Burgred or Burhred or Burghred was the king of Mercia

Mercia

Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...

 (852 - 874).

Rule

Burgred succeeded to the throne in 852, and in 852 or 853 called upon Ethelwulf of Wessex

Ethelwulf of Wessex

Æthelwulf, also spelled Aethelwulf or Ethelwulf; Old English: Æþelwulf, meaning 'Noble Wolf', was King of Wessex from 839 until his death in 858. He is the only son who can indisputably be accredited to King Egbert of Wessex. He conquered the kingdom of Kent on behalf of his father in 825, and was...

 to aid him in subduing northern Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. The request was granted and the campaign proved successful, the alliance being sealed by the marriage of Burgred to Æthelswith, daughter of Ethelwulf. In 868 the Mercian king appealed to Ethelred of Wessex

Ethelred of Wessex

King Æthelred I was King of Wessex from 865 to 871. He was the fourth son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex...

 and his brother, Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...

 for assistance against the Danes, who were in possession of Nottingham

Nottingham

Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

. The armies of Wessex

Wessex

The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...

 and Mercia did no serious fighting, and the Danes were allowed to remain through the winter. In 874 the march of the Danes from Lindsey

Kingdom of Lindsey

Lindsey or Linnuis is the name of a petty Anglo-Saxon kingdom, absorbed into Northumbria in the 7th century.It lay between the Humber and the Wash, forming its inland boundaries from the course of the Witham and Trent rivers , and the Foss Dyke between...

 to Repton

Repton

Repton is a village and civil parish on the edge of the River Trent floodplain in South Derbyshire, about north of Swadlincote. Repton is close to the county boundary with neighbouring Staffordshire and about northeast of Burton upon Trent.-History:...

 drove Burgred from his kingdom. They appointed a Mercian ealdorman Ceolwulf

Ceolwulf II of Mercia

Ceolwulf II was the last king of the Mercians. He succeeded Burgred of Mercia who was deposed in 874.-Dynastic background:...

 to replace him, demanding oaths of loyalty to the Danes. Burgred retired to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 and died there. He was buried, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

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 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...

, "in the church of Sancta Maria, in the school of the English nation

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

" in Rome.

Burgred is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the years 852, 853, 868, and 874.

Coins from the reign of Burgred — all bearing the spelling Burgred — have been found in several hoards. In December, 2003, silver coins from the reign of King Burgred were found at a site in Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, which may be the first actual Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

ship burial in England proper.

Sources

• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: MS A v. 3, Janet Bately (ed.), Brewer, Rochester (NY) 1986, ISBN 0-85991-103-9.

External links

• Burgred coins from Severn Stoke coin hoard