Æthelred of Mercia
King of Mercia
Feast: 1 May (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Æthelred (; died after 704) was king of Mercia from 675 until 704. He was the son of Penda of Mercia and came to the throne in 675, when his brother, Wulfhere of Mercia, died from an illness. Within a year of his accession he invaded Kent, where his armies destroyed the city of Rochester. In 679 he defeated his brother-in-law, Ecgfrith of Northumbria, at the Battle of the Trent: the battle was a major setback for the Northumbrians, and effectively ended their military involvement in English affairs south of the Humber. It also permanently returned the Kingdom of Lindsey to Mercia's possession. However, Æthelred was unable to re-establish his predecessors' domination of southern Britain.
Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), until this page is written up in full.
The miracles
Limited information is available on this saint so far.
Why that counted as sanctity
Limited information is available on this saint so far.
Connected on this site
- Eadburh of Bicester Saint Brother or sister
- Santi e Beati — Sant'Etelredo, re di Mercia — "Sant'Etelredo, Re di Mercia, abate, † Monastero di Bardney, 716, festa 4 maggio" — he resigned the crown and died a monk; a real Catholic veneration.
- Wikidata Q272212 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Æthelred of Mercia (CC BY-SA)
Not yet written up in full. The Catholic source above names this person; the name, dates and step come from Wikidata and are not yet checked against Church records.