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Mercia (/ ˈ m ɜːr s i ə,-ʃ ə,-s i ə /, [1] [2] Old English: Miercna rīċe, "kingdom of the border people"; Latin: Merciorum regnum) was one of the three main Anglic kingdoms founded after Sub-Roman Britain was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy.
The Kingdom of Mercia was a state in the English Midlands from the 6th century to the 10th century. For some two hundred years from the mid-7th century onwards it was the dominant member of the Heptarchy and consequently the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
In the 7th century, the Kingdom of Mercia rose to prominence under the leadership of King Penda. [9] Mercia invaded neighbouring lands until it loosely controlled around 50 regiones covering much of England. [10] Mercia and the remaining kingdoms, led by their warrior elites, continued to compete for territory throughout the 8th century. [11]
The Kingdom of England emerged from the gradual unification of the early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms known as the Heptarchy: East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex, and Wessex. The Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, and native Anglo-Saxon life in general.
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]
Mercia was the dominant kingdom in southern England in the eighth century, and maintained its position until it suffered a decisive defeat by King Ecgberht of Wessex at the Battle of Ellendun in 825. Ecgberht briefly conquered Mercia, but it recovered its independence in 830, and thereafter the two kingdoms became allies, which was to be an ...
By the end of the 7th century, England was almost entirely divided into kingdoms ruled by the Anglo-Saxons, who had come to Britain two hundred years earlier. The kingdom of Mercia occupied what is now the English Midlands, [2] bordered by Northumbria to the north, East Anglia to the east, and Wessex, the kingdom of the West Saxons, to the south.
Offa (died 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death in 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.