The Acting Witan of Mercia is a

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

concept based in the Midlands of England. It is the belief that the United Kingdom is in illegal occupation of the ancient English region of

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era= Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ...

, as a result of the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

and the perceived

Norman Yoke The Norman yoke is a term denoting the oppressive aspects of feudalism in England, attributed to the impositions of William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England, his retainers and their descendants. The term was used in English nation ...

, and the Acting

Witan The Witan () was the king's council in Anglo-Saxon England from before the seventh century until the 11th century. It was composed of the leading magnates, both ecclesiastic and secular, and meetings of the council were sometimes called the Wit ...

claims to be its de jure and acting

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

Origins

The Mercia Movement was formed in 1993 to produce the blueprint for the Draft Constitution for Mercia, along with a work entitled 'The Mercia Manifesto: A blueprint for the future inspired by the past'. The Mercian Constitutional Convention was formed in Birmingham on 17 March 2001 and decided to accept the Draft Constitution for Mercia as the basis for its deliberations.''Bedfordshire on Sunday'', 25. 5. 2003.''Central News'', Central TV, 29. 5. 2003. The Convention debated the draft for over two years and passed a series of amendments to it, although the essence of the draft remained the same and most of its content was unaltered. The Convention published the final draft of its work as ''The Constitution Of Mercia'', a 21-page booklet, in 2003. It consisted of 28 Articles and numerous sub-articles and claimed to be 'the ultimate legal authority in Mercia', stated in Article 1.1 to 'comprise its historic twenty shires ( /small>

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

, /small> Buckinghamshire, /small>

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, /small> Cheshire, /small>

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, /small>

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, /small>

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...

, /small> Hertfordshire, /small>

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

, 0/small> Leicestershire, 1/small>

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, 2/small>

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, 3/small>

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, 4/small>

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

, 5/small> Oxfordshire, 6/small> Rutland, 7/small>

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, 8/small> Staffordshire, 9/small>

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

and 0/small>

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

) or such of these as find a common Mercian identity and wish to be included in the region'.''Sunday Mercury'', 14. 10. 2007, pages 12-13.''Sunday Mercury'', 21. 10. 2007, page 41. The Constitution offered a new holistic society in Mercia, based on organic democracy, co-operative community and ecological balance.

Formation and campaigns

On 29 May 2003,

Jeff Kent Jeffrey Franklin Kent (born March 7, 1968) is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1992–2008 for the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Cleveland Indians, San Francis ...

, Joyce Millington, and David Bastable issued the "Declaration of Mercian Independence", in Victoria Square,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, in the heart of the region.The Acting Witan of Mercia minutes and www.independentmercia.org/news. After the declaration, the Convention renamed itself the Acting Witan of Mercia, which aimed to spearhead the full democratisation of the region and the re-establishment of its de facto independence. On 29 May 2004, the first Mercian Independence Day anniversary, members of the Acting Witan launched a new currency for the region, the Mercian penny, in

Victoria Square, Birmingham Victoria Square is a pedestrianised public square in Birmingham, England. It is home to both the Town Hall and the Council House, and directly adjacent to Chamberlain Square. It is named in honour of Queen Victoria. The square is often co ...

, and handed out the coins free to people who registered as citizens of Mercia. By May 2009, over 2,000 people had registered as Mercian citizens.The Acting Witan of Mercia minutes. On 26 February 2010, outside the

Potteries Museum & Art Gallery The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery is in Bethesda Street, Hanley, one of the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. Admission is free. One of the four local authority museums in the city, the other three being Gladstone Pottery Museu ...

, in Stoke-on-Trent, the convener of the Acting Witan (Jeff Kent) and the Acting Sheriff of Staffordshire (Philip Snow) made a declaration claiming the Staffordshire Hoard to be the property of the citizens of Mercia.''The Sentinel'', 27. 2. 2010, page 2.

References

External links

*http://www.independentmercia.org Advocacy groups in the United Kingdom Devolution in the United Kingdom Mercia Separatism in the United Kingdom Secessionist organizations in Europe 2001 establishments in England

Origins

Formation and campaigns

See also

References

Further reading

External links