Everything about Wiglaf Of Mercia totally explained
Wiglaf (died 839) was King of
Mercia from 827 to 829 and again from 830 until his death. His ancestry is uncertain: the 820s were a period of dynastic conflict within Mercia and the genealogy of several of the kings of this time is unknown. Wigstan, his grandson, was later recorded as a descendant of
Penda of Mercia, so it's possible that Wiglaf was descended from Penda, one of the most powerful seventh-century kings of Mercia.
Wiglaf succeeded
Ludeca, who was killed campaigning against
East Anglia. His first reign coincided with the continued rise of the rival
Anglo-Saxon kingdom of
Wessex under
Egbert. Egbert drove Wiglaf from the throne in 829, and ruled Mercia directly for a year. Wiglaf recovered the kingdom in 830, probably by force although it may be that Wiglaf remained subject to Egbert's overlordship. Mercia never regained the south-eastern kingdoms, but
Berkshire and perhaps
Essex came back into Mercian control. The causes of the fluctuating fortunes of Mercia and Wessex are a matter of speculation, but it may be that
Carolingian support influenced both Egbert's ascendancy and the subsequent Mercian recovery. Although Wiglaf appears to have restored Mercia's independence, the recovery was short-lived, and later in the century Mercia was divided between Wessex and the Vikings.
Wiglaf died in about 839, and was probably succeeded by
Beorhtwulf, though one tradition records his son,
Wigmund as having reigned briefly. Wiglaf is buried at
Repton, near
Derby.
Historical context
Mercia had been the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom for most of the 8th century, with
Offa, who died in 796, the most powerful king of his time.
Coenwulf, who took the Mercian throne shortly after Offa's death, was able to retain Mercian influence in the kingdoms of
Kent,
East Anglia and
Essex, and made frequent incursions across
Offa's Dyke into what is now
Wales. However, Coenwulf's death, in 821, marked the beginning of a period in which the political map of England was dramatically redrawn. Although one eleventh-century source claims that Coenwulf's son,
Cynehelm, briefly succeeded to the throne, it's more likely that
Ceolwulf, Coenwulf's brother, was the next king. He reigned for only two years before being deposed.
The next king,
Beornwulf, was of no known royal line, though it has been conjectured on the basis of the common initial letter B that he was connected to the later kings
Beorhtwulf and
Burgred. It was probably Beornwulf whose defeat of the
kingdom of Powys and destruction of the fortress of Deganwy are recorded in a Welsh chronicle, the
Brut y Tywysogion, in 823, and it's clear that Mercia was still a formidable military power at that time. However, in 825 Beornwulf was decisively defeated by
Egbert of Wessex at the battle of
Ellendun, and died the next year in an unsuccessful invasion of East Anglia. His successor, Ludeca, of unknown lineage, also invaded East Anglia, and like Beornwulf died while campaigning there, in 827. These defeats, in rapid succession, are likely to have exacerbated the apparent dynastic contention for Mercian royal authority. Outside Mercia, the power of the kingdom of Wessex, to the south, was strong and growing when Wiglaf came to the throne. The other theory is that a number of kin-groups with local power-bases may have competed for the succession. The sub-kingdoms of the
Hwicce, the
Tomsæte, and the unidentified Gaini are examples of such power-bases. Marriage alliances could also have played a part. Competing magnates, those called in charters "dux" or "princeps" (that is, leaders), may have brought the kings to power. In this model, the Mercian kings are little more than leading noblemen.
A medieval tradition preserved at
Evesham records that Wiglaf's grandson
Wigstan was a descendant of
Coenred, who was a grandson of Penda. Wigstan's grandfathers were Wiglaf and Ceolwulf I; the tradition might be interpreted to mean that Wiglaf descended from Penda, but it might also be Wiglaf's wife, Cynethryth, who was descended from Penda. Cynethryth's name is known from two of Wiglaf's charters, dated 831 and 836, and historian
Pauline Stafford notes that her name "seems to hark back to the kin of Coenwulf if not earlier royal lines", but as with Wiglaf himself, nothing certain is known of her ancestry. A different connection is mentioned in the medieval
Life of St. Wigstan, which asserts that the "B" and "W" families were related.
Known descendants of Wiglaf include his son,
Wigmund, and his grandson, Wigstan, Other possible descendants of Wiglaf include the last Mercian king,
Ceolwulf II. A large number of
duces or
praefecti (
ealdormen) with similar names are found as witnesses in Mercian charters of the late 8th and early 9th centuries, including Wigbald, Wigberht, Wigcga, Wigferth, and Wigheard, but there's no evidence beyond the similarity of names to show that there was a relation between these nobles.
First reign and defeat by Wessex
The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records Wiglaf's accession in the entry for 827 (erroneously recorded under the year 825). The entry reads "Her Ludecan Myrcna cing 7 his fif ealdormenn mid him man ofsloh, 7 Wiglaf feng to rice", which means "Here Ludeca, King of Mercia, was killed, and his five ealdormen with him, and Wiglaf succeeded to the kingdom". In 829, Egbert of Wessex successfully invaded Mercia and drove Wiglaf from his throne. The immediate consequence of Egbert's defeat of Beornwulf in 825 at the battle of Ellendun had been the loss of Mercian control over the south-eastern kingdoms of Kent,
Sussex, Essex and East Anglia; Beornwulf's and Ludeca's disastrous military expeditions against East Anglia in 826 and 827 also confirmed Mercia's loss of control of that kingdom. Egbert's defeat of Wiglaf in 829 completed his domination of southern England, These events led the anonymous scribe who wrote the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to describe Egbert as the eighth
bretwalda, or "Ruler of Britain".
Second reign
The Chronicle reports that in 830, Wiglaf "obtained the kingdom of Mercia again". Wiglaf's return to the throne has generally been taken by historians to indicate the end of Egbert's overlordship of Mercia. In particular, historian
Frank Stenton argued that the wording of the Chronicle makes it probable that Wiglaf recovered the kingdom by force, and that if Egbert had given the kingdom to Wiglaf this would have been recorded. A charter of 836 has also been cited as evidence that Wiglaf was acting as an independent ruler at that time; it records a council at
Croft, in
Leicestershire, attended by the
Archbishop of Canterbury and eleven bishops, including some from West Saxon sees. Wiglaf refers to the assembly as "my bishops,
duces, and magistrates", indicating not only a recovery of control over his own territory, but some level of authority over the southern church. It is significant that Wiglaf was still able to call together such a group of notables; the West Saxons, even if they were able to do so, held no such councils. Essex, which had been a Mercian dependency, may have been brought back under Mercian overlordship: a King Sigeric of the East Saxons, described as a
minister of Wiglaf's, witnessed a charter in
Hertfordshire at some point between 829 and 837. London, where Egbert apparently lost control of the mint, remained a Mercian town through Wiglaf's second reign and beyond. In East Anglia, King
Æthelstan minted coins, possibly as early as 827, but more likely c. 830 after Egbert's influence was reduced with Wiglaf's return to power in Mercia. This demonstration of independence on East Anglia's part isn't surprising, as it was probably Æthelstan who was responsible for the defeat and death of both Beornwulf and Ludeca. The lack of detailed information about Mercian and Wessex administration makes other theories hard to evaluate: for example it has been suggested that the West Saxons had a stable tributary system that contributed to its success, or that Wessex's mixed Saxon and British population, natural frontiers, and capable administrators were key factors. This may show that Wiglaf remained subject to Egbert's overlordship after 830, though most historians consider Wiglaf to have recovered his independence at that time.
Charters survive from Wiglaf's reign; these were documents which granted land to followers or to churchmen, and were witnessed by the kings who had power to grant the land. One such charter of Wiglaf's, granting privileges to the monastery of
Hanbury in 836, doesn't exempt the monks from the duty of constructing ramparts, indicating a concern for defence. Wessex charters don't begin to show such exemptions until 846. These clauses are explained by the increasing
Viking presence throughout Britain: Viking raids had begun at least as early as 793, Viking armies were in Kent by 811, and from 835 Viking raids were a concern for the kings of Wessex.
The 836 charter also contains an early reference to the
trimoda necessitas, the set of three obligations that kings of the era placed on their subjects. These duties were the building of royal residences, the obligation to pay
feorm, or food-rent, to the king, and hospitality to the king's servants. The privileges granted came at a cost: Wiglaf and one ealdorman received life interests in estates, and another ealdorman was paid six hundred shillings in gold. It is perhaps notable that in common with many other Mercian charters of the 9th century, this grant is of privileges rather than land: the chronicler
Bede had commented a century earlier that excessive grants of land to monasteries were leaving kings without land to grant to the nobility, and the Mercian kings may have been responding to this problem.
Wiglaf was buried at
Repton, in a crypt which still can be seen. The monastery church on the site at that time was probably constructed by
Æthelbald of Mercia to house the royal mausoleum; other burials there include that of Wigstan, Wiglaf's grandson. The vault and columns in the crypt are not original and may date from Wiglaf's time rather than Aethelbald's.
[ ]
Further Information
Get more info on 'Wiglaf Of Mercia'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://wiglaf_of_mercia.totallyexplained.com">Wiglaf of Mercia Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
