Wiglaf of Mercia
Encyclopedia
Wiglaf 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 is 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
.
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 is 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 is 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.
had placed royal kinsmen in control of conquered provinces. A Wigheard, who witnessed a charter in the late 7th century, was possibly a member of this line. 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, both of whom share the "Wig-" at the start of his name; alliterative family names are frequent in Anglo-Saxon dynasties and are often thought to suggest possible kinship. 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 is no evidence that these nobles were related beyond the similarity of their names.
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, and Egbert went on to receive the submission of Eanred of Northumbria
at Dore
, on the northern border of Mercia, later that year. These events led the anonymous scribe who wrote the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to describe Egbert as the eighth bretwalda
, or "Ruler of Britain".
Egbert remained in control of Wessex until some time in 830. He was in power there long enough to issue coins (struck in London) bearing the title "Rex M", for "Rex Merciorum", or "King of Mercia".
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. Berkshire also appears to have returned to Mercian control, though it is possible that this did not occur until after Wiglaf's reign. Perhaps more surprisingly, given the new strength of Wessex, it appears that the territory along the middle Thames which had formed the heartland of the Gewisse (the precursor people of the 9th-century West Saxon state) remained firmly in Mercian hands. In the west, either Wiglaf or his successor, Beorhtwulf, brought the Welsh back under Mercian control at some point prior to 853, when a rebellion against Mercia is recorded.
A charter of 831, which Wiglaf calls "the first year of my second reign", was issued at Wychbold
near Droitwich; it is significant that Wiglaf makes no reference to any overlordship of Egbert's in this charter, issued within a year of his recovery of power, and that he acknowledges his temporary deposition. 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 is not surprising, as it was probably Æthelstan who was responsible for the defeat and death of both Beornwulf and Ludeca.
Both Wessex's sudden rise to power in the late 820s, and the subsequent failure to retain this dominant position, have been examined by historians looking for underlying causes. Dynastic uncertainty has been suggested as the reason for Mercia's collapse; the 820s were certainly years of instability in the royal line. 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.
Another proposed explanation for the events of these years is that Wessex's fortunes were to some degree dependent on Carolingian support. The Rhenish and Frankish commercial networks collapsed at some time in the 820s or 830s, and in addition, a rebellion broke out in February 830 against Louis the Pious
, the first of a series of internal conflicts that lasted through the 830s and beyond. These distractions may have reduced Louis's ability to support Egbert. In this view, the withdrawal of Frankish influence would have left East Anglia, Mercia and Wessex to find a balance of power not dependent on outside aid.
Wiglaf's recovery, however, was not complete. Egbert's influence was certainly reduced after 830, but Mercia never recovered control of the south-east, except possibly for Essex; and East Anglia remained independent. It appears that Wulfred
, the archbishop of Canterbury at the time of Egbert's victory, remained loyal to Mercia: his coinage terminates when Egbert's Kentish coinage begins; and since a charter of 838 shows Egbert agreeing to return property to the church in Canterbury it is evident that he had seized property from the church earlier. Æthelwulf, Egbert's son, was king of Kent during his father's reign, and fear of continuing Mercian influence in Kent may have been the reason he gave estates to Christ Church, Canterbury.
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, does not exempt the monks from the duty of constructing ramparts, indicating a concern for defence. Wessex charters do not 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.
The date of Wiglaf's death is not given directly in any of the primary sources, but it can be determined from the known chronology of his successors. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that Burgred
was driven out of Mercia by the Vikings in 874, after a reign of twenty-two years, and charter evidence indicates that Burgred succeeded in the first half of 852. A regnal list credits his predecessor, Beorhtwulf, with a reign of thirteen years, which is consistent with date references in his charters. Hence it would appear that Wiglaf's reign ended in 839. A tradition records the death of Wigstan in 849, and refers to Wigstan's father, Wigmund, the son of Wiglaf, as having been king, but this is the only evidence for Wigmund having reigned and must be regarded with suspicion. The descent of Beorhtwulf is not known, but it appears that dynastic tension was a continuing factor in the Mercian succession, in contrast to Wessex, where Egbert established a dynasty that lasted with little disturbance throughout the 9th century.
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.
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...
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
Penda of Mercia
Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the...
, so it is possible that Wiglaf was descended from Penda, one of the most powerful seventh-century kings of Mercia.
Wiglaf succeeded Ludeca
Ludeca of Mercia
Ludeca was King of Mercia, from 826 to 827. He became king after the death of Beornwulf in battle against the rebellious East Angles, but he too was killed in another failed attempt to subjugate them in the next year....
, who was killed campaigning against East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
. His first reign coincided with the continued rise of the rival Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
kingdom 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...
under Egbert
Egbert of Wessex
Egbert was King of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839. His father was Ealhmund of Kent...
. 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
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
and perhaps Essex
Kingdom of Essex
The Kingdom of Essex or Kingdom of the East Saxons was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the so-called Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Kent. Kings of Essex were...
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
Beorhtwulf of Mercia
Beorhtwulf was King of the Mercians from 839 or 840 to 852. His ancestry is unknown, though he may have been connected to Beornwulf, who ruled Mercia in the 820s...
, though one tradition records his son, Wigmund
Wigmund of Mercia
Wigmund may have briefly reigned in Mercia in about 840, in succession to his father, Wiglaf of Mercia. He may, on the other hand, have predeceased his father and never been anything more than a co-ruler with him. He was himself the father of Wigstan of Mercia....
as having reigned briefly. Wiglaf is buried at 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:...
, near Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
.
Historical context
Offa of Mercia
Offa was the King of Mercia from 757 until his death in July 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æthelbald after defeating the other claimant Beornred. In the early years of Offa's reign it is likely...
, who died in 796, the most powerful king of his time. Coenwulf
Coenwulf of Mercia
Coenwulf was King of Mercia from December 796 to 821. He was a descendant of a brother of King Penda, who had ruled Mercia in the middle of the 7th century. He succeeded Ecgfrith, the son of Offa; Ecgfrith only reigned for five months, with Coenwulf coming to the throne in the same year that Offa...
, who took the Mercian throne shortly after Offa's death, was able to retain Mercian influence in the kingdoms of Kent
Kingdom of Kent
The Kingdom of Kent was a Jutish colony and later independent kingdom in what is now south east England. It was founded at an unknown date in the 5th century by Jutes, members of a Germanic people from continental Europe, some of whom settled in Britain after the withdrawal of the Romans...
, East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
and Essex
Kingdom of Essex
The Kingdom of Essex or Kingdom of the East Saxons was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the so-called Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Kent. Kings of Essex were...
, and made frequent incursions across Offa's Dyke
Offa's Dyke
Offa's Dyke is a massive linear earthwork, roughly followed by some of the current border between England and Wales. In places, it is up to wide and high. In the 8th century it formed some kind of delineation between the Anglian kingdom of Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of Powys...
into what is now 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...
. 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 is more likely that Ceolwulf
Ceolwulf I of Mercia
Ceolwulf I was King of Mercia and Kent, from 821 to 823. He was the brother of Cœnwulf, his predecessor, and was deposed by Beornwulf.-External links:* http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+186...
, Coenwulf's brother, was the next king. He reigned for only two years before being deposed.
The next king, Beornwulf
Beornwulf of Mercia
Beornwulf was King of Mercia from 823 to 825. His short reign saw the collapse of the Mercia's supremacy over the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy....
, 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
Beorhtwulf of Mercia
Beorhtwulf was King of the Mercians from 839 or 840 to 852. His ancestry is unknown, though he may have been connected to Beornwulf, who ruled Mercia in the 820s...
and Burgred
Burgred of Mercia
Burgred or Burhred or Burghred was the king of Mercia .-Rule:Burgred succeeded to the throne in 852, and in 852 or 853 called upon Ethelwulf of Wessex to aid him in subduing northern Wales. The request was granted and the campaign proved successful, the alliance being sealed by the marriage of...
. 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
Brut y Tywysogion
Brut y Tywysogion is one of the most important primary sources for Welsh history. It is an annalistic chronicle that serves as a continuation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae. Brut y Tywysogion has survived as several Welsh translations of an original Latin version, which has...
, in 823, and it is clear that Mercia was still a formidable military power at that time. However, in 825 Beornwulf was decisively defeated by Egbert of Wessex
Egbert of Wessex
Egbert was King of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839. His father was Ealhmund of Kent...
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.
Ancestry
Wiglaf's ancestry is not known for certain. There are two main theories regarding the ancestry of Mercian kings of this period. One is that descendants of different lines of the royal family competed for the throne. In the mid-7th century, for example, PendaPenda of Mercia
Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the...
had placed royal kinsmen in control of conquered provinces. A Wigheard, who witnessed a charter in the late 7th century, was possibly a member of this line. 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
Hwicce
The Hwicce were one of the peoples of Anglo-Saxon England. The exact boundaries of their kingdom are uncertain, though it is likely that they coincided with those of the old Diocese of Worcester, founded in 679–80, the early bishops of which bore the title Episcopus Hwicciorum...
, 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
Evesham
Evesham is a market town and a civil parish in the Local Authority District of Wychavon in the county of Worcestershire, England with a population of 22,000. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon...
records that Wiglaf's grandson Wigstan
Wigstan of Mercia
Wigstan , also known as Saint Wystan, was the son of Wigmund of Mercia and Ælfflæd, daughter of King Ceolwulf I of Mercia.Wigstan may have been sub-king, or ealdorman, of the Hwicce, and may have ruled Mercia briefly in 840, before resigning the throne. Wigstan was killed by his successor,...
was a descendant of Coenred
Cenred of Mercia
Coenred was king of Mercia, now part of England, from 704 to 709. He was a son of the Mercian king Wulfhere, whose brother Æthelred succeeded to the throne in 675 on Wulfhere's death...
, 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
Pauline Stafford
Pauline Stafford is Professor Emerita of Early Medieval History at Liverpool University in England. Her work focuses on the history of women and gender in England from the eighth to the early twelfth centuries, and on the same topics in Frankish history during the eighth and ninth centuries...
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
Wigmund of Mercia
Wigmund may have briefly reigned in Mercia in about 840, in succession to his father, Wiglaf of Mercia. He may, on the other hand, have predeceased his father and never been anything more than a co-ruler with him. He was himself the father of Wigstan of Mercia....
, and his grandson, Wigstan, both of whom share the "Wig-" at the start of his name; alliterative family names are frequent in Anglo-Saxon dynasties and are often thought to suggest possible kinship. Other possible descendants of Wiglaf include the last Mercian king, Ceolwulf II
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:...
. 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 is no evidence that these nobles were related beyond the similarity of their names.
First reign and defeat by Wessex
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...
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
Kingdom of Sussex
The Kingdom of Sussex or Kingdom of the South Saxons was a Saxon colony and later independent kingdom of the Saxons, on the south coast of England. Its boundaries coincided in general with those of the earlier kingdom of the Regnenses and the later county of Sussex. A large part of its territory...
, 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, and Egbert went on to receive the submission of Eanred of Northumbria
Eanred of Northumbria
Eanred was king of Northumbria in the early ninth century.Very little is known for certain about Eanred. The only reference made by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to the Northumbrians in this period is the statement that in 829 Egbert of Wessex...
at Dore
Dore
Dore is a village in South Yorkshire, England. The village lies on a hill above the River Sheaf, and until 1934 was part of Derbyshire, but it is now a suburb of Sheffield. It is served by Dore and Totley railway station on the Hope Valley Line...
, on the northern border of Mercia, later that year. These events led the anonymous scribe who wrote the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to describe Egbert as the eighth bretwalda
Bretwalda
Bretwalda is an Old English word, the first record of which comes from the late 9th century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It is given to some of the rulers of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms from the 5th century onwards who had achieved overlordship of some or all of the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms...
, or "Ruler of Britain".
Egbert remained in control of Wessex until some time in 830. He was in power there long enough to issue coins (struck in London) bearing the title "Rex M", for "Rex Merciorum", or "King of Mercia".
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 StentonFrank Stenton
Sir Frank Merry Stenton was a 20th century historian of Anglo-Saxon England, and president of the Royal Historical Society . He was the author of Anglo-Saxon England, a volume of the Oxford History of England, first published in 1943 and widely considered a classic history of the period...
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
Croft, Leicestershire
Croft is a village of 700 homes in the district of Blaby in Leicestershire, England, off the old Fosse Way and straddling the River Soar. Nearby places include Stoney Stanton, Broughton Astley, Huncote and Narborough...
, in Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
, attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
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
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
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. Berkshire also appears to have returned to Mercian control, though it is possible that this did not occur until after Wiglaf's reign. Perhaps more surprisingly, given the new strength of Wessex, it appears that the territory along the middle Thames which had formed the heartland of the Gewisse (the precursor people of the 9th-century West Saxon state) remained firmly in Mercian hands. In the west, either Wiglaf or his successor, Beorhtwulf, brought the Welsh back under Mercian control at some point prior to 853, when a rebellion against Mercia is recorded.
A charter of 831, which Wiglaf calls "the first year of my second reign", was issued at Wychbold
Wychbold
Wychbold is a village in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, England. It is by junction 5 of the M5, and is on the A38 north-east of Droitwich, near to where they cross the River Salwarpe. Just outside the village on the A38 is Webbs of Wychbold, one of the UK's largest garden centres....
near Droitwich; it is significant that Wiglaf makes no reference to any overlordship of Egbert's in this charter, issued within a year of his recovery of power, and that he acknowledges his temporary deposition. 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 is not surprising, as it was probably Æthelstan who was responsible for the defeat and death of both Beornwulf and Ludeca.
Both Wessex's sudden rise to power in the late 820s, and the subsequent failure to retain this dominant position, have been examined by historians looking for underlying causes. Dynastic uncertainty has been suggested as the reason for Mercia's collapse; the 820s were certainly years of instability in the royal line. 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.
Another proposed explanation for the events of these years is that Wessex's fortunes were to some degree dependent on Carolingian support. The Rhenish and Frankish commercial networks collapsed at some time in the 820s or 830s, and in addition, a rebellion broke out in February 830 against Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
, the first of a series of internal conflicts that lasted through the 830s and beyond. These distractions may have reduced Louis's ability to support Egbert. In this view, the withdrawal of Frankish influence would have left East Anglia, Mercia and Wessex to find a balance of power not dependent on outside aid.
Wiglaf's recovery, however, was not complete. Egbert's influence was certainly reduced after 830, but Mercia never recovered control of the south-east, except possibly for Essex; and East Anglia remained independent. It appears that Wulfred
Wulfred
Wulfred was an Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury in medieval England. Nothing is known of his life prior to 803, when he attended a church council, but he was probably a nobleman from Middlesex. He was elected archbishop in 805 and spent his time in office reforming the clergy of his cathedral...
, the archbishop of Canterbury at the time of Egbert's victory, remained loyal to Mercia: his coinage terminates when Egbert's Kentish coinage begins; and since a charter of 838 shows Egbert agreeing to return property to the church in Canterbury it is evident that he had seized property from the church earlier. Æthelwulf, Egbert's son, was king of Kent during his father's reign, and fear of continuing Mercian influence in Kent may have been the reason he gave estates to Christ Church, Canterbury.
Coinage and charters
Coins from Wiglaf's reign are very rare. They can be divided into portrait and non-portrait types; and of these, only the two non-portrait coins may be from Wiglaf's second reign. Other than these, there is no evidence of any Mercian coinage until the reign of Wiglaf's successor, Beorhtwulf, which began in about 840. 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
Hanbury, Staffordshire
Hanbury is a village near Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England.It was the location of the 1944 RAF Fauld Explosion, one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions in the world.-References:*...
in 836, does not exempt the monks from the duty of constructing ramparts, indicating a concern for defence. Wessex charters do not begin to show such exemptions until 846. These clauses are explained by the increasing 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...
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
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
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.
Succession
Burgred of Mercia
Burgred or Burhred or Burghred was the king of Mercia .-Rule:Burgred succeeded to the throne in 852, and in 852 or 853 called upon Ethelwulf of Wessex to aid him in subduing northern Wales. The request was granted and the campaign proved successful, the alliance being sealed by the marriage of...
was driven out of Mercia by the Vikings in 874, after a reign of twenty-two years, and charter evidence indicates that Burgred succeeded in the first half of 852. A regnal list credits his predecessor, Beorhtwulf, with a reign of thirteen years, which is consistent with date references in his charters. Hence it would appear that Wiglaf's reign ended in 839. A tradition records the death of Wigstan in 849, and refers to Wigstan's father, Wigmund, the son of Wiglaf, as having been king, but this is the only evidence for Wigmund having reigned and must be regarded with suspicion. The descent of Beorhtwulf is not known, but it appears that dynastic tension was a continuing factor in the Mercian succession, in contrast to Wessex, where Egbert established a dynasty that lasted with little disturbance throughout the 9th century.
Wiglaf was buried at 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:...
, 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.