Aethelred II of Mercia (857-911) was Lord of the Mercians from 881 to 911, succeeding Ceolwulf II of Mercia and preceding Aethelflaed. He was a weak ruler whose ambition of becoming "King of Mercia" was thwarted after a failed invasion of Wales in 881, after which he was forced to recognize King Alfred the Great of Wessex as his overlord. He married Alfred's daughter Aethelflaed, whom he abused and mistreated, and she became regent as his health declined during the early 10th century. Aethelred was mortally wounded at the Battle of Tettenhall in 910 and died a year later, leaving Mercia in the hands of Aethelflaed, its last ruler.
Biography[]
Aethelred was born in 857, the son of Ealdorman Aethelred Mucel, and, in 879, he succeeded his relative Ceolwulf II of Mercia as ruler of Mercia after the frail Ceolwulf suddenly died in the middle of a meeting with King Alfred the Great of Wessex at his court in Winchester. Alfred then discussed a marriage to bind Wessex and Mercia together, and Aethelred offered 4,000 pieces of silver as Princess Aethelflaed's bride price; however, Alfred instead had Aethelred give Aethelflaed several wealthy lands in Mercia to create a more permanent bride price. Aethelred and Aethelflaed's marriage was loveless, and Aethelred raped her on their wedding night, often abused her, showed no kindness to her, and told her that she no longer belonged to Alfred or to Wessex. His invasion of Wales in 881 failed, and he was forced to acknowledge Alfred as his overlord soon after, which he did begrudgingly; he had sought to be crowned "King of Mercia" and rise above being "Lord of the Mercians". In 886, Alfred captured London from the East Anglian Danes, and he ceded it to Aethelred, as it was traditionally a Mercian town. In 892, Aethelred led an Anglo-Saxon army to victory over the Vikings at the Battle of Buttington, and he spent the next three years fighting alongside Edward the Elder against the Danes. After 899, his health began to decline, and Aethelflaed became the regent of Mercia. At the Battle of Tettenhall in 910, he was pushed into a ditch by a Viking warrior, suffering a grave wound to the back of his head. He was bedridden and suffered from memory loss, and his disgraced guard captain Eardwulf attempted to use this to curry favor with him as his successor. After winning the backing of most of the ealdormen, Eardwulf came to Aethelred's bedside to ask for Aethelred's permission to marry his daughter Aelfwynn. Aethelred - despite having forgotten Eardwulf's previous betrayal - refused, saying that Eardwulf had a stench of betrayal on him. He then demanded that Eardwulf leave, but Eardwulf stabbed Aethelred in his head wound and twisted the knife, causing Aethelred to die a gruesome death. Aethelred's death appeared to be a result of his battle wound opening, and none initially suspected Eardwulf's involvement, although Eardwulf's sister and Aethelred's lover Eadith witnessed the murder. After a power struggle, however, it was Aethelflaed who emerged as the new "Lady of the Mercians", and Eardwulf was outlawed for attempting to murder her.
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