Æthelred Mucel was an
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
noble from
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=
, ...
who was the father of
Ealhswith, the wife of
Alfred the Great.
Æthelred witnessed several charters between 867 and 895; he may be the same man as an
ealdorman
Ealdorman (, ) was a term in Anglo-Saxon England which originally applied to a man of high status, including some of royal birth, whose authority was independent of the king. It evolved in meaning and in the eighth century was sometimes applied ...
called 'Mucel' who witnessed Mercian charters between 836 and 866. It is possible he was the son of another Mucel who witnessed Mercian charters from 814 to the 840s. He is described by
Asser
Asser (; ; died 909) was a Welsh monk from St David's, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. About 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St David's and join the circle of learned men whom Alfred was recruiting for hi ...
as an ealdorman of the
Gaini
The Gaini were an Anglo-Saxon tribe which occupied part of the kingdom of Mercia.
The Gaini are only recorded in Asser's life of King Alfred the Great, written in 893, which stated that in 868, before he became king, Alfred married Ealhswith, da ...
, a tribe after whom
Gainsborough in
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a 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-west, Leicestershir ...
is believed to be named.
In his biography of
Alfred the Great, Asser says that in 868 Alfred "was betrothed to and married a wife from Mercia, of noble family, namely the daughter of Æthelred (who was known as Mucel), ealdorman of the Gaini. The woman's mother was called Eadburh, from the royal stock of the king of the Mercians. I often saw her myself with my very own eyes for several years before her death. She was a notable woman, who remained for many years after the death of her husband a chaste widow, until her death". The Gaini are otherwise unknown, but were probably one of the tribal divisions of the Mercians. According to the historian
Richard Abels, Eadburh was a descendant of King
Cenwulf of Mercia. The scholar, Ford Mommaerts-Browne, however, suggests that she was a grandchild of
Ceolwulf, through his daughter,
Ælfflæd Ælfflæd is a name of Anglo-Saxon England meaning Ælf (Elf) and flæd (beauty). It may refer to:
* Saint Ælfflæd of Whitby (654–714)
* Ælfflæd of Mercia, daughter of Offa, wife of King Æthelred I of Northumbria
* Ælfflæd, wife of Edwar ...
, and her husband,
Wigmund.
Æthelred had at least two children with Eadburh. They were:
*Ealdorman Æthelwulf (died 903)
[https://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLAND,%20AngloSaxon%20nobility.htm#AethelredMucilGainas]
*Ealhswith (died 5 December 902), who in 868 married Alfred the Great, by whom she had five children who survived to adulthood.
References
External links
* ; see also
9th-century English people
{{England-bio-stub