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Mercia's exact evolution at the start of the Anglo-Saxon era remains more obscure than that of Northumbria, Kent, or even Wessex. Mercia developed an effective political structure and was Christianised later than the other kingdoms. [5] Archaeological surveys show that Angles settled the lands north of the River Thames by the 6th century.
After successful raids by Danish Vikings, significant parts of northeastern England, formerly Northumbria, were under their control.Danish attacks into central England had been resisted and effectively reduced by Alfred the Great, to the point where his son, King Edward of Wessex, could launch offensive attacks against the foreigners.
Son of Edward the Elder and nephew of Æthelflæd. Became King of Mercia on Edward's death (Jul 924), and King of Wessex about 16 days later. 27 Oct 939 Eadgar: 957–959 Nephew of Æthelstan. Seized control of Mercia and Northumbria in May 957, before succeeding to the reunited English throne in Oct 959. 8 Jul 975
The Heptarchy is the name for the division of Anglo-Saxon England between the sixth and eighth centuries into petty kingdoms, conventionally the seven kingdoms of East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex, and Wessex.
The 8th century was a period of Mercian supremacy, but Wessex surpassed Mercia in the 820s during the reign of Ecgberht. [23] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle referred to Ecgberht as bretwalda ( ' wide-ruler ' or ' ruler of Britain ' ) and added his name to Bede's list of overlords. [ 24 ]
The coinage of Edward the Elder in some ways continued the types and organisation current under his father Alfred in Wessex and English Mercia, but with the expansion of West Saxon control into the Midlands and East Anglia the currency system became more complex as new regions were incorporated into Edward's kingdom.
The king of Mercia requested help from the king of Wessex to help fight the Vikings. A combined army from Wessex and Mercia besieged the city of Nottingham with no clear result, so the Mercians settled on paying the Vikings off. The Vikings returned to Northumbria in autumn 868 and overwintered in York, staying there for most of 869.
Coin of Offa, king of Mercia, 757-796, with the Latin legend OFFA REX MERCIOR; British coins still carry Latin inscriptions in the 21st century. In the latter part of the 8th century a new style of silver penny appeared in Anglo-Saxon England, thinner and commonly bearing the names of both the king and the moneyer who had struck it.