Beornred (

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

: ''Beornræd'') (?-757) was a Mercian

Thane Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven taluk ...

who was briefly

King of Mercia The Kingdom of Mercia was a state in the English Midlands from the 6th century to the 10th century. For some two hundred years from the mid-7th century onwards it was the dominant member of the Heptarchy and consequently the most powerful of the ...

in 757. Beornred ascended the throne following the murder of King Æthelbald. However, he was defeated by Offa and forced to flee the country, and was killed that same year. There is very little information about him and mentions about him are commonly brief. According to the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of A ...

'', in 757: "...Æthelbald, king of Mercia, was killed at

Seckington Seckington is a village and civil parish in North Warwickshire, about northeast of Tamworth. The B4593 road between Tamworth and Appleby Magna runs through the parish, passing about north of the village. Seckington shares a parish council wi ...

, and his body rests at Repton; and he ruled 41 years. And then Beornred succeeded to the kingdom, and held it a little while and unhappily; and that same year Offa put Beornred to flight and succeeded to the kingdom, and held it 39 years..." According to

Ingulf Ingulf ( la, Ingulphus; died 16 November 1109) was the Benedictine abbot of Crowland from 1087. Life Ingulf was an Englishman who, having travelled to England on diplomatic business as secretary of William, Duke of Normandy, in 1051, was made A ...

, an 11th-century Benedictine abbot, Beornred was regarded as a tyrant, while Roger of Wendover, a thirteenth-century chronicler, states that he was an unjust king and that the people of Mercia rose in rebellion against him. He was possibly involved in his predecessor's death. According to Professor

Michelle P. Brown Michelle P. Brown is Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. She was previously (1986–2004) Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts at the British Library. She has been a historical c ...

, Beornred has been considered by some historians to have been part of the same dynasty as Beorhtric of Wessex, as well as several other prominent Anglo-Saxon nobles whose names begin with the letter B.

References

External links

* Mercian monarchs Burials at St. Wystan's Church, Repton 8th-century English monarchs 769 deaths Year of birth unknown {{UK-royal-stub

See also

References

External links