Marcia was the legendary third female ruler and a

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

of the

Britons British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs modern British citizenship and nationality, w ...

, as recounted by

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth (; ; ) was a Catholic cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle '' The History of ...

. She is presented by Geoffrey as "one of the most illustrious and praiseworthy of women in early British history".Barefield, Laura D., ''Gender and History in Medieval English Romance and Chronicle'', Peter Lang, New York, 2003, p.27.

Mythical account

Marcia became

Queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

when she married GuithelinSacred Texts website, ''Histories of the Kings of Britain (Book III)'', by Geoffry of Monmouth, tr. by Sebastian Evans, (1904)
/ref> ( Welsh: Kyhylyn) and ruled as regent for her son, Sisillius II. In her youth, she was a noblewoman and knowledgeable in all the arts. Queen Marcia ruled Britain for about five years after Guithelin's death because their son was just seven years old at the time. Geoffrey says that Queen Marcia was a learned woman who codified the Marcian Laws, the ''Lex Martiana.'' King

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...

was later to translate the code into

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

as the basis of Mercian Laws, believing them to have been named after the much later Saxon kingdom of Mercia. Sisillius (Welsh: Saessyllt), came to the throne in ca 358 BC on Queen Marcia's death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcia 4th-century BC women regents British traditional history Ancient queens consort Ancient European women Legendary monarchs 4th-century BC regents