Wolfhere

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Britain in the 7th century

Wulfhere (also Uulfhere, Uulfherus, Vulfhere, Wlfarius, Wlfharius, Wulfere, Uulfharius ; † 675 ) was king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia from 658 until his death . Some historians date his reign from 657 to 674.

Life

family

Wulfhere was a younger son of King Penda of the Iclingas dynasty . His (half) brother Merewalh ( fl. 650), a sub-king of the Magonsæte , seems to come from an earlier marriage of his father. Other siblings, who probably emerged from Penda's marriage to Cynewise, were his brothers Peada (655-656) and Æthelred (674 / 675-704), who also ruled as kings of Mercias. His sister Cyneburg was married to Ealhfrith (655–664), the sub-king of Deira .

Wulfhere was married to Eormenhild , a daughter of King Earconberht I of Kent and his wife Seaxburg . His son Cenred (704–709) later also became King of Mercia and his daughter Werburg abbess of the Ely Monastery .

Succession to the throne

After Penda fell in the battle against Oswiu of Northumbria in the Battle of Winwaed in 655 , Wulfheres brother Peada first succeeded to the throne as sub-king Oswius in the south of Mercia, while Oswiu ruled the north himself. Peada was murdered in 656. Thereupon Oswiu himself ruled over Mercia until in 658 the mercischen Ealdorms Immin, Eafa and Eadberht revolted against him and with Wulfhere elevated the younger son Pendas to King Mercias.

Domination

Wulfhere, like his brother Peada, but unlike his father Penda, was a Christian; he vigorously pushed through the continuation of Christianization with the help of clergymen Jaruman and Chad . The appointment of Trumheres as Bishop of Mercia, Lindsey and the Central Angles around the year 659 could have been an attempt by King Oswius to consolidate Northumbria's supremacy over Mercia, although it has been noted that it may have been King Wulfhere of Mercia who had used Trumhere to reduce the Northumbrian influence represented by Ceollach . Wulfhere operated an expansive policy and was subsequently able to establish himself as the Upper King of the southern Humbrian kingdoms. He ruled over Mercia, the middle angling and Lindsey himself. Probably the tribal hidage was created as a tax list at the time of Wulfheres.

He made 660 successful campaign against the populated by Jutes Isle of Wight and to Wessex belonging Meonwara (valley of the River Meon, southeastern Hampshire). Both provinciae (provinces), which previously formed a "buffer zone" between the kingdoms of Sussex and Wessex, he subordinated to his subordinate King Æthelwalh of Sussex. Around the year 661, Æthelwalh was converted to Christianity in Mercia at the instigation of Wulfheres, who was his godfather. Missionary work on the Isle of Wight began immediately.

In 661, Wulfhere invaded Wessex. King Cenwalh stood for battle at Posentesbyrg (location unknown). Persecuted by Wulfhere, he had to retreat to Ashdown in Berkshire . Cenwalh split around 663 with Bishop Wine, who fled to Wulfhere in Mercia and from this 666 acquired the diocese of London .

When numerous East Saxons fell back into paganism during an epidemic in 663/664, this was the pretext for King Wulfhere to seek supremacy over Essex . Around 665 he sent the Mercian bishop Jaruman to Essex for re-Christianization. In fact, it was about control of the thriving commercial center of London. In a charter from the year 664, King Sighere of Essex referred to himself as Sighere Rex ... Regi Uulfhero subjectus ("King Sighere ... subject of King Wulfhere").

The Northumbrian Bishop Wilfrid had to retire in 666 for three years in exile in his monastery in Ripon . From this base he served as bishop in Mercia until 669. Wulfhere gave him large lands on which he built monasteries. Wulfhere also sponsored other monasteries, such as B. Barking or by donations of land at Barrow to the Mercian Bishop Chad. Further land donations are documented by charters. Wulfhere completed the construction of Peterborough Cathedral begun by Oswiu and Peada and granted the monastery tax exemption.

Around 669, Wulfhere gained control of Surrey from his brother-in-law Ecgberht of Kent. After Ecgberht's death on July 4th, 673, there was a one-year interregnum in Kent by Wulfhere.

An attempt to invade Northumbria in 674 was repulsed by Ecgfrith . Ecgfrith brought the Kingdom of Lindsey and probably a large part of Mercia under his direct control. After a military defeat against Northumbria, Wulfheres influence waned and in 675, the year Wulfheres died, the Kentish king Hlothhere notarized a charter in the "first year of his rule" without the usual consent of the hegemonic power Mercia. A renewed war between Wulfheres and Wessex in 675 was unsuccessful; He died that same year in the battle of Bedanheafde (unidentified) against King Æscwine of Wessex. Successors as kings of Mercia were successively his brother Æthelred (675-704) and his son Cenred (704-709).

swell

literature

  • Simon Keynes: Wolfhere . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , pp. 490-491.
  • 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)
  • DP Kirby: The Earliest English Kings , Unwin Hyman, London 1991, ISBN 0-0444-5691-3 .
  • Michelle P. Brown, Carol Ann Farr (Eds.): Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon Kingdom In Europe . Continuum, 2005, ISBN 978-082647765-1
  • Nicholas J. Higham: The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England . Manchester University Press, Manchester 1997, ISBN 0-7190-4827-3 .
  • Steven Basset (Ed.): The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms , Leicester University Press, Leicester 1989, ISBN 0-7185-1317-7 .
  • James Campbell et al. (Ed.): The Anglo-Saxons , Phaidon, London 1982, ISBN 0-7148-2149-7 .
  • Frank M. Stenton: Anglo-Saxon England , 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford 1971, ISBN 0-1928-0139-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Simon Keynes: Wolfhere . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , pp. 490-491.
  2. ↑ Michelle P. Brown, Carol Ann Farr (Ed.): Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon Kingdom In Europe . Continuum, 2005, ISBN 978-082647765-1 , p. 147.
  3. ↑ John Cannon, Anne Hargreaves: The Kings and Queens of Britain, Oxford University Press, 2009 (2nd revised ed.), ISBN 978-0-19-955922-0 , pp. 44-45.
  4. ↑ Simon Keynes: Penda . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , pp. 361-362.
  5. ^ Barbara Yorke: Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 , p. 82.
  6. ^ Mary Dockray-Miller: Motherhood and Mothering in Anglo-Saxon England , Palgrave Macmillan, 2000, ISBN 978-0312227210 , p. 13.
  7. ^ Mary Tout:  Wolfhere . In: Sidney Lee (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 63:  Wordsworth - Zuylestein. , MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London 1900, pp. 170 - 172 (English ,, (partly outdated state of research)).
  8. ^ F. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England , p. 130
  9. ^ A. Vince: Pre-Viking Lindsey. P. 144
  10. ^ NJ Higham: The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England. P. 247.
  11. ^ P. Stafford: The East Midlands in the Early Middle Ages. P. 98; M. Gelling: The West Midlands in the Early Middle Ages. P. 95.
  12. ^ Barbara Yorke: Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 , p. 10.
  13. ↑ Barbara Yorke: Wessex in the early Middle Ages , Continuum, 1995, ISBN 978-0718518561 , pp. 39-40.
  14. ^ SE Kelly: Sussex, Kingdom of . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , pp. 431-432.
  15. ↑ Beda: HE 4:13
  16. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 661
  17. ↑ Barbara Yorke: Cenwalh ( Memento of October 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (paid registration required). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved November 13, 2011
  18. ↑ Beda: HE 3.7
  19. ↑ Barbara Yorke: The Kingdom of Essex , In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Enzyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , pp. 174-175.
  20. ↑ p68
  21. ^ Alan Thacker: Wilfrid ( Memento from November 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (paid registration required). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved February 15, 2012
  22. ^ Barbara Yorke: Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England . Routledge, London-New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3 , p. 55.
  23. ↑ Page no longer accessible , search in web archives: Charter S1246 , page no longer accessible , search in web archives: Charter S68 , page no longer accessible , search in web archives: Charter S787 etc.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / ascharters.net@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / ascharters.net@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / ascharters.net
  24. ↑ ASC , s. a. 655 and 656.
  25. ↑ John Blair: Chertsey . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , p. 102
  26. ↑ DP Kirby: The Earliest English Kings , Routledge, 2000, ISBN 978-0415242110 , p. 96.
  27. ↑ JR Maddicott: Ecgfrith (645 / 6–685) ( Memento of May 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (paid registration required). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
  28. ↑ S7
  29. ↑ Frank Merry Stenton (author), Doris Mary Stenton (ed.): Preparatory to Anglo-Saxon England: Being the Collected Papers of Frank Merry Stenton (Oxford Scholarly Classics), Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0198223146 , p. 50.
  30. ↑ DP Kirby, The Earliest English Kings , p. 43
  31. ^ Simon Keynes: Kings of the Mercians . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1 , pp. 505-508.
predecessor Office successor
Oswiu King of Mercia
658–675 		Æthelred
personal data
SURNAME Wolfhere
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Uulfhere; Uulfherus; Vulfhere; Wlfarius; Wlfharius; Wulfere; Uulfharius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of Mercia
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century or 7th century
DATE OF DEATH 675