RELATED: The Last Kingdom: 10 Interesting Facts You Didn't Know About Millie Brady (Aethelflaed). The show is an adaption of Bernard Cornwell’s best-selling series of historical novels known as "The Saxon Stories." This is supported by one independent piece of evidence. The Last Kingdom sees Aethelred sustain a fatal head injury at Tettenhall. She is first recorded as Æthelred's wife in a charter of 887, but Keynes thinks that the marriage may have taken place two or three years earlier,[26] and the historian Maggie Bailey dates it to between 882 and 887, with the most likely political context being the occupation of London in 886. [28], In 892, two Viking armies attacked eastern England, and Æthelred took part in the defence. 7. Saxons. The Last Kingdom TV Shows Based on Books As Alfred the Great defends his kingdom from Norse invaders, Uhtred -- born a Saxon but raised by Vikings -- seeks to claim his ancestral birthright. Animal Lover: She's frequently seen carrying around a bird cage. We’re first introduced to Aethelflaed, the future iron lady of Mercia, in the first season of Netflix’s The Last Kingdom. 40–62, Keynes, "King Alfred and the Mercians", p. 29, "Æthelflæd (Ethelfleda) (d. 918), ruler of the Mercians", "Æthelred (d. 911), ruler of the Mercians", "The translation of St Oswald's relics to New Minster, Gloucester: royal and imperial resonances", List of English words of Old Norse origin, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Æthelred,_Lord_of_the_Mercians&oldid=988212328, Burials at St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 11 November 2020, at 19:59. The forbidden love between Aethelflaed (Millie Brady) and Uhtred (Alexander Dreymon) was the biggest attraction in The Last Kingdom, as it brought lots of hope for a peaceful ending to the Dane-Saxon war. [27] In King Alfred's will, drawn up in the 880s, Æthelred was left a sword worth 100 mancuses. To protect a sudden elevation. The Last Kingdom is on Netflix now and the Anglo-Saxon series is based on real events. Charles-Edwards comments: When Æthelred made a grant to Berkeley Abbey in 883, he did it with the approval of King Alfred, thus acknowledging Alfred's lordship. Having grown up training to be a queen and a partner for her husband, the least Aethelflaed expected from Aethelred was just a little respect. Through the course of Season 4, he stands by her bringing her victories and men when she needs them the most They then moved on to Nottingham in Mercia, where they spent the winter of 867–868. The defeat forced Æthelred to abandon his ambitions in north Wales, but he continued to exercise overlordship over the south-eastern Welsh kingdoms of Glywysing and Gwent. It only made him as bad a father as he was a king. His son, Edward, and his ealdormen, in particular his son-in-law, Æthelred, had won the glory. The couple's only child, a daughter called Ælfwynn, then ruled briefly until deposed by her uncle, King Edward. Uhtred is the bridge between Saxons and Danes with friends on both sides of the divide. If Aethelflaed had disclosed the plot to Alfred, the peace between Mercia and Wessex would have ended, which would have meant the end of his rule in Mercia as well. [4], Æthelred's descent is unknown, and he does not appear to have been closely related to his immediate predecessors, although his name suggests possible descent from earlier Mercian kings. For other uses, see, 9th and 10th-century ruler of Mercia in England. 171. See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Series Directed by . Content from both the books and the TV series are welcome! •We met a new character in Osferth, Leofric’s nephew, Alfred’s illegitimate son, and a monk who would rather be a warrior: perhaps he can take lessons from Father Pyrlig. TV Shows: Last Kingdom fanfiction archive with over 18 stories. When King Edward died in 924, Æthelstan initially faced opposition at the West Saxon court, but was accepted as king in Mercia. Charles-Edwards suggests that in 881–882 he tried to maintain his dominance in south-east Wales, but Alfred offered his protection to Glywysing and Gwent, and in 882–883 Æthelred accepted that West Saxon power made continued independence impossible. Æthelred II (Old English: Æþelræd, pronounced [æðelræːd]; c. 966 – 23 April 1016), known as the Unready, was King of the English from 978 to 1013 and again from 1014 until his death. [33], Evidence from charters show that Æthelred and Æthelflæd supported religious communities. Aethelred, on the other hand, treated her as nothing more than another mistress, hurting her feelings without noticing. Aethelred was a womanizer, but Aethelflaed was his rightful wife meaning, any heir to Mercia would have to come by her. Edward's charters show Æthelred and Æthelflæd as accepting his royal authority, but their own charters make no reference to an overlord, and some use expressions such as "holding, governing and defending the sole rule of the Mercians", which come close to describing them as king and queen. [1] The Mercians traditionally held overlordship over Wales, and in 853 King Burgred of Mercia obtained the assistance of King Æthelwulf of Wessex in an invasion of Wales in order to reassert their hegemony. [8][9] Æthelred may have been the man of the same name who attested two Mercian charters in the late 860s,[10] but he is not listed in the two surviving charters of Ceolwulf. The Last Kingdom: Season 3 (Trailer) Episodes The Last Kingdom ... Alfred sends Aethelred to drive Erik and Sigefrid from London, but the young lord harbors ambitions of his own. In the view of Ann Williams, "though he accepted West Saxon overlordship, Æthelred behaved rather as a king of Mercia than an ealdorman",[50] and Charles Insley states that Mercia remained an independent kingdom until 920. He was an ambitious leader with the wrong motive, always seeking to become greater by exterminating those around him. Æthelred's ancestry is unknown. In 886 Alfred took possession of London, and according to Asser he "restored" the city and "made it habitable again". The saddest part was that he left with all the soldiers leaving the whole kingdom at Cnut's mercy, making him the worst leader in Mercian history. Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians (or Ealdorman Æthelred of Mercia; died 911) became ruler of English Mercia shortly after the death of its last king, Ceolwulf II in 879. Aethelred didn't even care to crosscheck the source of information before invading Daneland. Æthelred's ancestry is unknown. [21] Some versions of the Chronicle state that Alfred besieged London in 883, and Simon Keynes argues that Alfred probably took London at that time and that the "occupation" in 886 may have been a restoration of London's defences following Viking attacks close to the city in 885. While Eadith was there, she hated him even on his deathbed and only watched as her brother killed him. If Aethelred had given Aethelflaed a chance to be a partner and friend, he would have achieved his ambition of becoming a true King of Mercia. [2], In 865 the Viking Great Heathen Army landed in East Anglia, and used it as a starting point for an invasion. Aethelred turned into an animal against Aethelflaed on their wedding day, which was strange because Aelswith and Alfred had accepted him as a perfect gentleman. Æthelflæd died in 918, and their daughter Ælfwynn briefly ruled Mercia until deposed by Edward the Elder, who took the territory under his direct control. After Uhtred's failure at Bebbanburg, his attention is drawn to Aethelflaed. Lists of witnesses to charters show that Æthelred's witan (council) shared bishops and at least two ealdormen with Ceolwulf, but Ceolwulf's thegns all disappeared. Chocolate Baby: Her pale skin and light hair mark her as a half-Dane, according to Aethelred. [5] Alfred P. Smyth suggests that the Chronicle's account reflects bias in Alfred's favour, and that Æthelred took charge because he had a greater role in London's recovery than the West Saxon chronicler was willing to admit. He knew that Mercia couldn't survive if a strong army didn't defend it. When he refused to send for men to help undermine Edward's crowning as king, he understood that Mercia was only strong if it allied with a smart leader in Wessex, and Aethelwold wasn't that person. Toby Regbo was born in 1991 in Hammersmith, London, England as Toby Finn Regbo. Aethelred is called to step up to the plate, but a fatal mistake allows Erik and Sigefrid to outwit the Saxons. [32] Keynes sees Æthelfrith as an ealdorman of West Saxon origin, probably appointed by Alfred to look after his interests in south-east Mercia. A subreddit for "The Last Kingdom," the BBC/Netflix television show set in medieval England. Being a king comes with a responsibility to the throne that Aethelred never seemed to understand. A subreddit for "The Last Kingdom," the BBC/Netflix television show set in medieval England. The Last Kingdom: 10 Worst Things Aethelred Did. Aethelred was an ambitious leader on The Last Kingdom with the wrong motive, always seeking to become greater by exterminating those around him. [42] In Michael Livingston's view, he campaigned with Edward in Northumbria in 909, and may have died as a result of wounds sustained at the Battle of Tettenhall in 910. 21–24, Keynes, "King Alfred and the Mercians", pp. [47] The historian Martin Ryan sees the new minster as something like a Mercian royal mausoleum, to replace the one at Repton destroyed by the Vikings. Played by Toby Regbo. [57] To the Welsh and Irish looking east, Mercian rulers still kept all their old regality until Æthelflæd's death in 918, and Nick Higham argues that: "Celtic visions of Æthelred and Æthelflæd as king and queen certainly offer a different, and equally valid, contemporary take on the complex politics of this transition to a new English state."[58]. Q: Talk us through the character of Aethelred? [5][29] In 893, Æthelred brought troops from London to join Alfred's son Edward against a Viking army at Thorney in Buckinghamshire, but the Vikings were too strong for a direct attack so they were allowed to leave English territory. Keynes regards the designation "K. [King] Æthelred II" in the Handbook of British Chronology as a "delightfully provocative" extension of the "received wisdom" that Mercia retained a real measure of independence in Æthelred's time. After Alfred helped him secure the border for all those years, Aethelred was stupid enough to leave it unguarded at the word of Haesten. His epithet does not derive from the modern word "unready", but rather from the Old English unræd meaning "poorly advised"; it is a pun on his name, which means "well advised". [13] According to Alfred's Welsh biographer Asser, Æthelred's "might and tyrannical behaviour" forced these kingdoms to submit to the protection of King Alfred's lordship. [43], According to William of Malmesbury, King Edward's eldest son, the future King Æthelstan, was sent to be brought up at the court of Æthelred and Æthelflæd after Edward remarried in about 900. In 909 a West Saxon and Mercian army raided Viking territory and seized the bones of the Northumbrian king and martyr, St Oswald, from Bardney in Lincolnshire. He started the enmity by insulting Gisela without any provocation. Despite the fact he is only expected to live for a few days (a fiction: Aethelred died in 911), Eardwulf kills him in his sickbed. He went down as the worst Saxon leader in The Last Kingdom. The show is an adaption of Bernard Cornwell’s best-selling series of historical novels known as "The Saxon Stories." He was probably the leader of an unsuccessful Mercian invasion of Wales in 881, and soon afterwards he acknowledged the lordship of King Alfred the Great of Wessex. He is an actor, known for Mr. Nobody (2009), Treasure … One of the burhs was Worcester, where Æthelred worked with its bishop and used the standing Roman walls in the town's defences. [50] West Saxon sources refer to him as an ealdorman, emphasising Mercian subordination to the West Saxon monarchy, whereas Mercian ones describe him as Lord of the Mercians, and Celtic ones sometimes as King of Mercia. Æthelwulf and Alhhelm are not recorded after the turn of the century, and Æthelfrith may have been Æthelflæd's chief lieutenant when Æthelred's health collapsed soon afterwards. Episode 7 58m. [20] Marios Costambeys takes a similar view, arguing that Alfred's decision was probably due to the need to maintain unity among the English who were outside Viking territory. 5–6, Heighway, "Gloucester and the new minster of St Oswald", pp. [14] By 883, Æthelred had accepted Alfred's lordship. He forced her to come to London in a battle against an enemy he didn't understand. [a] In 903 they negotiated a settlement over a former monastic estate which the bishops of Worcester had been trying to recover since the 840s, and Bishop Wærferth wrote "we never could get anywhere until Æthelred became lord of the Mercians". He’s quite scared of the idea of not being able to control his marriage because if he can’t con When things got bad, and Aethelred was on his deathbed, he had no more friends; Not even someone that could listen to his last message. [7] He may have been related to King Alfred's Mercian father-in-law, Æthelred Mucel, and brother-in-law, Æthelwulf, who appears to have been a member of Æthelred's court from the mid 880s. However, he died without achieving anything significant despite having lots of opportunities to do it. Aldhelm's hopes have only ever been for Mercia and for Aethelflaed—to be saved alongside them is something he never permitted himself a belief in. [45], Gloucester seems to have been the main seat of Æthelred's and Æthelflæd's power,[46] and before 900 they founded a new minster there, dedicated to St Peter. [16], After the Battle of Edington in 878, Alfred established a network of fortified settlements, called burhs, in Wessex to protect his people and territory against Viking attacks, and when Æthelred accepted Alfred's lordship the burhs were extended into Mercia.