Frederick George Meeson Beck

“ With this exception, Watling Street, the Ouse and the Lea, continued to be the boundary between Mercia and the Danish kingdom of East Anglia down to the death of Æthelred, between 910 and 912. The government was then carried on by Æthelflaed, who built a number of fortresses, and in conjunction with her brother, King Edward the Elder, succeeded in expelling the Danes from Derby and Leicester by the year 917–18. After her death in the latter year her daughter Ælfwyn was soon deprived of the government by Edward, and Mercia was definitely annexed to Wessex. ”

“ In 872 the Danes occupied London on their return from invading Wessex, after which a truce was again made. In 873 the Danes encamped at Torksey in Lincolnshire, and although another truce ensued, they advanced in the following year to Repton, and Burgred was driven from the kingdom. He went to Rome, where he remained until his death. In 874 Ceolwulf, a king’s thegn or baron, was made king by the Danes, and definitely acknowledged their overlordship. In 877, after the second invasion of Wessex, the Danes seem to have taken the eastern part of Mercia into their own hands. ”

“ He was defeated and slain, however, by Oswio, at a river called the Winwaed. Mercia then came again under Northumbrian rule. Peada, the eldest son of Penda, was allowed to govern the part south of the Trent, while north Mercia was put in charge of Northumbrian officials. Penda, although he did not prohibit the preaching of Christianity, had remained a heathen to the end of his life. His death was followed by the conversion of his kingdom. Peada had embraced Christianity on his marriage with a daughter of Oswio, and under him the first Mercian bishopric was founded. ”