Period of history when the kingdom of Mercia dominated in England
A series of maps illustrating the increasing hegemony of Mercia during the 8th century
The Mercian Supremacy was the period of Anglo-Saxon history between c. 716 and c. 825,[1] when the kingdom of Mercia dominated the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy in England. Sir Frank Stenton apparently coined the phrase, arguing that Offa of Mercia, who ruled 757–796, effectively achieved the unification of England south of the Humber estuary.[2] Scholastic opinion on the relationship between the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia at this time remains divided.
While the precise period during which the Mercian Supremacy existed remains uncertain – depending upon whether one includes the reigns of Penda (c. 626–655) and Wulfhere (658–675) – the end of the era is generally agreed to be around 825, following the defeat of King Beornwulf at the Battle of Ellandun (near present-day Swindon).
Nicholas Brooks noted that "the Mercians stand out as by far the most successful of the various early Anglo-Saxon peoples until the later ninth century" and with the exception of three years under Northumbrian domination, this is true between the years 633 and 825.[3]
Recorded by Bede as the nemesis of early Anglo-Saxon Northumbria, Penda of Mercia achieved an early expansion of his kingdom's territory, but his reign ended with his death in battle, which was followed by a brief three-year period when Northumbria ruled over the Mercians. The rebellion against Northumbria by Penda's son Wulfhere in 658 immediately preceded the restoration of Penda's kingdom and a period of expansion in which Mercia's influence reached as far south as the Isle of Wight. During this period of expansion, Mercia lost its province of the Kingdom of Lindsey to Northumbria in 661, but its recapture by Æthelred of Mercia following the Battle of the Trent in 679 secured Mercia's position as the dominant Anglo-Saxon power for over a century.
Mercia's hold over the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Essex, Sussex and Kent seems to have been tenuous until 716, when Æthelbald of Mercia restored Mercia's hegemony for over forty years. Offa's accession in 757 heralded the beginning of a golden age for Mercia. Some historians have suggested that Offa's defeat of the Welsh and the West Saxons of Wessex established the Mercian Supremacy, which remained unchallenged until 825 when Egbert of Wessex supported an East Anglian rebellion against Beornwulf of Mercia, whose defeat at Ellendun effectively brought the Supremacy to an end.
^Webster, L. & J. Backhouse (1991). "The Mercian Supremacy". In L. Webster & J. Backhouse (eds.). The Making of England, Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture, AD 600–900. London. pp. 193–253.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Stenton, F. M. (1970). "The Supremacy of the Mercian kings". In D. M. Stenton (ed.). Preparatory to Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford. pp. 48–66.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Brooks, N. (1989). "The formation of the Mercian kingdom". In Steven Bassett (ed.). The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. Leicester.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) p. 159
The MercianSupremacy was the period of Anglo-Saxon history between c. 716 and c. 825, when the kingdom of Mercia dominated the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy...
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the most decisive battles of English history". It effectively ended MercianSupremacy over the southern kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England and established...
weoh (altar) is found as a root for several Mercian placenames including Weeford near Lichfield. Mercian rulers remained resolutely pagan until the reign...
remain unchallenged in either territory. In the 780s he extended MercianSupremacy over most of southern England, allying with Beorhtric of Wessex, who...
the Anglo-Saxon rulers of the time, laying the foundations for the MercianSupremacy over the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. He repeatedly defeated the East Angles...
group of tribes based around modern Leicestershire, later conquered by the Mercians; the Hæstingas (around the town of Hastings in Sussex); and the Gewisse...
challenges from smaller kingdoms, kept Mercian power in check, and by the early 9th century the "MercianSupremacy" was over. This period has been described...
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turn, ousted by Æthelbald's distant cousin, Offa. In the meantime, Merciansupremacy over Southern England is lost. King Sigeberht of Wessex acts unjustly...
King of Wessex, defeats the Mercians under Beornwulf, and subdues Essex, Sussex, and Kent, ending the MercianSupremacy. A fight of Welsh/Britons and...
with Kent, or perhaps the kingdom of Mercia in the heyday of the MercianSupremacy. It is, in the usual chronology, the last English manuscript in which...
directly. Mercian authority was replaced by that of Wessex in 825, following the latter's victory at the Battle of Ellendun, and the Mercian client king...
turn, ousted by Æthelbald's distant cousin, Offa. In the meantime, Merciansupremacy over Southern England is lost. King Sigeberht of Wessex acts unjustly...
Ealhswith, daughter of the Mercian nobleman Æthelred Mucel, ealdorman of the Gaini, and his wife Eadburh, who was of royal Mercian descent. Their children...
Oswald's overlordship south of the Humber, which presumably failed. The Mercians, who participated in Edwin's defeat in 633, seem to have presented an obstacle...
British supremacy in "the old North" and resulted in the war. Its eventual outcome and legacy, however, was the development and expansion of the Mercian kingdom...
effectively marked the overthrow of Northumbrian supremacy, and in the years that followed the Mercians apparently campaigned into Bernicia, besieging Bamburgh...
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