Ceolred

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Ceolred († 716 ) was king of the Anglo-Saxon Empire of Mercia from 709 until his death .

Ceolred was the son of Æthelred and became king in 709 when Cenred abdicated as king in order to make a pilgrimage to Rome and become a monk there. Apparently there were further conflicts: inside with his relative Æthelbald , who apparently was also striving for rule and finally had to flee to the kingdom of the East Angels ; tensions between Mercia and Wessex also increased .

In 715 there was a major battle between Mercia and King Ine of Wessex at Wodnesbeorg , now Alton , in Wiltshire . Although the outcome of the battle is unknown, it is an indication that tensions between the two kingdoms were mounting.

A year later Ceolred collapsed at a banquet; Boniface reports that he fell into a fit of madness and cursed church servants before he died. Ceolred was indeed a Christian, but is portrayed extremely negatively in the testimonies of ecclesiastical writers who said he was cruel and insidious. His successor was Æthelbald. Ceolred, who was married to Werburga - she was canonized - was buried in Lichfield .

Although his supremacy was not as dominant and far-reaching as that of Penda and Wulfhere, he exercised strict control over the provinces he ruled. Charters show that he awarded land in Twickenham, which was previously part of the Kingdom of Essex, as well as in Gloucestershire, which was part of the Kingdom of Hwicce . The rulers of Hwicce are only mentioned in the documents themselves as sub-kings (subreguli) .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ FM Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England , p. 203
  2. ↑ ASC , s. a. 715
  3. ↑ S. Bonifatii et Lulli Epistolae, no. 78
  4. ^ PH Sawyer, Anglo-Saxon Charters , no. 54, 65

literature

swell

  • Anglo-Saxon Charters: An Annotated List and Bibliography, Peter Hayes Sawyer (Ed.), Royal Historical Society, London 1968, ISBN 0-901050-18-0 .
  • The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: MS A v. 3 , Janet Bately (Ed.), Brewer, Rochester (NY) 1986, ISBN 0-85991-103-9 .
  • Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People , B. Colgrave & RAB Mynors (Eds.), Clarendon, Oxford 1969, ISBN 0-19-822202-5 .
  • Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Epistolae III, S. Bonifatii et Lulli Epistolae , E. Dümmler (Ed.), Berlin 1892

Secondary literature

  • Steven Basset (Ed.): The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms , Leicester University Press, Leicester 1989, ISBN 0-7185-1317-7 .
  • James Campbell (Ed.): The Anglo-Saxons , Phaidon, London 1982, ISBN 0-7148-2149-7 .
  • David Dumville: "Essex, Middle Anglia and the Expansion of Mercia in the South East" in: Steven Basset (Ed.): The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms , Leicester University Press, Leicester 1989, ISBN 0-7185-1317-7 .
  • DP Kirby: The Earliest English Kings . Unwin Hyman, London 1991, ISBN 0-04-445691-3 .
  • Frank M. Stenton: Anglo-Saxon England . 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford 1971, ISBN 0-19-280139-2 .
  • Ian W. Walker: Mercia and the Making of England. Sutton, Stroud 2000, ISBN 0-7509-2131-5
  • Barbara Yorke : Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 . PDF (6.2 MB)

See also

predecessor Office successor
Cenred King of Mercien
709–716 		Æthelbald
personal data
SURNAME Ceolred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of Mercia
DATE OF BIRTH 7th century
DATE OF DEATH 716