October 21, 2025 • 27 mins
Æthelflæd's father was Alfred the Great, King of the Anglo-Saxons, and he married her to the leader of Mercia to seal an alliance. But Æthelflæd's husband would become sickly, and she would become a formidable leader in her own right.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
and Mild from Aaron Manky listener Discretion advised. The latter
half of the ninth century was a chaotic time in England,
which was at that time divided into a number of
smaller kingdoms. In eight hundred and sixty seven, Vikings from
(00:23):
Denmark landed in Mercia, a kingdom that comprised much of
the English Midlands. The Vikings conquered the eastern parts of
Mercia and soon invaded the rest of the territory, dividing
the area into two parts, displacing the current ruler and
installing a puppet king. But the puppet king didn't last
(00:46):
long on the throne. Just a few years later, in
eight hundred and seventy nine, he disappeared. In the face
of that power vacuum, a high ranking English military official
named Fulred took over. Very little is known about Ethelred
before he reached the throne, and it's sort of unclear
(01:09):
how exactly he got the job. It doesn't seem like
he had any noble lineage. He appeared in the written
record at around eight hundred and eighty three, after he
was said to have taken power. But it wasn't just
Mercia that was under attack by the Vikings. Wessex, another
(01:30):
kingdom that included much of England's south coast at that time,
was also dealing with Viking invasions. Wessex was led by
a man named Alfred, and throughout eight hundred and seventy
and eight seventy one, Alfred had been fighting off the
Vikings with mixed results, winning some battles but having trouble
(01:54):
keeping the invading forces at bay in the long term.
So soon after Ethelred took over in Mercia, he and
Alfred decided to team up, and in eight hundred eighty nine,
the pair sealed their alliance by having Athelred Mary Alfred's
oldest daughter, athel Flood. Athel Flood was born around eight
(02:17):
hundred and seventy, right when the Viking invasions were picking
up steam, making her much younger than her husband. While
there's almost no historical record of athel Flood's early life,
one can imagine that her youth had been defined by
instability and violence, following her father to various skirmishes with invaders.
(02:42):
She likely knew Athelred from childhood, encountering him in her
father's entourage or visiting his palaces in Mercia. No one
would have expected Athel Flood to become an even more
important political figure than her head husband. Athel Flood would
become the most powerful person in the Kingdom, ruling over
(03:06):
Mercia independently starting in nine hundred and eleven, one of
only two women recorded as doing so before the Norman
conquest of England. I'm Danish sports and this is noble blood.
After the wedding, Ethel Flood had to move from her
(03:27):
home in Wessex to her husband's palace in Mercia. This
wasn't a huge deal for Ethel Flood. Her mother was Mercian,
so she had family in the area, and her husband
preferred to stay in the southwest area of Mercia, around
the cities now named London and Gloucester, which wasn't too
(03:48):
far away from where she grew up. Still, she had
to adjust to married life. Athelred had seeded control over
Mercia to Alfred, his father and lie law, who called
himself the King of the Anglo Saxons. This is one
of the first times anyone had used the term Anglo Saxon,
(04:09):
and in doing so, Alfred sometimes also known as Alfred
the Great, asserted that he ruled over all of the
English Saxons by which he meant the Saxons who had
immigrated from what is now Germany to England around the
fourth century, except for the ones living in areas under
(04:30):
Viking control. So even though her husband wasn't technically a
king at this point, Athel Flood still needed to fulfill
the typical duties of a royal wife. A royal wife
was expected to be a peace weaver or frothweb in
Old English. The term was meant to encapsulate the feminine
(04:53):
art of political maneuvering, just like weaving fabric. A royal
wife was expected to weave bonds between her and her
husband's allies by hosting dinners in the feasting hall and
conducting herself well when visiting palaces throughout the kingdom. Usually,
(05:14):
a royal wife's duties would have ended there. English Saxon
wives were considered subordinate to their husbands and were largely
excluded from military and political life. That was certainly the
case in Wessex, where ethel Flood's mother was almost completely
shut out of governance. She wasn't even referred to as queen.
(05:39):
Historian Tim Clarkson described royal wives in Wessex as quote
low profile, nearly invisible, but unlike other parts of medieval England,
Murcia allowed more leeway and independence for its queens. Ethel
Flood was deeply involved in governing Mercia from the beginning
(06:03):
of her marriage. Arriving in Gloucester at around eight eighty,
the city was in shambles after battling with the Vikings,
with collapsed columns from the Roman era all over the city.
So together the newlyweds got to work on building a burr,
or a multi purpose fortification that served as a defensive fortress,
(06:29):
an administrative center and a hub for trade, Using a
decrepit Roman fort as the structure's foundation, They kept on
building burrs throughout Mercia over the next decade. Meanwhile, Ethel
Flood worked with her husband to reallocate land, offer privileges
(06:51):
to churches, and confer grants across the region you know,
general governance. Their campaign fit in neatly with Alfred's attempt
to shore up the defenses of Wessex. He also built
a number of brahs and forts across the kingdom, ensuring
that no one in Wessex was more than a day's
(07:15):
ride from a place of safety. Meanwhile, Afflflood gave birth
to a daughter and named her Alfwyn or elf Friend.
This ended up being her only child, which is a
bit strange given that there was probably pressure to produce
a male heir and secure the line of succession. We
(07:38):
can speculate that it's possible she suffered miscarriages or couldn't
get pregnant again. William of Malmsbury, an early Anglo Norman historian,
proposed a different theory, that Alfwin's birth was such a
horrific experience that Affelflood pledged celibacy for the rest of
(07:59):
her life. In ten ninety nine, William of Malmsbury wrote,
quote from the difficulty experienced in her first or rather
only labor. Athel Flood, ever after, refused the embraces of
her husband, protesting that it was unbecoming for the daughter
of a king to give way to a delight which
(08:21):
in time produced such painful consequences. Now, William of Malmsbury
didn't give any sources for this from the period, so
athel Flood's celibacy is likely apocryphal. Contemporary historians imagine that
he might have made it up in order to emphasize
athel Flood's moral purity. That said William was a monk
(08:45):
at Malmsbury Abbey, a monastery in Wessex with historic ties
to the royal family, and it's possible that this story
was passed down to him and it was truthful fact
or fiction. This Anna represents a rare example of a
medieval queen putting her foot down and deciding for herself
(09:07):
what her reproductive future might look like. After a decade
of strengthening Mercia's defenses, athel Flood was ready for battle.
When the Vikings descended on eastern England in eight hundred
ninety two, it was clear that her preparation paid off.
After a few years of fighting, Alfred afa Flood and
(09:31):
Athelred successfully repelled the invaders with minimal losses. The Viking
army disbanded in eight hundred and ninety six, and Athlflood
was finally able to enjoy a period of peace in
Wessex and Mercia. But this period of peace didn't last long.
(09:51):
In October of eight hundred and ninety nine, King Alfred died.
Though this was a huge blow both to Athel Flood
his daughter, and Athelred, his son in law and closest
military Ally, they were perhaps relieved to find that, unlike
many medieval kings living through long periods of war, he
(10:15):
survived decades of battle and had lived long enough to
die of disease in his own bed. In his will,
he commemorated Athelred by leaving him a sword worth one
hundred Byzantine gold coins. Alfred's oldest son, athel Flood's brother Edward,
(10:37):
succeeded to the throne of Wessex, becoming King of the
Anglo Saxons, adopting the title his father invented. It was
unclear exactly what this meant for Athelred and ethel Flood, or,
as I'll call them by their made up couple name
with absolutely no historical accuracy, the Athols. Some historians believe
(10:59):
that Alfred preferred his son in law Athelred to his
actual son Edward, since the court produced records of the
Viking battles in the eight hundred and nineties don't mention
any of Edward's military successes. Out of loyalty to Alfred,
Athelred was willing to accept a subordinate title and treat
(11:23):
Mercia as a part of the English Saxon Kingdom rather
than as an independent state, but Athelred seemed to distance
himself from Wessex after Alfred's death. In documents from the
Wessex Court, Athelred and athel Flood officially recognized Edward's authority. However,
(11:45):
within Mercia, many charters never mentioned Edward at all, leading
some historians to suggest that Ethelred operated Mercia more or
less as an independent kingdom. It seems that the Athols
wanted to have it both ways, maintaining a close alliance
(12:06):
between Wessex and Mercia without seeding too much of their power. Meanwhile,
Athelred's health began to fail, leaving athel Flood to deal
with governing Mercia largely on her own. There's no record
of what his illness might have been or when it began,
(12:27):
but the first record of his declining health was in
nine hundred and two, when athel Flood had to administer
a land grant without her husband. The last record of
Athelred's involvement in politics comes two years later, in nine
hundred and four. In nine hundred and two, there were
more invasions into England. This time by Norwegians rather than
(12:52):
the Danish Vikings who were giving the English Saxon's trouble.
In the ninth century, the Norwegians sailed for from Scotland
and Ireland to the west coast of Mercia. They approached
Ethel Flood for a settlement in the world, near what
is now Liverpool. Athel Flood hesitantly agreed, but imagined that
(13:15):
long term peace would be impossible. She fortified a nearby burr,
Chester and stationed her army there, eventually kicking out the Norse.
The Norse tried to fight back and retake the city
by teaming up with the Danes. Ethel Floed defended Chester,
(13:35):
leading her army from the ramparts of her bur In
nine hundred and seven, she successfully turned away the Norse
and the Danes, representing a huge military victory. And again
this is ethel Flood on her own while her husband
is ill and incapacitated. But athel Flood's triumph was tempered
(13:58):
by her ailing husband, convalescing still in Mercia, whose health
was only worsening by the day. Finally, in nine hundred
and eleven, Athelred died. He was buried at Saint Oswald's
Church in Gloucester, which he and his wife had founded
right after their wedding. This left Athel Flood at a crossroads. Traditionally,
(14:24):
noble widows retired from their rules in government, however limited,
those rules were to become abbesses or to live out
the rest of their lives at a peaceful estate. But
on the heels of her military victory in Chester, ethel
Flood had larger ambitions. She had put so much effort
(14:45):
into ruling over Mercia and was essentially functioning as its
de facto ruler in the years before her husband's death,
and so she would decide to succeed her husband as
the Lady of Mercia and lead the kingdom independently. While
(15:06):
ethel Flood's decision to rule over Mercia was merely unprecedented,
there hadn't been an independent female ruler over an English
kingdom since the seventh century, it didn't seem that controversial.
Her subjects supported her rule, and some of them even
called her their queen. Even though she was considered the
(15:27):
quote Lady of Mercia, It's unclear whether or not she
chose that title for herself, but being the Lady of
Mercia instead of the queen was strategic, It placed her
on a lower rung than her brother Edward, who was
the king of the Anglo Saxons, and it mirrored her
(15:48):
late husband, who was considered the Lord of Mercia, all
of which suggested that ethel Flood intelligently wouldn't upset the
status quo. The Mercian nobility also accepted athel Flood's succession
without a single recorded objection. There weren't any obvious alternatives.
(16:10):
None of the Mercian royal family's eligible heirs seemed interested
in the role, and Edward's son, ethel Flood's nephew, who
was raised in Mercia with athel Flood, was too young
to take over the throne. An assembly of noblemen and
other members of the elite convened to ratify ethel Flood's rule,
(16:32):
so she seemed to have their support. Edward tacitly gave
his blessing for his sister's succession, perhaps assuming that ethel
Flood would be a loyal ally. Edward and his sister
athel Flood would have to work together to take on
their most intense military engagement. Yet, while the Danes and
(16:55):
the Norse had agreed to peace with Mercia and Wessex.
Edward and ethel Flood wanted to shore up their defenses
to guard against future attacks. Edward built a series of
forts throughout Wessex, while ethel Flood did the same in Mercia.
Athel Flood put special attention on establishing her rule on
(17:18):
western Mercia, much of which had been seized by the
Vikings in the eight seventies or settled by the Norse
coming from Ireland. After building a few birds in the
west in nine hundred twelve and thirteen, she focused on
protecting Mercia from the Danish, who had settled in the east.
(17:39):
Edward had already repurposed his rule on a few areas
in the southeast, taking over some Viking strongholds in Essex,
which raised the Danes alarm bells. Finally, that long simmering
tension between the Danes and the Saxons over boiled in
(17:59):
nine hundred and n seventeen in the face of Edward
and ethel Flood's military expansion. The Danes tried to fight back,
attacking a few of Edward's forts in southeast Wessex, but
they failed. Athel Fled took the opportunity to invade Derby,
which had been ruled by the Danes since she was born.
(18:21):
This wouldn't be easy because it had been ruled by
the Danes so long. Many of Derby's residents had been
born and raised under Danish rule and would want to
fight for their hometown the way they knew it. That said,
athel Flood succeeded in recapturing the city. The Viking armies
(18:43):
were reported to be scattered and uncoordinated, vastly outnumbered by
athol Flood's army. Conquering Derby was a massive feat given
that it was such a central Danish stronghold. Not only
did athel Flood conquered Derby itself, but the regions around it,
(19:03):
adding a large swath of land to her territory. Danish
Mercia had five main towns called the Five Boroughs, and
she had captured one of them. Soon she would take
over another. In nine hundred eighteen, she invaded Leicester, which
yielded to athel Flood's authority without a fight, suggesting she
(19:26):
had a pretty fearsome reputation by this point. Edward, fighting
the Danes in the southeast, managed to capture another of
the Five Boroughs, Stamford, but he struggled a little more
than his sister. Unlike athel Flood, whose reputation had allowed
her to take control of Leicester without any bloodshed, Edward
(19:48):
had to blockade the Danish fortresses at Stamford for six
weeks before they folded. Similarly, the Danish colony of York
offered to pledge their loyalty to athel Flood, but completely
ignored Edward. An Irish source alleged that Ethel Flood had
(20:09):
even managed to ally with Elba, a kingdom in what
is now Scotland, and Strathclyde, a kingdom in northern England,
against the Norse, even further expanding her military might and
indicating that she was both an incredible warrior and also
a diplomat. But her power would be short lived. On
(20:33):
June twelfth, nine hundred eighteen, Athel Flood died in her
palace at Tamworth. She was around fifty years old and
appeared to have died unexpectedly of natural causes. Her body
was taken to Gloucester to be buried next to her husband.
After Athel Flood had put decades of her life into
(20:56):
expanding and protecting Mercian territory. With no obvious heir to
the throne, Mercia was under threat yet again. News of
ethel Flood's death spread throughout Mercia and Wessex, and also
made its way to Ireland and Wales. The Annals of
(21:16):
Ulster in Ireland described her in an obituary as quote
the most famous queen of the Saxons, and did not
report her brother or her father's death. Welsh chronicles also
noted her death but ignored edwards, suggesting that she had
made an impression far beyond her kingdom, more so than
(21:38):
some of the men in her family. Curiously, ethel Flood's
death was almost entirely ignored by chroniclers in Wessex, aside
from a brief mention, even though it was where she
was born. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, the court produced record
of events in Wessex, never referred to her military victory
(22:00):
in Derby or Lester, even though they were crucial in
consolidating the English Saxon kingdoms fifty years after her death.
It seemed that ethel Flood's death brought to light some
underlying tensions between Wessex and Mercia. While the two kingdoms
were united in fighting against the Danes. Mercia's rising power
(22:23):
and independence could have made the kingdom less subordinate to Wessex.
This could be why ethel Flood was omitted from the
Anglo Saxon Chronicle, allowing Edward to take credit for fighting
off the Danes instead of his sister. After ethel Flood's
death in June of nine hundred and nineteen, her daughter
(22:46):
alfwyn took over as the Lady of Mercia, the only
example in early medieval England of a woman inheriting the
throne from her mother, But only a few months later
deposed Alfwynn and took her to Wessex, gaining control of Mercia.
It's unclear what happened to alf Winn after her deposition,
(23:11):
and she too was ignored in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle.
Her brief rule wasn't even mentioned. Given that the Anglo
Saxon Chronicle is among the most important accounts of tenth
century English history, athel Flood and alfwin remained quote shadowy
figures according to historian Tim Clarkson, and were placed under
(23:35):
a conspiracy of silence. According to historian FT Wainwright, that
said Atha Flood shows up in Other early medieval sources
like the Mercian Register, chronicles of the Life of Alfred,
Annals of Ireland and Wales, and the charters that she
(23:56):
issued accounts of her ambitious rule were also probably passed
down orally before being put into writing in the eleventh
century by historians like William of Malmsbury mentioned earlier in
the episode. Another of these writers, Henry of Huntingdon, memorialized
(24:16):
Athol Flood in a poem that went heroic Athol Flood
great in marital fame, a man in valor woman, though
in name heroes before the Mercian heroine quailed Caesar himself
to win such glory failed quite a legacy. That's the
(24:38):
story of Athol Flood. But keep listening after a brief
sponsor break, to hear the story of how King Alfred
Athelflood's father made a small mistake that would be remembered
for centuries. After a skirmish with the Vikings in eight
(24:59):
hundred seventy eight, King Alfred fled a battle to the
Somerset Levels, a marshy area in southwest England. In order
to hide and recover, He turned up at a cottage
where a peasant woman took him in without recognizing that
he was the king. She was baking some wheatcakes by
the fire and asked Alfred to keep an eye on
(25:21):
them as she attended to some other chores. But Alfred,
with so much on his mind, given that he was
trying to protect Wessex from the Vikings, forgot about the
cakes and accidentally let them burn. When the woman returned
and discovered the burnt cakes, she scolded Alfred, who was
duly humiliated. The story is likely a legend, appearing in
(25:46):
the written record over a century after Alfred's death. It
seems to be a medieval English version of stars They're
just like us, reassuring the listener that even kings can
sometimes get distracted. The story became a staple of English folklore.
There's even a mushroom named King Alfred's Cakes because they're
(26:09):
chalky and black like burnt cakes. Noble Blood is a
production of iHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey.
Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional
(26:31):
writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender, Amy
Hit and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and produced
by Jesse Funk with supervising producer rima il KLi and
executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
(26:55):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
and Mild from Aaron Manky listener Discretion advised. The latter
half of the ninth century was a chaotic time in England,
which was at that time divided into a number of
smaller kingdoms. In eight hundred and sixty seven, Vikings from
(00:23):
Denmark landed in Mercia, a kingdom that comprised much of
the English Midlands. The Vikings conquered the eastern parts of
Mercia and soon invaded the rest of the territory, dividing
the area into two parts, displacing the current ruler and
installing a puppet king. But the puppet king didn't last
(00:46):
long on the throne. Just a few years later, in
eight hundred and seventy nine, he disappeared. In the face
of that power vacuum, a high ranking English military official
named Fulred took over. Very little is known about Ethelred
before he reached the throne, and it's sort of unclear
(01:09):
how exactly he got the job. It doesn't seem like
he had any noble lineage. He appeared in the written
record at around eight hundred and eighty three, after he
was said to have taken power. But it wasn't just
Mercia that was under attack by the Vikings. Wessex, another
(01:30):
kingdom that included much of England's south coast at that time,
was also dealing with Viking invasions. Wessex was led by
a man named Alfred, and throughout eight hundred and seventy
and eight seventy one, Alfred had been fighting off the
Vikings with mixed results, winning some battles but having trouble
(01:54):
keeping the invading forces at bay in the long term.
So soon after Ethelred took over in Mercia, he and
Alfred decided to team up, and in eight hundred eighty nine,
the pair sealed their alliance by having Athelred Mary Alfred's
oldest daughter, athel Flood. Athel Flood was born around eight
(02:17):
hundred and seventy, right when the Viking invasions were picking
up steam, making her much younger than her husband. While
there's almost no historical record of athel Flood's early life,
one can imagine that her youth had been defined by
instability and violence, following her father to various skirmishes with invaders.
(02:42):
She likely knew Athelred from childhood, encountering him in her
father's entourage or visiting his palaces in Mercia. No one
would have expected Athel Flood to become an even more
important political figure than her head husband. Athel Flood would
become the most powerful person in the Kingdom, ruling over
(03:06):
Mercia independently starting in nine hundred and eleven, one of
only two women recorded as doing so before the Norman
conquest of England. I'm Danish sports and this is noble blood.
After the wedding, Ethel Flood had to move from her
(03:27):
home in Wessex to her husband's palace in Mercia. This
wasn't a huge deal for Ethel Flood. Her mother was Mercian,
so she had family in the area, and her husband
preferred to stay in the southwest area of Mercia, around
the cities now named London and Gloucester, which wasn't too
(03:48):
far away from where she grew up. Still, she had
to adjust to married life. Athelred had seeded control over
Mercia to Alfred, his father and lie law, who called
himself the King of the Anglo Saxons. This is one
of the first times anyone had used the term Anglo Saxon,
(04:09):
and in doing so, Alfred sometimes also known as Alfred
the Great, asserted that he ruled over all of the
English Saxons by which he meant the Saxons who had
immigrated from what is now Germany to England around the
fourth century, except for the ones living in areas under
(04:30):
Viking control. So even though her husband wasn't technically a
king at this point, Athel Flood still needed to fulfill
the typical duties of a royal wife. A royal wife
was expected to be a peace weaver or frothweb in
Old English. The term was meant to encapsulate the feminine
(04:53):
art of political maneuvering, just like weaving fabric. A royal
wife was expected to weave bonds between her and her
husband's allies by hosting dinners in the feasting hall and
conducting herself well when visiting palaces throughout the kingdom. Usually,
(05:14):
a royal wife's duties would have ended there. English Saxon
wives were considered subordinate to their husbands and were largely
excluded from military and political life. That was certainly the
case in Wessex, where ethel Flood's mother was almost completely
shut out of governance. She wasn't even referred to as queen.
(05:39):
Historian Tim Clarkson described royal wives in Wessex as quote
low profile, nearly invisible, but unlike other parts of medieval England,
Murcia allowed more leeway and independence for its queens. Ethel
Flood was deeply involved in governing Mercia from the beginning
(06:03):
of her marriage. Arriving in Gloucester at around eight eighty,
the city was in shambles after battling with the Vikings,
with collapsed columns from the Roman era all over the city.
So together the newlyweds got to work on building a burr,
or a multi purpose fortification that served as a defensive fortress,
(06:29):
an administrative center and a hub for trade, Using a
decrepit Roman fort as the structure's foundation, They kept on
building burrs throughout Mercia over the next decade. Meanwhile, Ethel
Flood worked with her husband to reallocate land, offer privileges
(06:51):
to churches, and confer grants across the region you know,
general governance. Their campaign fit in neatly with Alfred's attempt
to shore up the defenses of Wessex. He also built
a number of brahs and forts across the kingdom, ensuring
that no one in Wessex was more than a day's
(07:15):
ride from a place of safety. Meanwhile, Afflflood gave birth
to a daughter and named her Alfwyn or elf Friend.
This ended up being her only child, which is a
bit strange given that there was probably pressure to produce
a male heir and secure the line of succession. We
(07:38):
can speculate that it's possible she suffered miscarriages or couldn't
get pregnant again. William of Malmsbury, an early Anglo Norman historian,
proposed a different theory, that Alfwin's birth was such a
horrific experience that Affelflood pledged celibacy for the rest of
(07:59):
her life. In ten ninety nine, William of Malmsbury wrote,
quote from the difficulty experienced in her first or rather
only labor. Athel Flood, ever after, refused the embraces of
her husband, protesting that it was unbecoming for the daughter
of a king to give way to a delight which
(08:21):
in time produced such painful consequences. Now, William of Malmsbury
didn't give any sources for this from the period, so
athel Flood's celibacy is likely apocryphal. Contemporary historians imagine that
he might have made it up in order to emphasize
athel Flood's moral purity. That said William was a monk
(08:45):
at Malmsbury Abbey, a monastery in Wessex with historic ties
to the royal family, and it's possible that this story
was passed down to him and it was truthful fact
or fiction. This Anna represents a rare example of a
medieval queen putting her foot down and deciding for herself
(09:07):
what her reproductive future might look like. After a decade
of strengthening Mercia's defenses, athel Flood was ready for battle.
When the Vikings descended on eastern England in eight hundred
ninety two, it was clear that her preparation paid off.
After a few years of fighting, Alfred afa Flood and
(09:31):
Athelred successfully repelled the invaders with minimal losses. The Viking
army disbanded in eight hundred and ninety six, and Athlflood
was finally able to enjoy a period of peace in
Wessex and Mercia. But this period of peace didn't last long.
(09:51):
In October of eight hundred and ninety nine, King Alfred died.
Though this was a huge blow both to Athel Flood
his daughter, and Athelred, his son in law and closest
military Ally, they were perhaps relieved to find that, unlike
many medieval kings living through long periods of war, he
(10:15):
survived decades of battle and had lived long enough to
die of disease in his own bed. In his will,
he commemorated Athelred by leaving him a sword worth one
hundred Byzantine gold coins. Alfred's oldest son, athel Flood's brother Edward,
(10:37):
succeeded to the throne of Wessex, becoming King of the
Anglo Saxons, adopting the title his father invented. It was
unclear exactly what this meant for Athelred and ethel Flood, or,
as I'll call them by their made up couple name
with absolutely no historical accuracy, the Athols. Some historians believe
(10:59):
that Alfred preferred his son in law Athelred to his
actual son Edward, since the court produced records of the
Viking battles in the eight hundred and nineties don't mention
any of Edward's military successes. Out of loyalty to Alfred,
Athelred was willing to accept a subordinate title and treat
(11:23):
Mercia as a part of the English Saxon Kingdom rather
than as an independent state, but Athelred seemed to distance
himself from Wessex after Alfred's death. In documents from the
Wessex Court, Athelred and athel Flood officially recognized Edward's authority. However,
(11:45):
within Mercia, many charters never mentioned Edward at all, leading
some historians to suggest that Ethelred operated Mercia more or
less as an independent kingdom. It seems that the Athols
wanted to have it both ways, maintaining a close alliance
(12:06):
between Wessex and Mercia without seeding too much of their power. Meanwhile,
Athelred's health began to fail, leaving athel Flood to deal
with governing Mercia largely on her own. There's no record
of what his illness might have been or when it began,
(12:27):
but the first record of his declining health was in
nine hundred and two, when athel Flood had to administer
a land grant without her husband. The last record of
Athelred's involvement in politics comes two years later, in nine
hundred and four. In nine hundred and two, there were
more invasions into England. This time by Norwegians rather than
(12:52):
the Danish Vikings who were giving the English Saxon's trouble.
In the ninth century, the Norwegians sailed for from Scotland
and Ireland to the west coast of Mercia. They approached
Ethel Flood for a settlement in the world, near what
is now Liverpool. Athel Flood hesitantly agreed, but imagined that
(13:15):
long term peace would be impossible. She fortified a nearby burr,
Chester and stationed her army there, eventually kicking out the Norse.
The Norse tried to fight back and retake the city
by teaming up with the Danes. Ethel Floed defended Chester,
(13:35):
leading her army from the ramparts of her bur In
nine hundred and seven, she successfully turned away the Norse
and the Danes, representing a huge military victory. And again
this is ethel Flood on her own while her husband
is ill and incapacitated. But athel Flood's triumph was tempered
(13:58):
by her ailing husband, convalescing still in Mercia, whose health
was only worsening by the day. Finally, in nine hundred
and eleven, Athelred died. He was buried at Saint Oswald's
Church in Gloucester, which he and his wife had founded
right after their wedding. This left Athel Flood at a crossroads. Traditionally,
(14:24):
noble widows retired from their rules in government, however limited,
those rules were to become abbesses or to live out
the rest of their lives at a peaceful estate. But
on the heels of her military victory in Chester, ethel
Flood had larger ambitions. She had put so much effort
(14:45):
into ruling over Mercia and was essentially functioning as its
de facto ruler in the years before her husband's death,
and so she would decide to succeed her husband as
the Lady of Mercia and lead the kingdom independently. While
(15:06):
ethel Flood's decision to rule over Mercia was merely unprecedented,
there hadn't been an independent female ruler over an English
kingdom since the seventh century, it didn't seem that controversial.
Her subjects supported her rule, and some of them even
called her their queen. Even though she was considered the
(15:27):
quote Lady of Mercia, It's unclear whether or not she
chose that title for herself, but being the Lady of
Mercia instead of the queen was strategic, It placed her
on a lower rung than her brother Edward, who was
the king of the Anglo Saxons, and it mirrored her
(15:48):
late husband, who was considered the Lord of Mercia, all
of which suggested that ethel Flood intelligently wouldn't upset the
status quo. The Mercian nobility also accepted athel Flood's succession
without a single recorded objection. There weren't any obvious alternatives.
(16:10):
None of the Mercian royal family's eligible heirs seemed interested
in the role, and Edward's son, ethel Flood's nephew, who
was raised in Mercia with athel Flood, was too young
to take over the throne. An assembly of noblemen and
other members of the elite convened to ratify ethel Flood's rule,
(16:32):
so she seemed to have their support. Edward tacitly gave
his blessing for his sister's succession, perhaps assuming that ethel
Flood would be a loyal ally. Edward and his sister
athel Flood would have to work together to take on
their most intense military engagement. Yet, while the Danes and
(16:55):
the Norse had agreed to peace with Mercia and Wessex.
Edward and ethel Flood wanted to shore up their defenses
to guard against future attacks. Edward built a series of
forts throughout Wessex, while ethel Flood did the same in Mercia.
Athel Flood put special attention on establishing her rule on
(17:18):
western Mercia, much of which had been seized by the
Vikings in the eight seventies or settled by the Norse
coming from Ireland. After building a few birds in the
west in nine hundred twelve and thirteen, she focused on
protecting Mercia from the Danish, who had settled in the east.
(17:39):
Edward had already repurposed his rule on a few areas
in the southeast, taking over some Viking strongholds in Essex,
which raised the Danes alarm bells. Finally, that long simmering
tension between the Danes and the Saxons over boiled in
(17:59):
nine hundred and n seventeen in the face of Edward
and ethel Flood's military expansion. The Danes tried to fight back,
attacking a few of Edward's forts in southeast Wessex, but
they failed. Athel Fled took the opportunity to invade Derby,
which had been ruled by the Danes since she was born.
(18:21):
This wouldn't be easy because it had been ruled by
the Danes so long. Many of Derby's residents had been
born and raised under Danish rule and would want to
fight for their hometown the way they knew it. That said,
athel Flood succeeded in recapturing the city. The Viking armies
(18:43):
were reported to be scattered and uncoordinated, vastly outnumbered by
athol Flood's army. Conquering Derby was a massive feat given
that it was such a central Danish stronghold. Not only
did athel Flood conquered Derby itself, but the regions around it,
(19:03):
adding a large swath of land to her territory. Danish
Mercia had five main towns called the Five Boroughs, and
she had captured one of them. Soon she would take
over another. In nine hundred eighteen, she invaded Leicester, which
yielded to athel Flood's authority without a fight, suggesting she
(19:26):
had a pretty fearsome reputation by this point. Edward, fighting
the Danes in the southeast, managed to capture another of
the Five Boroughs, Stamford, but he struggled a little more
than his sister. Unlike athel Flood, whose reputation had allowed
her to take control of Leicester without any bloodshed, Edward
(19:48):
had to blockade the Danish fortresses at Stamford for six
weeks before they folded. Similarly, the Danish colony of York
offered to pledge their loyalty to athel Flood, but completely
ignored Edward. An Irish source alleged that Ethel Flood had
(20:09):
even managed to ally with Elba, a kingdom in what
is now Scotland, and Strathclyde, a kingdom in northern England,
against the Norse, even further expanding her military might and
indicating that she was both an incredible warrior and also
a diplomat. But her power would be short lived. On
(20:33):
June twelfth, nine hundred eighteen, Athel Flood died in her
palace at Tamworth. She was around fifty years old and
appeared to have died unexpectedly of natural causes. Her body
was taken to Gloucester to be buried next to her husband.
After Athel Flood had put decades of her life into
(20:56):
expanding and protecting Mercian territory. With no obvious heir to
the throne, Mercia was under threat yet again. News of
ethel Flood's death spread throughout Mercia and Wessex, and also
made its way to Ireland and Wales. The Annals of
(21:16):
Ulster in Ireland described her in an obituary as quote
the most famous queen of the Saxons, and did not
report her brother or her father's death. Welsh chronicles also
noted her death but ignored edwards, suggesting that she had
made an impression far beyond her kingdom, more so than
(21:38):
some of the men in her family. Curiously, ethel Flood's
death was almost entirely ignored by chroniclers in Wessex, aside
from a brief mention, even though it was where she
was born. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, the court produced record
of events in Wessex, never referred to her military victory
(22:00):
in Derby or Lester, even though they were crucial in
consolidating the English Saxon kingdoms fifty years after her death.
It seemed that ethel Flood's death brought to light some
underlying tensions between Wessex and Mercia. While the two kingdoms
were united in fighting against the Danes. Mercia's rising power
(22:23):
and independence could have made the kingdom less subordinate to Wessex.
This could be why ethel Flood was omitted from the
Anglo Saxon Chronicle, allowing Edward to take credit for fighting
off the Danes instead of his sister. After ethel Flood's
death in June of nine hundred and nineteen, her daughter
(22:46):
alfwyn took over as the Lady of Mercia, the only
example in early medieval England of a woman inheriting the
throne from her mother, But only a few months later
deposed Alfwynn and took her to Wessex, gaining control of Mercia.
It's unclear what happened to alf Winn after her deposition,
(23:11):
and she too was ignored in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle.
Her brief rule wasn't even mentioned. Given that the Anglo
Saxon Chronicle is among the most important accounts of tenth
century English history, athel Flood and alfwin remained quote shadowy
figures according to historian Tim Clarkson, and were placed under
(23:35):
a conspiracy of silence. According to historian FT Wainwright, that
said Atha Flood shows up in Other early medieval sources
like the Mercian Register, chronicles of the Life of Alfred,
Annals of Ireland and Wales, and the charters that she
(23:56):
issued accounts of her ambitious rule were also probably passed
down orally before being put into writing in the eleventh
century by historians like William of Malmsbury mentioned earlier in
the episode. Another of these writers, Henry of Huntingdon, memorialized
(24:16):
Athol Flood in a poem that went heroic Athol Flood
great in marital fame, a man in valor woman, though
in name heroes before the Mercian heroine quailed Caesar himself
to win such glory failed quite a legacy. That's the
(24:38):
story of Athol Flood. But keep listening after a brief
sponsor break, to hear the story of how King Alfred
Athelflood's father made a small mistake that would be remembered
for centuries. After a skirmish with the Vikings in eight
(24:59):
hundred seventy eight, King Alfred fled a battle to the
Somerset Levels, a marshy area in southwest England. In order
to hide and recover, He turned up at a cottage
where a peasant woman took him in without recognizing that
he was the king. She was baking some wheatcakes by
the fire and asked Alfred to keep an eye on
(25:21):
them as she attended to some other chores. But Alfred,
with so much on his mind, given that he was
trying to protect Wessex from the Vikings, forgot about the
cakes and accidentally let them burn. When the woman returned
and discovered the burnt cakes, she scolded Alfred, who was
duly humiliated. The story is likely a legend, appearing in
(25:46):
the written record over a century after Alfred's death. It
seems to be a medieval English version of stars They're
just like us, reassuring the listener that even kings can
sometimes get distracted. The story became a staple of English folklore.
There's even a mushroom named King Alfred's Cakes because they're
(26:09):
chalky and black like burnt cakes. Noble Blood is a
production of iHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey.
Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional
(26:31):
writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender, Amy
Hit and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and produced
by Jesse Funk with supervising producer rima il KLi and
executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
(26:55):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Host
Dana Schwartz
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