Aethelflaed biography meaning

Æthelflæd the last kingdom

We also look at the role she played in uniting England. Mercia itself had not been a proper, independent kingdom for many years. The eastern part of its territory had long been in direct control of the Danish Vikings, with the remaining western part of the kingdom being effectively a puppet of the Vikings. Alfred agreed to help, and in managed to secure London from the Vikings.

The years that followed saw the husband and wife team take back vast swathes of Mercian land from the Danes, both in the Midlands and to the north. One of the most famous battles during this period was against a band of local Vikings outside Chester. These Vikings were actually refugees, driven back from the port of Dublin by an Irish uprising, and who had been given permission to peacefully set up camp outside of Chester under the proviso that they behaved themselves.

Unfortunately these Vikings soon got restless, and launched a couple of unsuccessful attacks on the nearby city of Chester. Once inside the city walls, the gates would close and the pursuing Vikings would be slaughtered by an army hiding inside. He had been ill since around , and after ten years of battling with poor health he finally died in She engaged them in Wales in and , and then moved north to Derby and Leicester in Instead, she died in Tamworth just two weeks before she had planned to visit, and was later buried in St Oswalds Priory in Gloucester.