Ælfgar

In 1013, years before the Norman Conquest, England was successfully invaded and shortly thereafter conquered for the first time since the coming of the Ango-Saxons some 500 years before.

A quarter-century later an "English King" would return for a final-quarter century of Anglo-Saxon rule, but the reign of Edward the Confessor would provide the backdrop for a conflict between Wessex and Mercia that was barely short of civil war. The roots of this conflict stretch back to the descent of the once dominant Midlands kingdom of Mercia into chaos during the 9th Century and the rise of the southern power of Wessex in the 10th. Both of these Anglo-Saxon kingdoms would be subject to invasion and almost complete conquest by the Vikings. The early 11th century would see the Scandinavians finally rule England.

The history is normally viewed from the perspective of Wessex, however it is also possible to take a prespective from the Mercian position, especially that of the House of Leofric. Leofric is almost unknown to the general reader although many have heard of his wife, Godiva. His son Ælfgar and the next generation in turn played a major part in the events either side of 1066.

The Wessex Perspective
For convenience the history can be broken into several parts:


 * The fall of Mercia from the rule and eventual death of Offa (796);
 * The rise of Wessex from the ascention of Egbert and the subsequent Danish invasions and reconquest;
 * A further wave of Viking raids and invasions under Æþelræd (the "Unready");
 * A period of Scandinavian rule;
 * The reign of Edward the Confessor;
 * The brief reign of Harold and the coming of the Normans;

Offa to Edgar the Pacific


Mercia reached its peak under Offa (died 29 July 796 AD), who may or may not have built the border structure known as Offa's Dyke, and which may or may not have stretched from the Dee to the Severn. Offa's reign was once seen as part of a process leading to a unified England, but this is no longer the majority view: in the words of a recent historian,


 * "Offa was driven by a lust for power, not a vision of English unity; and what he left was a reputation, not a legacy."

His son, Ecgfrith, succeeded him, but reigned for less than five months. Offa had ruthlessly eliminated dynastic rivals. This seems to have backfired, from the dynastic point of view, as no close male relatives of Offa or Ecgfrith are recorded, and Coenwulf, Ecgfrith's successor, was only distantly related to Offa's line. Coenwulf's early reign was marked by a breakdown in Mercian control in southern England. Coenwulf died in 821 at Basingwerk near Holywell, Flintshire, probably while making preparations for a campaign against the Welsh that took place under his brother and successor, Ceolwulf, the following year. Coenwulf was the last of a series of Mercian kings, beginning with Penda in the early 7th century, to exercise dominance over most or all of southern England. In the years after his death, Mercia's position weakened, and the battle of Ellendun in 825 firmly established Egbert of Wessex as the dominant king south of the Humber. Egbert is commemorated at Chester Town Hall in one of a series of bas-reliefs showing what are supposed to be key moments in Chester's history. The previous event in the sequence is the establishment of Roman Chester after 70 CE, the next the formation of the Norman Earldom around 1070.



The lineage of Egbert would continue to be associated with Chester. Egbert's son Æthelwulf supposedly recieved the submission of other kings "from Berwick to Kent" at Chester, but then went on pilgrimage to Rome and returned to find his "caretaker" brother would not give up the kingdom. Egbert's grandson, Alfred the Great (848/849 – 26 October 899) fought back from a Danish invasion which saw him reduced to ruling a few squere miles of swamp to a stalemate where the Danes ruled the eastern half of the country. Alfred apparently fought Vikings at Chester. Alfred's son Edward (c. 874 – 17 July 924) regained much of the lost territory with the aid of his warlike sister who rebuilt Chester, then Edward died at Farndon after dealing with a revolt in Chester. Next came Æþelstān (c. 894 – 27 October 939) who may have fought the Battle of Brunanburh near Chester and called himself "King of the English". Upon his death England fell apart. Chester was an important base in 942 when there was collusion between the Welsh and the Scandinavian kingdom of York during King Edmund's campaign against the latter.

England was once again united under Edward the Elder's grandson Edgar (c. 943 – 8 July 975) famously cruised on the River Dee, possibly from Edgar's Field to proclaim his "wide rule", and upon his death England once more collapsed into chaos.

Æþelræd (the "Unready")
Edgar's 973 voyage on the River Dee represented another high tide in the affairs of kings: he would be dead two years later. His eldest son soon fell victim to political murder, leaving the throne to Æþelræd "the unready". Two years later, the Vikings started fresh raids.

The Danish House of Knýtlinga ruled the Kingdom of England from 1013 to 1014 and from 1016 to 1042. In 1013 Sweyn Forkbeard, already the king of Denmark and of Norway, overthrew King Æþelræd the Unready of the House of Wessex. Sweyn had first invaded England in 1003 to avenge the death of his sister Gunhilde and many other Danes in the St. Brice's Day massacre, which had been ordered by Æþelræd in 1002. Sweyn died in 1014 and Æthelred was restored. However, in 1015 Sweyn's son, Cnut the Great, invaded England.



After Æþelræd died in April 1016, his son Edmund Ironside briefly became king, but was forced to surrender half of England to Cnut. After Edmund died in November that same year, Cnut became king of all England. Scotland submitted to him in 1017, and Norway in 1028. Cnut died on 12 November 1035. In Denmark he was succeeded by Harthacnut, reigning as Cnut III, although with a war in Scandinavia against Magnus I of Norway, Harthacnut was "forsaken [by the English] because he was too long in Denmark". His mother Queen Emma, previously resident at Winchester with some of her son's housecarls, was made to flee to Bruges in Flanders, under pressure from supporters of Cnut's other son, after Svein, by Ælfgifu of Northampton: Harold Harefoot — regent in England 1035–37 (who went on to claim the English throne in 1037, reigning until his death in 1040). Eventual peace in Scandinavia left Harthacnut free to claim the throne himself in 1040. He brought the crowns of Denmark and England together again until his death in 1042. Denmark fell into a period of disorder with a power struggle between the pretender to the throne Sweyn Estridsson, son of Ulf, and the Norwegian king, until the death of Magnus in 1047. The inheritance of England was briefly to return to its Anglo-Saxon lineage: the house of Wessex reigned again as Edward the Confessor was brought out of exile in Normandy and made a treaty with Harthacnut, his half-brother. As in his treaty with Magnus, it was decreed that the throne would go to Edward if Harthacnut died with no legitimate male heir. In 1042, Harthacnut died, and Edward was king. His reign secured Norman influence at court thereafter, and the ambitions of its dukes finally found fruition in 1066 with William the Conqueror's invasion of England and crowning, fifty years after Cnut was crowned in 1017.

If the sons of Cnut (Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut) had not died within a decade of his death, and if his only known daughter Gunhilda (Cunigund), who was to marry Conrad II's son Henry III eight months after Cnut's death, had not died in Italy before she became empress consort, Cnut's reign might well have been the foundation for a complete political union between England and Scandinavia: a post-Viking North Sea Empire with blood ties to the Holy Roman Empire. It was not to be, England returned to Anglo-Saxon rule briefly but with considerable influence from the Normans to the south. Eventually it would become clear that a Norman invasion lay ahead.

The Mercian Perspective
The Normans were successful in their invasion and from that point on the telling of English history was dominated by relations with the continent to the south. The Mercians appear to leave the stage with the rise of Wessex (mostly told as being the work of Alfred) and Wessex is in turn "triumphant" over the Vikings before being defeated by the Normans (mostly told from the perspective of Harold). The Viking conquest of the early 11th Century is largely forgotten, even the word viking is a historical revival; it was not used in Middle English, but it was revived from Old Norse vikingr "freebooter, sea-rover, pirate, viking," which usually is explained as meaning properly "one who came from the fjords," from vik "creek, inlet, small bay" (cf. Old English wic, Middle High German wich "bay," and second element in Reykjavik). But Old English wicing and Old Frisian wizing are almost 300 years older, and probably derive from wic "village, camp" (temporary camps were a feature of the Viking raids), related to Latin vicus "village, habitation".

The house of Leofric is hardly mentioned, except perhaps for a brief mention of Godiva, or as in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland when the mouse attempts to dry itself and other characters by reciting a dry example of English history:




 * "At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them, called out, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'll soon make you dry enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon. 'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! "William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria--"' "

The mouse attempts to continue his tale but is shouted down and never gets to recite the history of the last of the House of Leofric. This inclusion in Carroll's book is made interesting as he is distantly related to both Edwin and Morcar and will draw on his own Cheshire background to provide the better-known "Cheshire Cat".

Back to Edgar
King Edgar (c. 943 – 8 July 975: the Pacific - famous for his boat trip at Chester) was King of England from 959 until his death at the age of 32. He was the younger son of Edmund I and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, and came to the throne as a teenager, following the death of his older brother Eadwig.

Edmund I's Murder
Edgar's father Edmund had been just three years old when his own father, Edward the Elder died on July 24, 924 at Farndon. Succeeding Edward was Edmund’s 30-year-old half brother Æthelstan, who quickly saw the death of one rival claimant and later may have killed off another. Thanks to Æthelstan's warlike activities Edmund I was the first Anglo-Saxon monarch, whose dominion extended over the whole of England at the time of his accession in 939. It was not long before Edmund faced opposition. In 940, Olaf Guthfrithsson, King of Dublin, who was defeated by Æthelstan in the Battle of Brunanburh, came down from Northumbria to reclaim his lost lands in York. Olaf and Edmund met in 939 at Leicester where they came to an agreement regarding the division of England between them. This agreement proved short-lived, however, and within a few years Vikings had occupied the Five Boroughs of Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham and Stamford. When Olaf died in 942, Edmund reconquered the area of the Five Boroughs. In 944 Edmund retook Yorkshire and Northumbria, and subdued Strathclyde in 945. Also in 945 he became embroiled in the politics of France when he helped restore Louis IV. Clearly Edmund would have made enemies during this time.



On May 26, 946, Edmund I, the twenty four year old King of the English, was stabbed to death at a royal hunting lodge in Pucklechurch, north of Bath, England while celebrating the feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury. The traditional story is that he was stabbed by a thief who had been banished some years before. Recent research indicates that Edmund may have been the victim of political assassination and suggests that the characterization of Edmund’s killer as a thief was fabricated by later chroniclers. In fact, the chronicle versions are contradictory and would have us believe that a banished thief acting alone turns up at a royal celebration and manages to get himself a seat on the "top table" without anyone noticing. Edmund’s killer was not named in any chronicles for more than 100 years after his death and the name that eventually appeared was probably chosen on purpose because its meaning was understood all too well. In Old English "leof(a)" meant "beloved" and so the use of the name Leofa for an assassin seems quite ironic. William of Malmesbury says in his chronicle that "…rumours about his death…spread all over England." Some of these rumors may have blamed the person who had the most to gain from Edmund’s death – his younger brother Eadred. Edgar the Pacific's uncle Eadred became the next king of England.

Upon the murder of King Edmund in 946, Edgar's uncle, Eadred, ruled until 955. Eadred succeeded to the throne over his two young nephews who were deemed too young to rule. He would be the third and last of the sons of Edward the Elder to rule England. The chonicles about his reign are notoriously confused. It appears that he soon lost the Kingdom of York to the Vikings and only managed to regain it firmly in 952. Towards the end of his life, Eadred suffered from a digestive malady which would prove fatal and he died at the age of about 31.

Eadred was succeeded by his nephew, Eadwig, Edmund's eldest son. Eadwig's short reign was tarnished by disputes with nobles and men of the church, including Archbishops Dunstan and Oda. According to one legend (written about the year 1000), the feud with Dunstan began on the day of Eadwig's coronation, when he failed to attend a meeting of nobles. When Dunstan eventually found the young monarch, he was "cavorting" with a noblewoman named Ælfgifu and her mother, and refused to return with the bishop. Infuriated by this, Dunstan dragged Eadwig back and forced him to renounce the girl as a "strumpet". Later realising that he had provoked the king, Dunstan fled to the apparent sanctuary of his cloister, but Eadwig, incited by Ælfgifu, whom he had married, followed him and plundered the monastery. Dunstan was forced into exile. Eadwig is known for his remarkable generosity in giving away land. In 956 alone, his sixty odd gifts of land make up around 5% of all genuine Anglo-Saxon charters. No known ruler in Europe matched that yearly total before the twelfth century, and his cessions are plausibly attributed to political insecurity. Eadwig was dead at the age of 19. The circumstances of his death are not recorded.

Edgar's Upbringing
Edgar was about 3 when his father was assassinated on 26th May 946 and was adopted by Æthelstan Half-King an important and influential Ealdorman of East Anglia. The rise of Æthelstan's family began in the reign of King Edward the Elder, when his father Æthelfrith, whose family background is presumed to lie in Wessex, was appointed an Ealdorman in southern Mercia. Mercia was then ruled by Edward's sister Æthelflæd and her husband Æthelred. Æthelstan seems to have been appointed Ealdorman of East Anglia and other parts by King Æthelstan in about 932. The lands King Æthelstan gave him had mostly been part of the Danelaw which had only been forced out of the area after the Battle of Tempsford in Bedfordshire fifteen years earlier in 917. Æthelstan's brother Ælfstan became Ealdorman of some parts of Mercia at about the same time and both of them may have participated in King Æthelstan's invasion of Scotland in 934. Æthelstan's wife was named Ælfwynn. Her family came from the East Midlands. She was foster-mother of King Edgar of England, giving Edgar some connection with Mercia. Soon after the death of King Eadred in 955, Æthelstan left his position and became a monk at Glastonbury Abbey. It is unknown whether his move to Glastonbury was voluntary or not.

As Edgar had been brought up in what had once been the Danelaw he became a popular prince with both the middle-english and the Danes. In 957, the thanes of Mercia and Northumbria changed their allegiance from Eadwig to Edgar. A conclave of nobles declared Edgar as king of the territory north of the Thames. Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia (died 983) was promoted by King Eadwig and faced opposition from the old guard. As noted above, the crisis came in 957, and to all appearances was settled by negotiation. The English kingdom was neatly partitioned between Eadwig and his younger brother Edgar, Eadwig ruling Wessex south of the Thames, Edgar Mercia and Northumbria to the north. Ælfhere survived the crisis, abandoning Eadwig, and became Edgar's devoted supporter. Edgar was at this time around 14 years old, and would not, according to the laws at the time, achieve his majority until the age of 15. Ælfhere found himself in a powerful position, from 959 to 975 he was almost always the first witness to Edgar's charters, placing him above all others in status.



One of Edgar's first actions was to recall Dunstan from exile and have him made Bishop of Worcester and Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, subsequently Bishop of London and later, Archbishop of Canterbury. Dunstan remained Edgar's advisor throughout his reign. The Monastic Reform Movement that introduced the Benedictine Rule to England's monastic communities peaked during the era of Dunstan. In the mid-tenth century almost all monasteries were staffed by secular clergy, who were often married. The reformers sought to replace them with celibate contemplative monks following the Rule of Saint Benedict. The movement was inspired by Continental monastic reforms, and the leading figures were Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester, and Oswald, Archbishop of York. The English movement became dominant under King Edgar (959–975), who supported the expulsion of secular clergy from monasteries and cathedral chapters, and their replacement by monks.

It is unclear how much power Edgar the Pacific actually had. Edgar's coronation did not happen until 973, in an imperial ceremony planned not as the initiation, but as the culmination of his reign (a move that must have taken a great deal of preliminary diplomacy). This service, devised by Dunstan and celebrated with a poem in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, forms the basis of the present-day British coronation ceremony. The symbolic coronation was an important step; other kings of Britain came and gave their allegiance to Edgar shortly afterwards at Chester. At least six kings in Britain, including the King of Scots and the King of Strathclyde, pledged their faith that they would be the king's liege-men on sea and land.

Edgar's family life was complicated. Edgar is believed to have married first Æthelflæd the White, daughter of Ordmaer, Ealdorman of the East Anglians, between 957 and 959. After Æthelflæd's death about 962, the traditional story is that Edgar abducted and married Wulfthryth of Wilton. He carried her off from the nunnery at Wilton Abbey. They lived as husband and wife at his residence in Kemsing for 2 years. It is unclear if they actually married or not, or if she had in fact been a nun. After the birth of one daughter, Wulfthryth was returned to Wilton Abbey, along with their child, and definitely now became a nun, eventually Abbess. About 964/965 Edgar married, possibly for a third time, to Ælfthryth, widow of Æthelwald, Ealdorman of East Anglia, Edgar's adopted brother. Ælfthryth was the daughter of Ealdorman Ordgar and his wife, a member of the royal family of Wessex. Legend has it that Edgar heard of Ælfthryth's great beauty and sent Æthelwald to arrange marriage for him (Edgar) but Æthelwald instead married her himself. In retaliation Æthelwald was killed 'in a hunting accident' and Edgar married her as he had wanted. It is not known if this is true or simply romantic fiction.

Edgar died on 8 July 975 at Winchester, Hampshire. He was 33 years old. He was buried at Glastonbury Abbey. Edward was the eldest son of King Edgar the Peaceful but was not his father's acknowledged heir. On Edgar's death, the leadership of England was contested, with some supporting Edward's claim to be king and others supporting his younger half-brother Æthelred the Unready, recognised as a legitimate son of Edgar. The 12 year old Edward was chosen as king and was crowned by his main clerical supporters, the archbishops Dunstan of Canterbury and Oswald of York.

Edward is murdered
In the reign of Edward the Martyr (c. 962 – 18 March 978), his support for Dunstan's Benedictine reform movement provoked the anger and envy of those who had seen the Church as a way to gain wealth and prestige. The ascetic life and the importance of monasticism promoted by Dunstan and his colleagues were not to their liking, and so they looked for – and found – other friends in high places. Ælfhere was a leader of the anti-monastic reaction and a close ally of Edward's stepmother Queen Dowager Ælfthryth. Civil war almost broke out over the disputed succession and in the anti-monastic reaction the nobles took advantage of Edward's weakness to dispossess the Benedictine reformed monasteries of lands and other properties that previous King Edgar had granted to them. Edgar's death was not without portents, after recording Edward's succession, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that a comet appeared:


 * "Then too was seen, high in the heavens, the star on his station, that far and wide wise men call – lovers of truth and heav'nly lore – ‘cometa’ by name. Widely was spread God's vengeance then throughout the land, and famine scour'd the hills. May heaven's guardian, the glory of angels, avert these ills, and give us bliss again; that bliss to all abundance yields from earth's choice fruits, throughout this happy isle."

Æþelræd was the son of Edgar and his second (or perhaps third) wife, Queen Ælfthryth. Æþelræd came to the throne at about the age of 12, following the assassination of his older half-brother, Edward the Martyr. His brother's murder was carried out by supporters of his own claim to the throne, although he was too young to have any personal involvement. Ælfthryth appeared as a stereotypical bad queen and evil stepmother in many medieval histories, where she was generally believed to have been involved in the murder of Edward. The earliest chronicle texts only state that Edward was killed, by the time of later chronicles it was claimed that Ælfthryth plotted the murder and eventually that she did the deed herself. Modern historians note that Edward in life was not a saintly figure and offended many people.

After the death of Edward (the Martyr) in 978, Æthelred was not yet old enough to rule on his own and Ælfthryth acted as regent. Æthelred's cause was led by his mother but included Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia. Edward the Martyr's story did not end with his death. His bones were first moved in 981 to a convent in Shaftsbury, then to the Abbey there in 1001. At the dissolution his bones were hidden, only to be found again in 1931, spending the next half-century in a bank vault as neither the Church of England or that of Rome wanted them. In 1984, they were placed in a shrine at the Russian Orthodox Cemetery at Brookwood, Surrey - the only English ruler buried in an Orthodox shrine.



Boy King Æþelræd
As the ealdorman of Mercia, Ælfhere was concerned with relations with the Welsh princes. The Mercian tradition was that this meant war. Wars in Wales gave opportunities for fame, and for booty to be distributed to allies and kinsmen. A campaign in 983 by Ælfhere against Brycheiniog and Morgannwg, with the aid of the Welsh king Hywel ap Ieuaf, is recorded by the Annales Cambriae.

England had experienced a period of peace after the reconquest of the Danelaw in the mid-10th century by King Edgar, Æþelræd's father. However, beginning in 980, when Æþelræd had been king for two years and could not have been more than 14 years old, small companies of Danish adventurers carried out a series of coastline raids against England. Hampshire, Thanet and Cheshire were attacked in 980 and other raids followed. The 980 raid is recorded in the "C manuscript" of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle in the following terms:


 * "..and the same year Cheshire was ravaged by a northern naval force"

The decline of the Chester mint has long been attributed to the Viking raid on Cheshire in 980. Three of the four Anglo-Saxon coin hoards found in the city, those from Castle Esplanade, Pemberton's Parlour, and Eastgate Street, have been assigned to roughly the same period and were originally interpreted as being linked to that raid. However it now seems that they were deposited 965-970, before the Viking raid. The city's relatively depressed state was indicated by the low output of its mint in the 980s and early 990s. This was a time of a certain level of national disorder following the death of Edgar the Pacific.

A few years later in 991, a Danish fleet sailed up the Blackwater river in Essex, and then decisively defeated the county’s defenders at the Battle of Maldon, all Æþelræd worst fears appeared to be coming true as the kingdom tottered under the ferocity of the onslaught. Æþelræd tried to buy the Vikings off. In 997 the inevitable happened and the Danes returned, some from as close as the Isle of Wight where they had settled completely unimpeded. Over the next four years the southern coasts of England were devastated and the English armies powerless whilst Aethelred desperately sought some kind of solution. At the same time, the country was in the grips of “millenarian” fever, as thousands of Christians believed that in the year 1000 (or thereabouts) Christ would return to earth to resume what he had started in Judaea.

Prophets of Doom
Approaching the year 1000 speculation as to the End of the World was rife. It was generally considered forbidden to speculate as to the precise timing of the Day of Judgement, something which had caused problems for Bede. This did not stop priests speculating about the coming of the Antichrist, who was expected to arrive any day. In 971, a preacher had begun by stating that speculation was forbidden before, in the next breath, launching into a prediction that "Doom was Nigh":


 * "For so veiled by secrecy is the end of days, that no one in the entire world, no matter how holy, nor anyone in heaven, except the Lord alone, has ever known when it will come. The end cannot be long delayed.. ..only the coming of the accursed stranger, Antichrist, who is yet to appear on the face of the earth, is still awaited."

"Fire and brimstone" sermons were commonplace and Wulfstan wrote with vivid rhetorical force about the unpleasantries of Hell (notice the alliteration, parallelism, and rhyme):


 * "Wa þam þonne þe ær geearnode helle wite. Ðær is ece bryne grimme gemencged, & ðær is ece gryre; þær is granung & wanung & aa singal heof; þær is ealra yrmða gehwylc & ealra deofla geþring. Wa þam þe þær sceal wunian on wite. Betere him wære þæt he man nære æfre geworden þonne he gewurde". - "Woe then to him who has earned for himself the torments of Hell. There there is everlasting fire roiling painfully, and there there is everlasting filth. There there is groaning and moaning and always constant wailing. There there is every kind of misery, and the press of every kind of devil. Woe to him who dwells in torment: better it were for him that he were never born, than that he become thus."

The Viking raids played straight into the hands of these prophets of doom. The murder of an anointed king Edward in 978, perhaps already "Edward the Martyr" in the words of some, was no doubt seen as an ominous sign of the last times being at hand. Rumours spread that his body had been dragged by his bolting horse and flung into a bog. A column of fire was said to have marked the spot where his body lay. Portents included a "great bloody cloud rising out of the north and covering the heavens" even as the young Æþelræd was being crowned. The year 989 had seen the return of Halley's comet. Eilmer of Malmesbury, the fanous "flying monk" recorded in Chester's Polychronicon, may have seen Halley in 989, as he wrote of it in 1066:


 * "You've come, have you? ... You've come, you source of tears to many mothers, you evil. I hate you! It is long since I saw you; but as I see you now you are much more terrible, for I see you brandishing the downfall of my country. I hate you!"

Danegeld
An English payment of 10,000 Roman pounds (3,300 kg) of silver was first made in 991 following the Viking victory at the Battle of Maldon, when Æthelred was advised by Sigeric the Serious, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the aldermen of the south-western provinces to buy off the Vikings rather than continue the armed struggle. In recent years some doubt has been cast on whether Sigeric actually made the suggestion, the consequences of which appear to have virtually bankrupted him. Rudyard Kipling would later write:


 * " ..And that is called paying the Dane-geld; But we’ve proved it again and again, That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld, You never get rid of the Dane."

The House of Leofric
On November 13, A.D. 1002, Æthelred Unræd, ruler of the English, "ordered slain all the Danish men who were in England", according to a royal charter. Æthelred’s order led to what is known as the St. Brice’s Day Massacre, named for the saint’s feast day on which it fell. The event has long been cloaked in mystery and misinformation. Archaeology, so far, has had little to offer in the matter of what actually happened and how many people died that day. Rumours of a Viking coup may have been circulating for some time. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a somewhat biased tenth-century account:


 * "..it was told the king, that they would beshrew him of his life, and afterwards all his council, and then have his kingdom without any resistance."

Leofwine
Leofwine (died in or after 1023) was appointed Ealdorman of the Hwicce by King Æthelred II of England in 994. The etymology of the name Hwicce "the Hwiccians" is uncertain. It is the plural of a masculine i-stem. It may be from a tribal name of "the Hwiccians", or it may be from a clan name. One etymology comes from the common noun hwicce "ark, chest, locker", in reference to the appearance of the territory as a flat-bottomed valley bordered by the Cotswolds and the Malvern Hills. A second possibility would be a derivation from a given name, "the people of the man called Hwicce", but no such name has been recorded. Eilert Ekwall connected the name, on linguistic grounds, with that of the Gewisse, the predecessors of the West Saxons. Also suggested by A. H. Smith is a tribal name that was in origin pejorative, meaning "the cowards", cognate to quake, Old Norse hvikari "coward". It is also likely that "Hwicce" referred to the native tribes living along the banks of the River Severn, in the area of today's 'Worcester', who were weavers using rushes and reeds growing profusely to create baskets. The modern word 'wicker', which is thought to be of Scandinavian origin, describes the type of baskets produced by these early people.

The territory of the Hwicce was a kingdom in the western midlands in the early Anglo-Saxon period, which soon became a subdivision of Mercia. Leofwine was the son of Ælfwine, who is otherwise unknown, but the family appears to come from the East Midlands. Leofwine and his sons were remembered by the Worcester church as spoliators who seized church land, but as benefactors by East Midlands religious establishments.

Under Æthelred, Leofwine's sphere of office was in the Hwicce areas of Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, but these counties were given to Danes by King Cnut soon after he gained the throne in 1016. However, Leofwine kept his rank and may have been appointed Ealdorman of Mercia in 1017 in succession to Eadric Streona, but Leofwine's eldest son Northman was murdered on Cnut's orders in the same year. Leofwine is last recorded as a charter witness in 1023 and probably died soon afterwards. His son Leofric was Earl of Mercia by 1032. Leofwine had two others sons, Edwine, who died at the Battle of Rhyd-y-groes in 1039, and Godwine.

Leofric
Becoming Earl of Mercia, which occurred at some date previous to 1032, made him one of the most powerful men in the land, second only to the ambitious Earl Godwin of Wessex, among the mighty earls. Leofric may have had some connection by marriage to Ælfgifu of Northampton, the first wife of Cnut, which might help to explain why he was the chief supporter of her son Harold Harefoot against Harthacnut, Cnut's son by Emma of Normandy, when Cnut died in 1035. However, Harold died in 1040 and was succeeded by his brother Harthacnut, who made himself unpopular by implementing heavy taxation during his short reign. Two of his tax-collectors were killed at Worcester by angry locals. The king was so enraged by this that in 1041 he ordered Leofric and his other earls to plunder and burn the city, and lay waste to the surrounding area. This command must have sorely tested Leofric, since Worcester was the cathedral city of the Hwicce, his people.

When Harthacnut died suddenly in 1042, he was succeeded by his half-brother Edward the Confessor. Leofric loyally supported Edward when Edward came under threat at Gloucester, from Earl Godwin, in 1051. Leofric and Earl Siward of Northumbria gathered a great army to meet that of Godwin. His advisors counseled Edward that battle would be folly, since there would be important members of the nobility on both sides; the loss of these men, should many die in battle, would leave England open to its enemies. So in the end the issue was resolved by less bloody means: in accordance with Leofric's advice the settlement of the dispute was referred to the Witenagemot, and Earl Godwin and his family were outlawed for a time. Earl Leofric's power was then at its height. But in 1055 Leofric's own son Ælfgar was outlawed, "without any fault", says the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Ælfgar raised an army in Ireland and Wales and brought it to Hereford, where he clashed with the army of Earl Ralph of Herefordshire and severely damaged the town. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle wryly comments "And then when they had done most harm, it was decided to reinstate Earl Ælfgar".

Leofric died in 1057 at his estate at Kings Bromley in Staffordshire. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he died on 30 September, but the chronicler of Worcester gives the date as 31 August. Both agree that he was buried in Coventry at St Mary's Priory and Cathedral. Leofric was succeeded by his son Ælfgar as earl.

Eadred (May 26, 946 - November 23, 955). A son of King Edward the Elder by his third wife.

 * 946: Eadred becomes king at age 23, following the assassination of his older brother, Edmund I;
 * 947: Wulfstan I, Archbishop of York invites the Viking leader Eric Bloodaxe to become King of Northumbria;
 * 948: King Eadred expels Eric Bloodaxe from Northumbria;
 * c.950: Leofwine born;
 * 952: Constantine II dies, Eric Bloodaxe reconquers York, Eadred imprisons Wulfstan of York;
 * 954: Eric Bloodaxe is killed at Stainmore allowing King Eadred to recover York and Northumbria;
 * 955: Eadred dies (aged 32) unmaried;

Eadwig Elder son of Edmund I

 * 955: Eadwig becomes king at age 15;
 * 956: Dunstan exiled;
 * 957: Nobles agreed to divide the kingdom along the Thames, with Eadwig keeping Wessex and Kent in the south and Edgar (aged 14) ruling in the north.
 * 959: Eadwig dies (aged about 19)

Edgar (The Pacific) (October 1, 959 – July 8, 975). Younger son of Edmund I

 * 959: Edgar becomes king at age 16;
 * 960: Edward the Martyr born;
 * 962: Edgar abducted and married Wulfthryth of Wilton;
 * 964: Wulfthryth was returned to Wilton Abbey, along with their child, and became a nun. Edgar married, possibly for a third time, to Ælfthryth, widow of Æthelwald, Ealdorman of East Anglia;
 * 966: Edmund Atheling born;
 * 968: Æthelred the Unready born;
 * 970: Edmund Atheling dies;
 * 973: Edgar sails to Chester, and receives homage from the rulers of Alba, Strathclyde, Wales, and the Kingdom of the Isles;
 * 975: Edgar dies (aged about 34)

Edward (The Martyr, Eadweard II) (July 8, 975 - March 18, 978). Eldest son of King Edgar

 * c975: Church of St. Peter and St. Paul was re-dedicated to St. Werburgh and St Oswald. Edward becomes king at age 13;
 * c978: Edward murdered, aged 16;

Æthelred (the Unready: Old English Æþelred Unræd) (March 18, 978 – April 23, 1016). Younger son of King Edgar.

 * 978: Æþelræd becomes king, aged 12. English troops possibly supplied by Ælfhere of Mercia are deployed on the Lleyn Peninsula on behalf of King Hywel ab Ieuaf of Gwynedd in order to prevent his uncle, Iago ab Idwal, invading with Viking allies from Dublin.


 * 980, The Danes renew their raids on England attacking Chester and Southampton. Manx Vikings led by King Godfred I ally themselves with Prince Custennin of Gwynedd and raid Anglesey and the Lleyn Peninsula. Custennin is killed. AS Chronicle records that Vikings ravage Chester, doing great damage: "the county of Chester was plundered by the pirate-army of the North". Three of the four Anglo-Saxon coin hoards found in the city, those from Castle Esplanade, Pemberton's Parlour, and Eastgate Street, have been assigned to roughly the same period and interpreted as linked to that raid.


 * 983: Mercian Earl Ælfhere campaigns against Brycheiniog and Morgannwg, with the aid of the Welsh king Hywel ap Ieuaf (Annales Cambriae).


 * 988: Dunstan dies


 * 989: Comet Halley revisits.


 * 991: Battle of Maldon. An English payment of 10,000 Roman pounds (3,300 kg) of silver was made as the first Danegeld.


 * 994: Leofwine appointed Ealdorman of the Hwicce;


 * 1000: Chester served as the naval base for an attack on Cumberland and Man: "This year the king went into Cumberland, and nearly laid waste the whole of it with his army, whilst his navy sailed about Chester with the design of co-operating with his land- forces; but, finding it impracticable, they ravaged Anglesey"




 * 1002: St. Brice's Day massacre;


 * 1004: Sweyn was in East Anglia, where he sacked Norwich;


 * 1006: supernova SN 1006 visible from Switzerland but not Britain. Some sources state that the star was bright enough to cast shadows, or read by;


 * 1007: Danish expedition bought off by tribute money of £36,000;


 * 1009: The Danish army, led by Thorkell the Tall and his brother Hemming, was the most formidable force to invade England since Æthelred became king. It harried England until it was bought off by £48,000 in April 1012.


 * 1010: Wulfric, Earl of Mercia and Chief Councillor of State to King Ethelred died (12 October). Leofwine becomes earl of Chester;


 * 1013: English resistance to the Danes collapsed and Sweyn Forkbeard conquered the country, forcing Ethelred into exile, but after his victory Sweyn lived for only another five weeks;


 * 1014: Canute the Great was proclaimed King of England by the Danish army in England, but was forced out of England that year.


 * 1015: Canute launched a new invasion.


 * 1016: Ethelred's control of England was already collapsing once again when he died at London on 23 April. Ethelred was buried in St Paul's and was succeeded by his son, Edmund Ironside.

Edmund (Ironside) (April 23, 1016 - November 30, 1016). Second son of King Æthelred.

 * 1016: Chester ravaged by Edmund Ironside and Uhtred, Earl of Northumbria because Cheshire men would not fight against the Danes (under Canute). Edmund did not last long - a popular story has it that soldiers acting in favor of Canute hid in the cess-pit of a lavatory and stabbed Edmund in the bowels when he sat down to relieve himself (or that the Ealdorman of Chester Eadric Streona arranged for him to be shot from the midden with a primitive crossbow - the "Skåne Lockbow"), though this has never been proven and he may well simply have died of injuries sustained in battle. In any event, the present writer hopes that there is no truth in the monk's comment: "Stephanus (assassin) suffered divers others ere the king sat"

Canute (The Great) (1016 - November 12, 1035). A son of the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard (who invaded England and ruled unopposed for only five weeks).

 * In this year [1017] King Cnut succeeded to all the kingdom of England and divided it into four, Wessex for himself, East Anglia for Thorkel, Mercia for Eadric, and Northumbria for Eric. And in this yesr Ealdorman Eadric was killed, and Northman, son of Ealdorman Leofwine, and Æthelweard, son of Æthelmær the Stout, and Brihtric, son of Ælfheah of Devonshire. And King Cnut exiled the Ætheling Eadwig and afterwards had him killed


 * 1017: Eadric ("the grasper") ealdorman of the Saxon Mercians is killed on the orders of Canute. The "Encomium" says that Cnut ordered Earl Eric Haakonsson to "pay this man what we owe him" and he chopped off his head with his axe. William of Malmesbury describes Eadric Streona as "the refuse of mankind and a reproach unto the English". Northman possibly a retainer of Eadric and a son of Leofwine is also killed. Mercia may have been given to Leofric (Northman's brother) immediately after that. Leofric may have married Lady Godiva about this time. John of Worcester related that:


 * In July Cnut married Ælfgifu, that is Emma, Æthelred's widow, and at Christmas, when he was at London, ordered the treacherous Ealdorman Eadric (ducem Edricum) to be killed in the palace because he feared that some day he would be entrapped by Eadric's treachery, just as Eadric's former lords Æthelred and Edmund, that is Ironside, were frequently deceived, and he ordered his body to be thrown over the city wall, and left unburied. Ealdorman Northman, son of Ealdorman Leofwine, that is brother of Leofric the Ealdorman (dux Northmannus filius Leofuuini ducis, frater scilicet Leofrici comitis), and Brihtric, son of Ælfheah, governor of Devon, were killed with him, although blameless. The king made Leofric ealdorman (ducem) in place of his brother Northman, and afterwards held him in great affection.


 * 1020: Coin minting dyes are produced at Chester for Sihtric Silkbeard, king of Dublin


 * 1020: Norwegian king Olaf Haraldsson (he of St Olave - the building dates from 1611), was killed.

Harold I (Harefoot) (November 12, 1035 – March 17, 1040). Son of Canute.

 * 1035, King Cnut died at Shaftesbury leaving the rule of the country in dispute between Harthacnut (the son of Emma) and Harold Harefoot (the son of Aelfgifu). The Earls of Northumbria and Mercia (Chester) support Harold's claim while Earl Godwine (father of Harold II) supports Harthacanute's.


 * 1039, Edwin (brother of Leofric of Chester) was killed in battle (at Rhyd y Groes near Welshpool) by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn.

Harthacanute (March 17, 1040 – June 8, 1042). Son of Canute.

 * 1041, Harthacanute orders Leofric and his other earls to plunder and burn Worcester, and lay waste the whole area

Edward the Confessor (Eadweard II) (1042 – 5 January 1066). Son of Ethelred the Unready.

 * 1043 Earl Leofric (comes of Chester), founds Coventry Abbey; gives grant of land by charter;


 * c1047: Hugh of Avranches born;


 * 1051: Earl Leofric supported Edward the Confessor when he came under threat at Gloucester from Earl Godwin. Through his efforts civil war was averted, and in accordance with his advice the settlement of the dispute was referred to the Witan. Earl Godwin and his family were outlawed for a time;


 * 1052: The historical Macbeth, then king of Scotand, was involved indirectly in the strife in the Kingdom of England between Godwin, Earl of Wessex and Edward the Confessor when he received a number of Norman exiles from England in his court;


 * 1053: Godwin of Essex dies;


 * 1054, July 4th, supernova SN 1054 (the precursor of the Crab nebula) appears in Taurus. Edward's Earl of Northumbria, Siward, led a very large invasion of Scotland. The campaign led to a bloody battle in which the Annals of Ulster report 3,000 Scots and 1,500 English dead, (i.e. very many on both sides) and one of Siward's sons and a son-in-law were among the dead;


 * 1055, Ælfgar son of Earl Leofric was outlawed. 24 October - Gruffydd ap Llywelyn and Ælfgar, exiled son of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, raid England, and sack Hereford. Harold Godwinson makes peace with Ælfgar, who returns from exile;


 * 1057, Chester Chronicle records: "Leofric, earl of Chester, in the time of S. Edward, king and confessor, repaired, and conferred privileges on the collegiate church of S. John the Baptist, and the church of S. Werburg situate within the city as William of Malmesbury relates in his Chronicle, De Gestis Anglorum, Book 2". Earl Leofric dies. He is succeeded by Ælfgar. Harold Godwinson becomes Earl of Wessex when his father Godwin choked on a piece of bread while denying any disloyalty to the king. Ælfgar is again exiled for treason. The shrine of St Werburgh supposedly strikes an attacking Welsh king Gruffydd ap Llywelyn blind;


 * 1058 Ælfgar, supported by the Welsh and Norwegians, unsuccessfully attacks the English coast; he is nonetheless re-instated as Earl of Mercia. Edith of Mercia (Ealdgyth) marries her first husband Gruffydd ap Llywelyn of Wales, King of Gwynedd, Powys, Gwent, Glywysing, and Deheubarth;


 * 1062, Ælfgar, son of Earl Leofric of Mercia dies. Edwin becomes the last Saxon Earl of Chester (his sister, Ealdgyth will later marry Harold II);


 * 1063, Earl Harold (later Harold II) attacked Gruffydd ap Llywelyn's (for ap Cynan, see below) palace at Rhuddlan in Flintshire using Chester as his base. Gruffydd dies (at the hands of his own troops);


 * 1064, Harold marries Ealdgyth (sister of Edwin, Earl of Chester and recent widow of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn) and divides Gruffydd ap Llywelyn's realm into the traditional kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys, the rule of which were given to Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and his brother Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn;


 * 1065, Earl Edwin's younger brother, Morcar was elected Earl of Northumbria when Tostig Godwinson was ejected by the Northumbrians;

Harold II(5 January 1066 (aged 44) — 14 October 1066). Had no claim to the throne by birth.

 * 1066: Halley's comet puts in an appearance.

Sources and Links

 * The Short Life and Sad Death of Edward the Martyr;
 * THE REPERCUSSIONS ON CHESTER'S PROSPERITY OF THE VIKING DESCENT ON CHESHIRE IN 980: a paper from 1964;
 * Danegeld: The Land Tax in England, 991-1162;
 * Vengeance on the Vikings: the St Brice Day Massacre;