Very good update as always
I am just wondering how is the political situation in scotland ?
Thankyou
The north is pretty much the same as it has been, Northumbria and Scotland are divided and fighting amongst themselves. Something interesting does happen up there around 780 however...
He will as long as he doesn't die in battle, get assassinated, die of disease, die of old age (at 22), die "in an accident" (AKA get assassinated) get depressed and die by his own hand, or... die of depression before he gets the chance to die by his own hand. (?)
Lol the Nedalskip kings haven't got a reputation for longevity
Next update and this one's a pretty long one...
Chapter 25, The Magonsæte Expansion (750-763)
By the year of 750AD King Eadbeald III ruled over a very strong Mercian Kingdom. With the Jarldom of Lindsey firmly in his sights Eoforwine I official “King” of East Anglia ruled one tiny province and was unable to resist powerful Mercia.
The odds shifted further to Eadbeald’s favour after on the 22nd January 750 his wife Lady Wilflæd of Thunreslea officially renounced her support of “King” Eoforwine and swore vassalisation to Eadbeald III. With Thunreslea under Mercian rule once more Eadbeald controlled the location of Eadric’s landing, his oldest ancestor.
Simultaneously in the north Eadweald (Eadbeald’s younger brother) conquered the Scir of Duntoning (in modern West Yorkshire) from High Lady Æthelfryth Freamundsson of Lindsey. The Anglians were being pushed back on all fronts and by that December King Eoforwine lost the province of Margidunum (near Lincoln) to the Mercians. The Kingdom of Anglia ceased to exist and the eastern territories of the former Kingdom divided into the Jarldoms of Lindsey and the Saxon Shore (even though they had been independent from Eoforwine for some time).
Eoforwine fled to Lindsey and from there plotted with his supporters to usurp the Jarldom from High Lady Æthelfryth Freamundsson and regain his former high position.
As the year turned to 751 Mercia was in a much stronger position in Britannia. Anglo-Saxon culture was also finally turning the more resilient areas of Brythonic tradition. Around this time the old town of Corinium (recently fought over between Wessex and Mercia from 744-746) began to become known as Cirencester.
That February Eadbeald’s eldest daughter Leofcwen came of age. Mercian suitors were all turned away as Eadbeald had a plan for her. Relations with Wessex were strained and the two most powerful Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms were still fresh from the war over Cirencester 5 years previously. Eadbeald therefore opted to wed young Leofcwen to Prince Eormenraed Aberbridge of Wessex in the hope of forging a lasting alliance between the two kingdoms.
The balance of life was restored to Eadbeald III that March however as tragedy struck House Nedalskip. On the 1st Queen Wilflæd died at the age of 35 due to the scourge of pneumonia. Eadbeald was struck greatly by this loss, though he often preferred the company of men Wilflæd had been a loyal companion and she had ensured the longevity of House Nedalskip due to the birth of Prince Eadbeald. By this stage though Eadbeald III could be considered “bisexual” in modern terms.
The head of House Nedalskip and the King of Mercia could hardly be seen without a wife however and within a few months he had wed Ceolwynn of Wicford, a petty noblewoman from Mercia.
As all seemed well within the Kingdom a rather bloody shock came in November 751 as Jarl Cyneheard of Essex declared his intention to secede from Mercia and do so by force if necessary. Thus the first civil war since Eadbeald III’s reclamation of the throne some 15 years previous began. Cyneheard was motivated by his power and the fact that Essex (including the powerful city of Lundenwic) were not de-Jure part of Mercia. Cyneheard was also the 33 year old son of old King Eormenræd I (of Avon) of Mercia, the King who Eadbeald III had usurped during the Reclamation.
Essex was strong and ruled the cities of Deva and Lundenwic due to it being the seat of the Avon cadet branch which had acquired those areas during their reign. Thus Cyneheard’s rebellion could muster a serious challenge to Eadbeald III. To make matters worse large numbers of opportunists and rebels from recently acquired Anglian provinces sided with the rebel so that by the end of 751 the two sides were roughly well matched.
The seriousness of the war hit Eadbeald III hard when on Christmas Day 751 his army was defeated for the first time on the field near Towcester, losing nearly 3000 men to a mere 900 rebels. With Eadbeald on the back-foot but still with more men the result of Cyneheard’s rebellion was in the balance as the new year of 752 began. The year got off to a good start for the loyalists as another battle at Towcester routed a larger force of rebels, this time Eadbeald III used his heavy cavalry far more effectively, turning the tide of battle.
The war had not been won in a single battle however and Cyneheard still had many troops and holdings, enough to still seriously push for the independence of Essex from Mercia. Minor victories near Lundenwic and Cirencester that spring pushed the initiative back into Eadbeald’s hands and this time the King received unexpected reinforcement from volunteers and retired soldiers swelling the loyalist ranks. By March the tide had clearly turned and it would take some luck or skill on Jarl Cyneheard’s part to retake the initiative. In early June another decisive victory near Tamworth pretty much decided the fate of the war and the rebellion began to waver.
Events beyond Mercia were also in progress that were changing the political landscape. In Wales the Kingdom of Powys had fallen apart into civil war. King Alwynn II “the Careless” was an unpopular ruler, his Kingdom having suffered greatly against the Mercian raids in the early 740s. The civil war seemed to be going well for the rebels who were determined to split Powys into many smaller lordships. In the North the Jarldom of Deira began to conquer Cumbrian territory, changing the balance of the 3 Northumbrian Jarldoms. With much of Cumbria under Deiran rule by 760 Mercia began to recognise the powerful Eburacum based Jarldom as heir to the Kingdom of Northumbria.
After a series of victories against Cyneheard’s rebels peace was bought with the sword in Mercia by November 752. Cyneheard was thrown in jail and some of his less fortunate supporters executed. The revolt had shaken Eadbeald III’s Mercia to the core, the popular king had never had to deal with insurrection before, but then for Cyneheard it was personal. A great feast was held that Christmas to celebrate the loyalist victory and the end of the civil war, it was during this time that Eadbeald’s 2nd wife Ceolwynn contracted the disease of consumption (TB).
Over the next few weeks Ceolwynn’s health worsened and Eadbeald began to fear for the life of his unborn child that she was pregnant with. On the 9th of January 753 Ceolwynn gave birth and with surprise Eadmund and Offa entered this world as twins. Eadbeald III had mixed feeling on this as although he was happy to see new life in the world he worried for the future where the twin half brothers of his heir Eadbeald could become serious pretenders to the Mercian throne. Ceolwynn died during the twin’s childbirth and King Eadbeald III was once again without a wife. A few months later the King’s mother, Leofcwen died a natural death at age 55.
Though deeply saddened by these personal deaths the King decided to give only a few months mourning before pushing on in life. That July Eadbeald III undertook the pastime of falconry with great vigor and from then on it became one of his foremost passions.
In August 754 Cyneheard of Essex finally died in Eadbeald’s jail and was succeeded by his son, young Eormenræd of Essex. Eormenræd blamed the king for his father’s inglorious death and tensions once again began to raise over the region. By the end of the year events in Lindsey also reached the ears of Eadbeald. His distant relative, High Lady Æthelfryth Freamundsson of Lindsey was usurped as the ruler of Lincoln by former King of Anglia Eoforwine I, who now styled himself the “King in Lincoln”. It may have been in his better interests to remain low however as Eadbeald III was favourable to Lady Æthelfryth and would have allowed Lindsey independence, but not under the pretender Anglian King Eoforwine, now the prospect of easy land to the east was very tempting to the King of Mercia.
755 at least was a year of peace in the Kingdom as Eadbeald allowed his people to recover from the civil war before making any serious expansion moves. That summer a great fair was held in Lundenwic, bringing much commerce into the Kingdom. Also the 12 year old heir Prince Eadbeald began to have more of a say in the governance of his Scirdom, Thunreslea, which he had inherited from his mother Wilflæd back in 751. Even at this age the heir to the throne was considered a just and kind boy as well as being born with a sharp mind for governance.
By March 755 Eadbeald III finally heeded the calls of his vassals and decided to wed for a third time. This time the king chose his wife due to her skills as a statesperson and potential partner in governance over any other factor. Argante nic Aedan of Ulaid (Northern Ireland), the older unmarried sister of Lord Fogartach I of Ulaid was chosen as the King’s new wife, her skill proven by her advisory rule alongside her brother for many years.
The month of March 755 proved to be rather eventful as the peasants of Arden Forest rose up against the King, determined to ease the burden of taxation upon them. The King saw the peasant rabble as a mere “angry mob” who would take what they wanted through force unless they were crushed.
The peasants even ambushed the royal procession as it came back from one of Eadbeald’s falconry trips, during the skirmish the 2 year old Half-Brother Prince Eadmund was wounded by a stray arrow that cut across his cheek, narrowly missing the boy. Eadbeald III would not stand for this and after this skirmish he ordered his Marshall, Seaxræd of Leicester to come down hard on the rebels.
It didn’t take to long to track down and kill the indiscreet ringleaders of the revolt and within a month the peasant revolt had been subdued without major loss of life.
With the peasants subdued for the moment Eadbeald III once again cast his eyes to the Jarldom of Lindsey ruled by Jarl Eoforwine of Anglia. From Summer 755 until September 757 a series of small battles and sieges saw Mercia reconquer Lindsey from Eoforwine I. Eoforwine of Anglia was forced to flee to Bath (Aquae Sulis) and although he still had claims to the various regions of Anglia he would find no support in Wessex and would die there in obscurity during the 770s.
With Lindsey brought back into Eadbeald’s fold Mercia’s borders reached their greatest extent in 757 since the “Mercian Golden Decade” of King Sæwæld I over a century earlier.
With all Anglia reconquered save the Saxon Shore (increasingly called the “Kingdom” of East-Anglia) Eadbeald III turned his eyes West for expansion. East-Anglia was ruled by House Camulodunum, the relatives of his first wife Wilflæd who he was still very fond of.
In recent years the spread of Chrisitianity into the border provinces of Wales had coincided with Jarl Osmund of Magonsaete claiming those provinces that were once the central part of Powys as de-jure part of his Jarldom.
King Alwynn of Powys had lost the civil war and his Kingdom was now divided into 2 larger states and the tiny lordship of Dinnewrac on the Mercian border. Wales was more vulnerable than ever to Eadbeald’s strong and expansionist Mercia so when English priests were prevented from preaching the faith in Powys in 758 the tensions raised to boiling point and both nations prepared for war.
Osmund’s claims on the Welsh border provinces would see three new lordships brought into Mercia, though Eadbeald III did not want his vassal gaining too much power from the coming conflict and decided to claim the first province, the Christian region of Buelt for himself, declaring war on Powys on the 28th March 759.
A Mercian force of some 6,500 levies was raised and marched south to attack Alwynn’s capital at Isca Siluria. April 11th saw the first major battle as King Eadbeald III and Prince Eadbeald (who had recently reached the age of 16) commanded the Mercian army to a decisive victory at Penarth, killing nearly 2,000 Welshmen for the loss of 674 Mercians.
This initial victory was setback when the following week a Mercian force of 1,000 besieging the Powysian holding of Masemwyr was completely destroyed by a Welsh army. This second Powysian army was defeated itself however when Eadbeald III marched north to meet it in battle, winning at Cicunium in late June.
Though the Welsh field armies had been defeated winter was fast approaching and in the hilly regions of central Wales large Mercian armies would be put in a hard position as available forage in the region was limited. The Mercian armies lost hundreds, maybe thousands of men that winter but still the sieges continued and the Powysian garrisons on the border got ever closer to surrender.
On the 23rd of February 760 King Alwynn’s capital at Cair Dunad in Isca Siluria fell to Eadbeald’s besieging force. The settlement was looted with everything of worth stolen, an unusually callous act for King Eadbeald “the Merry”. A few more battles and seiges were concluded before on the 20th May 760 Alwynn II surrendered Buelt to Eadbeald III, enlarging the Jarldom of Magonsæte and claiming Mercian territory in the heart of pagan Wales.
Following this war Alwynn’s land was confined to three disjointed lordships across Wales. He lost the title King of Powys and became the new King of Pembroke-Siluria. Gerlyd I, former lord of Western Powys and now the most powerful lord in Wales usurped the title King of Powys and his reign was recognised by King Eadbeald III.
After the victory over King Alwynn Eadbeald III seemed in a good position with his vassals and subjects, but the troublesome Jarl of Essex Eormenræd started to ferment and plot another bid for independence in late 760. Eadbeald responded by inviting the Jarl to a feast during which the two men got along famously well, creating a lasting friendship between the former rivals.
As the new year dawned Eadbeald III looked to increase the size of Magonsæte in central Wales further. In late May 761 Mercia declared war on the tiny lordship of Dinnewrac, a former vassal of Powys. The tiny lordship never stood a chance on its own against the might of Mercia and the battle fought there on the 7th June 761 ended with an inevitable Mercian victory.
The defenders of Dinnewrac held the fort for several months before they were starved into submission by December 761.
By the start of 762 all of the new de-jure provinces of Magonsæte had been incorporated into the Jarldom, save the region of Caer Swys under the rule of King Alwynn “the Careless” of Pembroke-Siluria. With a few thousand men already in Wales King Eadbeald III wasted little time in pressing Magonsæte’s claims and declared war on Alwynn Coeling on the 23rd December 761. The following January the Silurian field armies were decisively beaten at Llandow (Isca Siluria) and Caer Dolforwyn (Caer Swys) giving Eadbeald III the temporary upper hand as Mercian troops began to besiege Alwynn’s capital.
The fight was not completely out of the Silurians however as on the 26th of July 762 a Mercian army in central Wales was ambushed and nearly slaughtered to a man at the Massacre at Cicunium.
Rather than abandoning the siege of Isca Siluria Eadbeald III ordered the recruitment of mercenaries and more levies to replace the losses at Cicunium and counter-attack the Silurian army in the region.
This proved a bad judgement however as on the 10th October the second Mercian army was also defeated (though not as badly as at Cicunium) during the Battle of Buelt.
Despite these defeats in the hilly country of central Wales Eadbeald’s forces surrounding the fort of Isca Siluria succeeded in starving out the garrison on the 5th December 762 (which included King Alwynn) and the Silurians were forced to negotiate peace terms. In exchange for King Alwynn’s life Siluria gave up the border province of Caer Swys.
By the start of 763AD a strained peace returned to the Western border of Mercia. During the course of Eadbeald’s wars with the Welsh the Anglo-Saxon borders had expanded futher into old Briton territory. The enlargement of the Jarldom of Magonsæte had a lasting effect on the region of central Wales which was now firmly held by the Kingdom of Mercia.