becoming overlord of Kent and capturing London from Essex. In 733, he embarked on an expedition against Wessex, capturing the royal manor of Somerton; in 736, he and King Cuthred of Wessex campaigned against the Welsh Britons in the west. Aethelbald soon came to be overlord of all England south of the Humber, becoming bretwalda. In 740, Aethelbald allied with the Picts to ravage Northumbria during the absence of Eadberht of Northumbria. In 757, he was treacherously murdered by his own bodyguards at Seckington, Warwickshire.

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