Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky listener Discretion advised. The latter
Speaker 1: half of the ninth century was a chaotic time in England,
Speaker 1: which was at that time divided into a number of
Speaker 1: smaller kingdoms. In eight hundred and sixty seven, Vikings from
Speaker 1: Denmark landed in Mercia, a kingdom that comprised much of
Speaker 1: the English Midlands. The Vikings conquered the eastern parts of
Speaker 1: Mercia and soon invaded the rest of the territory, dividing
Speaker 1: the area into two parts, displacing the current ruler and
Speaker 1: installing a puppet king. But the puppet king didn't last
Speaker 1: long on the throne. Just a few years later, in
Speaker 1: eight hundred and seventy nine, he disappeared. In the face
Speaker 1: of that power vacuum, a high ranking English military official
Speaker 1: named Fulred took over. Very little is known about Ethelred
Speaker 1: before he reached the throne, and it's sort of unclear
Speaker 1: how exactly he got the job. It doesn't seem like
Speaker 1: he had any noble lineage. He appeared in the written
Speaker 1: record at around eight hundred and eighty three, after he
Speaker 1: was said to have taken power. But it wasn't just
Speaker 1: Mercia that was under attack by the Vikings. Wessex, another
Speaker 1: kingdom that included much of England's south coast at that time,
Speaker 1: was also dealing with Viking invasions. Wessex was led by
Speaker 1: a man named Alfred, and throughout eight hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: and eight seventy one, Alfred had been fighting off the
Speaker 1: Vikings with mixed results, winning some battles but having trouble
Speaker 1: keeping the invading forces at bay in the long term.
Speaker 1: So soon after Ethelred took over in Mercia, he and
Speaker 1: Alfred decided to team up, and in eight hundred eighty nine,
Speaker 1: the pair sealed their alliance by having Athelred Mary Alfred's
Speaker 1: oldest daughter, athel Flood. Athel Flood was born around eight
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy, right when the Viking invasions were picking
Speaker 1: up steam, making her much younger than her husband. While
Speaker 1: there's almost no historical record of athel Flood's early life,
Speaker 1: one can imagine that her youth had been defined by
Speaker 1: instability and violence, following her father to various skirmishes with invaders.
Speaker 1: She likely knew Athelred from childhood, encountering him in her
Speaker 1: father's entourage or visiting his palaces in Mercia. No one
Speaker 1: would have expected Athel Flood to become an even more
Speaker 1: important political figure than her head husband. Athel Flood would
Speaker 1: become the most powerful person in the Kingdom, ruling over
Speaker 1: Mercia independently starting in nine hundred and eleven, one of
Speaker 1: only two women recorded as doing so before the Norman
Speaker 1: conquest of England. I'm Danish sports and this is noble blood.
Speaker 1: After the wedding, Ethel Flood had to move from her
Speaker 1: home in Wessex to her husband's palace in Mercia. This
Speaker 1: wasn't a huge deal for Ethel Flood. Her mother was Mercian,
Speaker 1: so she had family in the area, and her husband
Speaker 1: preferred to stay in the southwest area of Mercia, around
Speaker 1: the cities now named London and Gloucester, which wasn't too
Speaker 1: far away from where she grew up. Still, she had
Speaker 1: to adjust to married life. Athelred had seeded control over
Speaker 1: Mercia to Alfred, his father and lie law, who called
Speaker 1: himself the King of the Anglo Saxons. This is one
Speaker 1: of the first times anyone had used the term Anglo Saxon,
Speaker 1: and in doing so, Alfred sometimes also known as Alfred
Speaker 1: the Great, asserted that he ruled over all of the
Speaker 1: English Saxons by which he meant the Saxons who had
Speaker 1: immigrated from what is now Germany to England around the
Speaker 1: fourth century, except for the ones living in areas under
Speaker 1: Viking control. So even though her husband wasn't technically a
Speaker 1: king at this point, Athel Flood still needed to fulfill
Speaker 1: the typical duties of a royal wife. A royal wife
Speaker 1: was expected to be a peace weaver or frothweb in
Speaker 1: Old English. The term was meant to encapsulate the feminine
Speaker 1: art of political maneuvering, just like weaving fabric. A royal
Speaker 1: wife was expected to weave bonds between her and her
Speaker 1: husband's allies by hosting dinners in the feasting hall and
Speaker 1: conducting herself well when visiting palaces throughout the kingdom. Usually,
Speaker 1: a royal wife's duties would have ended there. English Saxon
Speaker 1: wives were considered subordinate to their husbands and were largely
Speaker 1: excluded from military and political life. That was certainly the
Speaker 1: case in Wessex, where ethel Flood's mother was almost completely
Speaker 1: shut out of governance. She wasn't even referred to as queen.
Speaker 1: Historian Tim Clarkson described royal wives in Wessex as quote
Speaker 1: low profile, nearly invisible, but unlike other parts of medieval England,
Speaker 1: Murcia allowed more leeway and independence for its queens. Ethel
Speaker 1: Flood was deeply involved in governing Mercia from the beginning
Speaker 1: of her marriage. Arriving in Gloucester at around eight eighty,
Speaker 1: the city was in shambles after battling with the Vikings,
Speaker 1: with collapsed columns from the Roman era all over the city.
Speaker 1: So together the newlyweds got to work on building a burr,
Speaker 1: or a multi purpose fortification that served as a defensive fortress,
Speaker 1: an administrative center and a hub for trade, Using a
Speaker 1: decrepit Roman fort as the structure's foundation, They kept on
Speaker 1: building burrs throughout Mercia over the next decade. Meanwhile, Ethel
Speaker 1: Flood worked with her husband to reallocate land, offer privileges
Speaker 1: to churches, and confer grants across the region you know,
Speaker 1: general governance. Their campaign fit in neatly with Alfred's attempt
Speaker 1: to shore up the defenses of Wessex. He also built
Speaker 1: a number of brahs and forts across the kingdom, ensuring
Speaker 1: that no one in Wessex was more than a day's
Speaker 1: ride from a place of safety. Meanwhile, Afflflood gave birth
Speaker 1: to a daughter and named her Alfwyn or elf Friend.
Speaker 1: This ended up being her only child, which is a
Speaker 1: bit strange given that there was probably pressure to produce
Speaker 1: a male heir and secure the line of succession. We
Speaker 1: can speculate that it's possible she suffered miscarriages or couldn't
Speaker 1: get pregnant again. William of Malmsbury, an early Anglo Norman historian,
Speaker 1: proposed a different theory, that Alfwin's birth was such a
Speaker 1: horrific experience that Affelflood pledged celibacy for the rest of
Speaker 1: her life. In ten ninety nine, William of Malmsbury wrote,
Speaker 1: quote from the difficulty experienced in her first or rather
Speaker 1: only labor. Athel Flood, ever after, refused the embraces of
Speaker 1: her husband, protesting that it was unbecoming for the daughter
Speaker 1: of a king to give way to a delight which
Speaker 1: in time produced such painful consequences. Now, William of Malmsbury
Speaker 1: didn't give any sources for this from the period, so
Speaker 1: athel Flood's celibacy is likely apocryphal. Contemporary historians imagine that
Speaker 1: he might have made it up in order to emphasize
Speaker 1: athel Flood's moral purity. That said William was a monk
Speaker 1: at Malmsbury Abbey, a monastery in Wessex with historic ties
Speaker 1: to the royal family, and it's possible that this story
Speaker 1: was passed down to him and it was truthful fact
Speaker 1: or fiction. This Anna represents a rare example of a
Speaker 1: medieval queen putting her foot down and deciding for herself
Speaker 1: what her reproductive future might look like. After a decade
Speaker 1: of strengthening Mercia's defenses, athel Flood was ready for battle.
Speaker 1: When the Vikings descended on eastern England in eight hundred
Speaker 1: ninety two, it was clear that her preparation paid off.
Speaker 1: After a few years of fighting, Alfred afa Flood and
Speaker 1: Athelred successfully repelled the invaders with minimal losses. The Viking
Speaker 1: army disbanded in eight hundred and ninety six, and Athlflood
Speaker 1: was finally able to enjoy a period of peace in
Speaker 1: Wessex and Mercia. But this period of peace didn't last long.
Speaker 1: In October of eight hundred and ninety nine, King Alfred died.
Speaker 1: Though this was a huge blow both to Athel Flood
Speaker 1: his daughter, and Athelred, his son in law and closest
Speaker 1: military Ally, they were perhaps relieved to find that, unlike
Speaker 1: many medieval kings living through long periods of war, he
Speaker 1: survived decades of battle and had lived long enough to
Speaker 1: die of disease in his own bed. In his will,
Speaker 1: he commemorated Athelred by leaving him a sword worth one
Speaker 1: hundred Byzantine gold coins. Alfred's oldest son, athel Flood's brother Edward,
Speaker 1: succeeded to the throne of Wessex, becoming King of the
Speaker 1: Anglo Saxons, adopting the title his father invented. It was
Speaker 1: unclear exactly what this meant for Athelred and ethel Flood, or,
Speaker 1: as I'll call them by their made up couple name
Speaker 1: with absolutely no historical accuracy, the Athols. Some historians believe
Speaker 1: that Alfred preferred his son in law Athelred to his
Speaker 1: actual son Edward, since the court produced records of the
Speaker 1: Viking battles in the eight hundred and nineties don't mention
Speaker 1: any of Edward's military successes. Out of loyalty to Alfred,
Speaker 1: Athelred was willing to accept a subordinate title and treat
Speaker 1: Mercia as a part of the English Saxon Kingdom rather
Speaker 1: than as an independent state, but Athelred seemed to distance
Speaker 1: himself from Wessex after Alfred's death. In documents from the
Speaker 1: Wessex Court, Athelred and athel Flood officially recognized Edward's authority. However,
Speaker 1: within Mercia, many charters never mentioned Edward at all, leading
Speaker 1: some historians to suggest that Ethelred operated Mercia more or
Speaker 1: less as an independent kingdom. It seems that the Athols
Speaker 1: wanted to have it both ways, maintaining a close alliance
Speaker 1: between Wessex and Mercia without seeding too much of their power. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Athelred's health began to fail, leaving athel Flood to deal
Speaker 1: with governing Mercia largely on her own. There's no record
Speaker 1: of what his illness might have been or when it began,
Speaker 1: but the first record of his declining health was in
Speaker 1: nine hundred and two, when athel Flood had to administer
Speaker 1: a land grant without her husband. The last record of
Speaker 1: Athelred's involvement in politics comes two years later, in nine
Speaker 1: hundred and four. In nine hundred and two, there were
Speaker 1: more invasions into England. This time by Norwegians rather than
Speaker 1: the Danish Vikings who were giving the English Saxon's trouble.
Speaker 1: In the ninth century, the Norwegians sailed for from Scotland
Speaker 1: and Ireland to the west coast of Mercia. They approached
Speaker 1: Ethel Flood for a settlement in the world, near what
Speaker 1: is now Liverpool. Athel Flood hesitantly agreed, but imagined that
Speaker 1: long term peace would be impossible. She fortified a nearby burr,
Speaker 1: Chester and stationed her army there, eventually kicking out the Norse.
Speaker 1: The Norse tried to fight back and retake the city
Speaker 1: by teaming up with the Danes. Ethel Floed defended Chester,
Speaker 1: leading her army from the ramparts of her bur In
Speaker 1: nine hundred and seven, she successfully turned away the Norse
Speaker 1: and the Danes, representing a huge military victory. And again
Speaker 1: this is ethel Flood on her own while her husband
Speaker 1: is ill and incapacitated. But athel Flood's triumph was tempered
Speaker 1: by her ailing husband, convalescing still in Mercia, whose health
Speaker 1: was only worsening by the day. Finally, in nine hundred
Speaker 1: and eleven, Athelred died. He was buried at Saint Oswald's
Speaker 1: Church in Gloucester, which he and his wife had founded
Speaker 1: right after their wedding. This left Athel Flood at a crossroads. Traditionally,
Speaker 1: noble widows retired from their rules in government, however limited,
Speaker 1: those rules were to become abbesses or to live out
Speaker 1: the rest of their lives at a peaceful estate. But
Speaker 1: on the heels of her military victory in Chester, ethel
Speaker 1: Flood had larger ambitions. She had put so much effort
Speaker 1: into ruling over Mercia and was essentially functioning as its
Speaker 1: de facto ruler in the years before her husband's death,
Speaker 1: and so she would decide to succeed her husband as
Speaker 1: the Lady of Mercia and lead the kingdom independently. While
Speaker 1: ethel Flood's decision to rule over Mercia was merely unprecedented,
Speaker 1: there hadn't been an independent female ruler over an English
Speaker 1: kingdom since the seventh century, it didn't seem that controversial.
Speaker 1: Her subjects supported her rule, and some of them even
Speaker 1: called her their queen. Even though she was considered the
Speaker 1: quote Lady of Mercia, It's unclear whether or not she
Speaker 1: chose that title for herself, but being the Lady of
Speaker 1: Mercia instead of the queen was strategic, It placed her
Speaker 1: on a lower rung than her brother Edward, who was
Speaker 1: the king of the Anglo Saxons, and it mirrored her
Speaker 1: late husband, who was considered the Lord of Mercia, all
Speaker 1: of which suggested that ethel Flood intelligently wouldn't upset the
Speaker 1: status quo. The Mercian nobility also accepted athel Flood's succession
Speaker 1: without a single recorded objection. There weren't any obvious alternatives.
Speaker 1: None of the Mercian royal family's eligible heirs seemed interested
Speaker 1: in the role, and Edward's son, ethel Flood's nephew, who
Speaker 1: was raised in Mercia with athel Flood, was too young
Speaker 1: to take over the throne. An assembly of noblemen and
Speaker 1: other members of the elite convened to ratify ethel Flood's rule,
Speaker 1: so she seemed to have their support. Edward tacitly gave
Speaker 1: his blessing for his sister's succession, perhaps assuming that ethel
Speaker 1: Flood would be a loyal ally. Edward and his sister
Speaker 1: athel Flood would have to work together to take on
Speaker 1: their most intense military engagement. Yet, while the Danes and
Speaker 1: the Norse had agreed to peace with Mercia and Wessex.
Speaker 1: Edward and ethel Flood wanted to shore up their defenses
Speaker 1: to guard against future attacks. Edward built a series of
Speaker 1: forts throughout Wessex, while ethel Flood did the same in Mercia.
Speaker 1: Athel Flood put special attention on establishing her rule on
Speaker 1: western Mercia, much of which had been seized by the
Speaker 1: Vikings in the eight seventies or settled by the Norse
Speaker 1: coming from Ireland. After building a few birds in the
Speaker 1: west in nine hundred twelve and thirteen, she focused on
Speaker 1: protecting Mercia from the Danish, who had settled in the east.
Speaker 1: Edward had already repurposed his rule on a few areas
Speaker 1: in the southeast, taking over some Viking strongholds in Essex,
Speaker 1: which raised the Danes alarm bells. Finally, that long simmering
Speaker 1: tension between the Danes and the Saxons over boiled in
Speaker 1: nine hundred and n seventeen in the face of Edward
Speaker 1: and ethel Flood's military expansion. The Danes tried to fight back,
Speaker 1: attacking a few of Edward's forts in southeast Wessex, but
Speaker 1: they failed. Athel Fled took the opportunity to invade Derby,
Speaker 1: which had been ruled by the Danes since she was born.
Speaker 1: This wouldn't be easy because it had been ruled by
Speaker 1: the Danes so long. Many of Derby's residents had been
Speaker 1: born and raised under Danish rule and would want to
Speaker 1: fight for their hometown the way they knew it. That said,
Speaker 1: athel Flood succeeded in recapturing the city. The Viking armies
Speaker 1: were reported to be scattered and uncoordinated, vastly outnumbered by
Speaker 1: athol Flood's army. Conquering Derby was a massive feat given
Speaker 1: that it was such a central Danish stronghold. Not only
Speaker 1: did athel Flood conquered Derby itself, but the regions around it,
Speaker 1: adding a large swath of land to her territory. Danish
Speaker 1: Mercia had five main towns called the Five Boroughs, and
Speaker 1: she had captured one of them. Soon she would take
Speaker 1: over another. In nine hundred eighteen, she invaded Leicester, which
Speaker 1: yielded to athel Flood's authority without a fight, suggesting she
Speaker 1: had a pretty fearsome reputation by this point. Edward, fighting
Speaker 1: the Danes in the southeast, managed to capture another of
Speaker 1: the Five Boroughs, Stamford, but he struggled a little more
Speaker 1: than his sister. Unlike athel Flood, whose reputation had allowed
Speaker 1: her to take control of Leicester without any bloodshed, Edward
Speaker 1: had to blockade the Danish fortresses at Stamford for six
Speaker 1: weeks before they folded. Similarly, the Danish colony of York
Speaker 1: offered to pledge their loyalty to athel Flood, but completely
Speaker 1: ignored Edward. An Irish source alleged that Ethel Flood had
Speaker 1: even managed to ally with Elba, a kingdom in what
Speaker 1: is now Scotland, and Strathclyde, a kingdom in northern England,
Speaker 1: against the Norse, even further expanding her military might and
Speaker 1: indicating that she was both an incredible warrior and also
Speaker 1: a diplomat. But her power would be short lived. On
Speaker 1: June twelfth, nine hundred eighteen, Athel Flood died in her
Speaker 1: palace at Tamworth. She was around fifty years old and
Speaker 1: appeared to have died unexpectedly of natural causes. Her body
Speaker 1: was taken to Gloucester to be buried next to her husband.
Speaker 1: After Athel Flood had put decades of her life into
Speaker 1: expanding and protecting Mercian territory. With no obvious heir to
Speaker 1: the throne, Mercia was under threat yet again. News of
Speaker 1: ethel Flood's death spread throughout Mercia and Wessex, and also
Speaker 1: made its way to Ireland and Wales. The Annals of
Speaker 1: Ulster in Ireland described her in an obituary as quote
Speaker 1: the most famous queen of the Saxons, and did not
Speaker 1: report her brother or her father's death. Welsh chronicles also
Speaker 1: noted her death but ignored edwards, suggesting that she had
Speaker 1: made an impression far beyond her kingdom, more so than
Speaker 1: some of the men in her family. Curiously, ethel Flood's
Speaker 1: death was almost entirely ignored by chroniclers in Wessex, aside
Speaker 1: from a brief mention, even though it was where she
Speaker 1: was born. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, the court produced record
Speaker 1: of events in Wessex, never referred to her military victory
Speaker 1: in Derby or Lester, even though they were crucial in
Speaker 1: consolidating the English Saxon kingdoms fifty years after her death.
Speaker 1: It seemed that ethel Flood's death brought to light some
Speaker 1: underlying tensions between Wessex and Mercia. While the two kingdoms
Speaker 1: were united in fighting against the Danes. Mercia's rising power
Speaker 1: and independence could have made the kingdom less subordinate to Wessex.
Speaker 1: This could be why ethel Flood was omitted from the
Speaker 1: Anglo Saxon Chronicle, allowing Edward to take credit for fighting
Speaker 1: off the Danes instead of his sister. After ethel Flood's
Speaker 1: death in June of nine hundred and nineteen, her daughter
Speaker 1: alfwyn took over as the Lady of Mercia, the only
Speaker 1: example in early medieval England of a woman inheriting the
Speaker 1: throne from her mother, But only a few months later
Speaker 1: deposed Alfwynn and took her to Wessex, gaining control of Mercia.
Speaker 1: It's unclear what happened to alf Winn after her deposition,
Speaker 1: and she too was ignored in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle.
Speaker 1: Her brief rule wasn't even mentioned. Given that the Anglo
Speaker 1: Saxon Chronicle is among the most important accounts of tenth
Speaker 1: century English history, athel Flood and alfwin remained quote shadowy
Speaker 1: figures according to historian Tim Clarkson, and were placed under
Speaker 1: a conspiracy of silence. According to historian FT Wainwright, that
Speaker 1: said Atha Flood shows up in Other early medieval sources
Speaker 1: like the Mercian Register, chronicles of the Life of Alfred,
Speaker 1: Annals of Ireland and Wales, and the charters that she
Speaker 1: issued accounts of her ambitious rule were also probably passed
Speaker 1: down orally before being put into writing in the eleventh
Speaker 1: century by historians like William of Malmsbury mentioned earlier in
Speaker 1: the episode. Another of these writers, Henry of Huntingdon, memorialized
Speaker 1: Athol Flood in a poem that went heroic Athol Flood
Speaker 1: great in marital fame, a man in valor woman, though
Speaker 1: in name heroes before the Mercian heroine quailed Caesar himself
Speaker 1: to win such glory failed quite a legacy. That's the
Speaker 1: story of Athol Flood. But keep listening after a brief
Speaker 1: sponsor break, to hear the story of how King Alfred
Speaker 1: Athelflood's father made a small mistake that would be remembered
Speaker 1: for centuries. After a skirmish with the Vikings in eight
Speaker 1: hundred seventy eight, King Alfred fled a battle to the
Speaker 1: Somerset Levels, a marshy area in southwest England. In order
Speaker 1: to hide and recover, He turned up at a cottage
Speaker 1: where a peasant woman took him in without recognizing that
Speaker 1: he was the king. She was baking some wheatcakes by
Speaker 1: the fire and asked Alfred to keep an eye on
Speaker 1: them as she attended to some other chores. But Alfred,
Speaker 1: with so much on his mind, given that he was
Speaker 1: trying to protect Wessex from the Vikings, forgot about the
Speaker 1: cakes and accidentally let them burn. When the woman returned
Speaker 1: and discovered the burnt cakes, she scolded Alfred, who was
Speaker 1: duly humiliated. The story is likely a legend, appearing in
Speaker 1: the written record over a century after Alfred's death. It
Speaker 1: seems to be a medieval English version of stars They're
Speaker 1: just like us, reassuring the listener that even kings can
Speaker 1: sometimes get distracted. The story became a staple of English folklore.
Speaker 1: There's even a mushroom named King Alfred's Cakes because they're
Speaker 1: chalky and black like burnt cakes. Noble Blood is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey.
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional
Speaker 1: writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender, Amy
Speaker 1: Hit and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and produced
Speaker 1: by Jesse Funk with supervising producer rima il KLi and
Speaker 1: executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.