Ceolred (died 716) was king of

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

from 709 to 716.

Mercia at the end of the 7th century

By the end of the 7th century, England was almost entirely divided into kingdoms ruled by the

Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

, who had come to Britain two hundred years earlier. The kingdom of

occupied what is now the

English Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefordshi ...

, Yorke, "The Origins of Mercia" in Brown & Farr, ''Mercia'', pp. 15–16. bordered by

Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

to the north,

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

to the east, and

Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...

, the kingdom of the West Saxons, to the south.

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, the kingdom of the East Saxons, included London and lay between East Anglia and the

kingdom of Kent The Kingdom of the Kentish (; ), today referred to as the Kingdom of Kent, was an Early Middle Ages, early medieval kingdom in what is now South East England. It existed from either the fifth or the sixth century AD until it was fully absorbed i ...

.Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms''. The main source for this period is

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

's ''

Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' (), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the growth of Christianity. It was composed in Latin, and ...

'' (Ecclesiastical History of the English People), completed in about 731. Despite its focus on the history of the church, this work provides valuable information about the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Bede had informants who supplied him with details of the church's history in Wessex and Kent, but he appears to have had no such contact in Mercia.Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 100. Charters of Ceolred's, recording royal grants of land to individuals and to religious houses, also survive, as does 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 ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...

'', compiled in Wessex at the end of the 9th century, but incorporating earlier material.Simon Keynes, "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", in ''Blackwell Encyclopedia'', p. 35.

Ancestry and reign

Ceolred's father,

Æthelred Æthelred (; ) or Ethelred () is an Old English personal name (a compound of '' æþele'' and '' ræd'', meaning "noble counsel" or "well-advised") and may refer to: Anglo-Saxon England * Æthelred and Æthelberht, legendary princes of Kent * � ...

, came to throne of Mercia in 675 on the death of his brother,

Wulfhere Wulfhere or Wulfar (died 675) was King of Mercia from 658 until 675 AD. He was the first Christian king of all of Mercia, though it is not known when or how he converted from Anglo-Saxon paganism. His accession marked the end of Oswiu of Nort ...

. Æthelred abdicated in 704 and went to Rome, leaving the kingdom to his nephew Coenred, Wulfhere's son. The reduced prestige of both Ceolred and his predecessor, Coenred, may have stirred unrest among the Mercian nobility: Æthelbald was in exile during Ceolred's reign, and the survival of a hostile account of Ceolred may indicate a more general dissatisfaction with the ruling line.Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 112. In 709 Coenred abdicated in favour of Ceolred.Kelly, "Coenred" Coenred went to Rome and was made a

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

there by Pope Constantine.Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 174. Historians have generally accepted Bede's report of Coenred's abdication, but

Barbara Yorke Barbara Yorke FRHistS FSA (born 1951, Barbara Anne Elizabeth Troubridge) is a historian of Anglo-Saxon England, specialising in many subtopics, including 19th-century Anglo-Saxonism. She is currently emeritus professor of early Medieval histo ...

has suggested that he may not have relinquished his throne voluntarily. There are instances of kings being forcibly removed and placed in holy orders to make them ineligible for kingship; one such was King Osred II of Northumbria, who was forced into a monastery. Ceolred was

's son, but his mother was not

Osthryth Osthryth (died 697), queen of the Mercians, was the wife of King Æthelred and daughter of King Oswiu of Northumbria and his second wife Eanflæd. She probably married Æthelred before 679 and was murdered by the nobles of Mercia. Osthryth w ...

, Æthelred's only recorded wife.D. P. Kirby, ''The Earliest English Kings'' (1991, 2000 paperback), pages 108–109. He may have still been young at the time of his accession. Much of what is recorded about Ceolred is highly negative, accusing him of crimes and immorality; this may reflect poor treatment of the Church.Frank Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'' (1943, 1971, 1998 paperback), page 203. In 715, the Mercians under Ceolred fought a battle at "Woden's Barrow", either against the

West Saxons The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Saxons beli ...

under Ine or together with them against an unnamed opponent, possibly the British;''The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', translated by Michael Swanton (1996), manuscripts A and E, years 715 and 716. the outcome of this battle was not recorded.

Charters

Ceolred confirmed a grant to Waldhere, the Bishop of London, evidence that London was firmly under Mercian overlordship.Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp. 123–124. Later Mercian kings treated London as their direct possession, rather than as a province ruled by an underking, but Ceolred did not go that far.Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 203–205.Wormald, "The Age of Bede and Æthelbald", p. 95. Three possibly genuine charters of Ceolred's have survived.

Death and succession

In the next year, Ceolred died;

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB (born Wynfreth; 675 –5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of ...

later described him as dying in a crazed frenzy at a banquet, "gibbering with demons and cursing the priests of God". Æthelbald, a member of another branch of the Mercian royal line who had been forced into exile during Ceolred's rule, succeeded him.

Family

He was related to Coenred, the brother of Saint Werburgh of Mercia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ceolred 716 deaths Mercian monarchs 8th-century English monarchs Year of birth unknown Iclingas