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Alfred the Great’s Daughter Was a Badass Queen and Military Leader
AEthelflaed Lady of the Mercians was the only woman known to have ruled in her own right in Anglo-Saxon Britain
We all learned in school about Alfred the Great. He was one of the only two British monarchs to be remembered by history as “The Great”, he fought the Vikings, made the noblemen in his court learn how to read, and allegedly burned some cakes- of which I had written before.
But did they ever tell you he had a daughter who matched him in greatness? Meet AEthelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, who ruled her land like women of her time very seldom did. She was beloved by her subjects, whom she protected from Viking invaders with flawless military strategy and a scarily efficient network of spies; and she even raised the first king of England as we know it. Not to mention she did all that without burning one single cake.
The accession of a female ruler in Mercia, the English kingdom occupying what is now the Midlands, is described by the historian Ian Walker as "one of the most unique events in early medieval history". Anglo-Norman chronicler William of Malmesbury described her as “A powerful accession to [her brother Edward’s] party, the delight of his subjects, the dread of his enemies, a woman of enlarged soul".
12th Century historian Henry of Huntingdon describes her in one poem:
Heroic Elflede! great in martial fame,
A man in valour, woman though in name:
Thee warlike hosts, thee, nature too obey’d,
Conqu’ror o’er both, though born by sex a maid.
Chang’d be thy name, such honour triumphs bring.
A queen by title, but in deeds a king.
Heroes before the…
