Aethelred of Mercia (645-704) was King of Mercia from 675 to 704, succeeding Wulfhere and preceding Coenred.
Biography[]
Aethelred was born in 645, a son of King Penda of Mercia and the brother of Peada and Wulfhere. He succeeded his brother Wulfhere on his deathh in 675, and, that same year, he invaded Kent and destroyed the city of Rochester. In 679, he defeated his brother-in-law Ecgfrith of Northumbria at the Trent, ending Northumbrian involvement in English politics south of the Humber. Aethelred was unable to restore Mercian hegemony in southern England, so he instead devoted himself to religious matters, making many grants of land to the Catholic Church and supporting Bishop Wilfrid of York at the Synod of Austerfield in 702. He died in 704.