Did Ragnar sleep with Queen of Mercia? Cynethryth is associated with her husband in charters and is said to have been a patron of Chertsey Abbey. After the death of Offa, Kenelm took the Mercian throne but he died shortly thereafter. Because if it happened when, say, Titan's Curse had Annabeth get kidnapped that might be a potential plot point. Mercia, (from Old English Merce, “People of the Marches [or Boundaries]”), one of the most powerful kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England; it held a position of dominance for much of the period from the mid-7th to the early 9th century despite struggles for power within the ruling dynasty. He was not included in official Norwegian regnal lists until modern times, but has since been counted as Magnus II. (The sunstone they used to navigate is thought to be real, too.) The historical Egbert lived from 770-something to 839. Williams, Gareth, "Mercian Coinage and Authority" in Michelle P. Brown & Carol A. Farr (eds). In the eighth episode, we meet a Princess Kwenthrith of Mercia, who seems to want to be either Queen Cynethryth or Princess Cwenthryth. To the British, the Vikings were demons. So, based on Egbert’s age and the events, the story seems to not take place as much in the late 790s as the 820s. But how about the timeline and the characters? So, the theory about Magnus really being Ragnar's son is still something that can be considered, even if there is no mention of him in Ragnar's sagas -- or even a mention of a potential son that was not legitimized by the Viking. Here is the first glimpse of the mangling of the timeline: in history, Ælla dies in 867. Cnut, the Danish king of England, is dead, his son and chosen heir, Harthacnut, fighting for the survival of Denmark against Magnus, usurper of Cnut’s eldest son’s rule of Norway. Cnut’s Northern Empire of England, Denmark, Norway and Sweden is fragmented and in … If we have to pick one, it’s probably the former, who lived in late 700s, and was actually queen. She became abbess of the monastery at Cookham and also had charge of the church at Bedford, where Offa was interred. The Earls of Mercia Series The Earl of Mercia's Father If we have to pick one, it’s probably the former, who lived in late 700s, and was actually queen. King Offa had at least five children, and it is thought that they were all Cynethryth's as well; they were: For the 9th century Mercian princess, see, Portrait penny of Cynethryth, minted by Eoba at, Allegations regarding the death of St Æthelberht of East Anglia. After Offa’s death, the Mercian throne was taken by Kenelm but he died shortly afterward. Aethelred was a real life son of King Aethelwulf of Wessex, and grandson of King Ecbert of Wessex. Alcuin's letters 61, 62, and 101 mention Cynethryth; For a list of charters witnessed by Cynethryth, see the Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England; for the charters themselves, see the Anglo-Saxon Charters homepage and Dr. Sean Miller's Anglo-Saxons.net. Æthelberht II, King of East Anglia (died 20 May 794) – who was later canonised as Saint Ethelbert the King – is widely believed to have been assassinated, on Offa's orders. [8], It has been suggested that Cynethryth's coinage was in emulation of the Byzantine Empress Irene, who ruled during this time through her son Constantine VI. This page combines information for the address Mercia Road, Newark, NG24 4NA, and the neighbourhood in which it resides. Which is actually not a bad way to do the series: it takes about a century from the height of the Viking Age, compresses it down to a few years, and tells the most interesting stories, with compelling characters that shared a history, even if they weren’t actually contemporaries. But when a TARDIS trip to companion Tegan's home town goes wrong, the Doctor ends up in the younger Greel's heyday — in a world on the brink of all-out war. (eds), Stafford, Pauline, "Political Women in Mercia, Eighth to Early Tenth Centuries" in, Thacker, Alan, "Kings, Saints and Monasteries in pre-Viking Mercia" in. The only son was named Ecgfrith. As a child, Kwenthrith was raped by her uncle Brihtwulf at the age of 6. The story writers of the series of Vikings pride themselves on building their successful narrative on historical accounts of the mighty warriors who terrorized seas and conquered territories in the 9 th century. This seems to relate to a brief mention of Offa's sinful but reformed wife, Thritha, that appears in Beowulf, but also has aspects similar to a story told of the wife of Offa of Angel, a Yorkshire girl set adrift by her father. Kwenthrith was a Princess, and the daughter of the late King Offa of Mercia. If the child were Ragnar Lothbrok's, an attack on Mercia would work in Ecbert’s favor. The invasion of Paris introduces even more confusion. The imagery employed, however, does not follow that on Irene's coinage, but that used on coins of late Roman empresses, just as the image used on Offa's coins show him as a late Roman emperor. In Vikings Kwenthrith (played by Amy Bailey) was the Queen Regnant of Mercia in Anglo-Saxon England. The real Egbert did defeat Mercia though, in the late 820s, and was briefly the 8th and penultimate bretwalda, or ruler of all Britain. When Aethelwulf points out that Magnus is a "Northern name", Kwenthrith proclaims that Magnus is the son of Ragnar Lothbrok. Magnus is the Prince of Mercia now. Pope Adrian I, when elevating Higbert's Bishopric of Lichfield to an Archbishopric, wrote to Offa and Cynethryth jointly. Magnus of Mercia (played by Dean Ridge) became a rather pivotal figure in the Vikings fray in the show’s penultimate season. Magnus of Mercia was the son of Kwenthrith of Mercia (Amy Bailey) believed to the son of Ragnar Lothbrok. Lindisfarne was located in what at the time was the Kingdom of Northumbria, and in the next episode, we meet its king, Ælla. Born at Wantage, Berkshire, in 849, Alfred was the fifth son of Aethelwulf, king of the West Saxons. However, neither of these women fought a civil war or ruled alone, as Kwenthrith in the series did, and so she seems to be largely fictional. By 780 she is Cyneðryð Dei gratia regina Merciorum ("Cynethryth, by the Grace of God, Queen of the Mercians"). ←Hello world! Cynethryth is the only Anglo-Saxon queen consort in whose name coinage was definitely issued. Check ‘em out and let us know what you think in the comments section! In 1058, aged no more than ten or eleven, he led a fleet to England in support of Earl Ӕlfgar of Mercia, after the earl had been outlawed only a year after he had succeeded to his father’s earldom. If we leave Ælla and Kwenthrith out, and pretend the attack on Lindisfarne wasn’t the famous one in 793, we can almost say the series takes place in the 820s. Aethulwulf knew that as soon Egbert confirmed there was no Ragnar in Magnus, he would have no use for him and would most likely kill him as he was a potential danger to his rule in Mercia, which is what I believe he was referring to when he told Magnus there are animals on the Villa. Click that Like button. Elsewhere Alcuin refers to Cynethryth as "controller of the Royal household". When Aethelwulf returned with Queen Kwentrith and her son, he called upon King Aelle. This is interesting for two reasons: Which brings us to the Vikings themselves and some history, which may or may not turn out to be spoilers of later seasons of the show: If that’s true, that would mean Ragnar was born in the early 800s, and could’ve laid the 845 siege to Paris. May 31, 2015 - Prince Magnus of Mercia is the reputed son of Queen Kwenthrith of Mercia. The guy has only been an orphan for around two years at the start of Magnus Chase and the God of Asgard. The Viking King is the ninth book in the (main) Earls of Mercia series, retelling the story of the last century of Anglo-Saxon England through the eyes of the powerful Earls of Mercia, the only noble family, apart from the House of Wessex, to hold their position for nearly a century. You know you want to. He appears to have assisted Welsh ruler Gruffydd ap Llywelyn … At their father's behest and by mutual agreement, Alfred's elder brothers succeeded to the kingship in turn, rather than endanger the kingdom by passing it to under-age children at a time when the country was threatened by worsening Viking raids from Denmark. Yorke, Barbara, "The Origins of Mercia" in Michelle P. Brown & Carol A. Farr (eds), This page was last edited on 8 January 2021, at 00:07. And the show tries to be historically accurate: as a PopSugar interview with an expert tells us, the costumes, hair styles and characters all fit within the Viking culture, even if some of it is the stuff of legends. In reality, they didn’t need to do that to get into the city, and that story is actually attributed to Ragnar’s son, Björn Ironside, who did the same thing to get into what he thought was Rome, but was actually Luna. Cynethryth was alive as late as 798, when a dispute over church lands with Æthelhard, Archbishop of Canterbury, was settled at the Synod of Clofesho, at an uncertain location. Nothing certain is known of Cynethryth's origins. PENDA c. 625 – 15th November 655. The Baroness : Of the Sexpot variety. In the seventh episode, Egbert and Ælla, whose kingdoms are separated by Mercia, propose an alliance against the Vikings and Mercians, and seal it by wedding their children, Æthelwulf and Judith. [3][4], Unlike the relations of Æthelbald, Offa's predecessor, which had been condemned by the church, the marriage of Offa and Cynethryth was entirely conventional and met with the approval of the church hierarchy. This battle hungry king is remembered for turning Mercia from a second-rate kingdom to the most powerful in England, overtaking the likes of both Wessex and Northumbria. If we count from the known raid of Lindisfarne, the series would be in 797-798, which would put Egbert in his late 20s, when he was in exile. Its story lines are consistently good, but it’s grown in scale from a Viking villagers attacking an English monastery, to a Viking king laying siege to Paris. Floki. So in that case, Lindisfarne has been pushed forward in time almost 40 years; Egbert and Æthelwulf about 10 years; Ælla and Ragnar are about where they should be; Horik has been pulled back 10 years, and Rollo and Odo about 40; Gisela, almost 70. Posted on February 18, 2021 by February 18, 2021 by Another historical figure, Cwenthryth of Mercia, who did have children had five, and none of them were named Magnus. Brihtwulf would also bring other men to her so that they might, as she puts it, 'enjoy the pleasure o… Safe to say Magnus isn't really the son of Ragnar, historically, and even if given the benefit of doubt he could be so in the TV show, at least, fans refuse to buy Ragnar lied to Lagertha. [2], A tradition related by the 13th century Vitae duorum Offarum tells that she was of Frankish origin, and that for her crimes she was condemned by Charlemagne's justice system to be set adrift at sea in an open boat. Cynethryth ( Cyneðryð; died after AD 798) was a Queen of Mercia, wife of King Offa of Mercia and mother of King Ecgfrith of Mercia. Portraying that much history in one series would be very hard without a device like this. Given they both can’t be true, and based on the other events in the series, fixing it to the latter seems more “correct”. [7] She first witnessed a charter dated 770, along with Ecgfrith and Ælfflæd. Hwicce was originally a kingdom situated in the West Midlands, centred on Worcester, but it was subsumed into Mercia under Offa in the 8th century. Mercia Finally, Charles the Bald marries his daughter Gisla to Rollo, in order to secure an alliance with the Vikings. Her brother was Burgred (Aaron Monaghan), who fought against her uncle Brithwulf (Ian Beattie) after he attempted to prevent Kwenthrith from asserting Mercia as her very own. [9] It has been suggested that the coins were minted for donations by Cynethryth to the Church, but their similarity to the general issues suggests otherwise. This Viking leader, whose origins were either Danish or Norwegian, began conducting raids on France in the ninth century. Spoiler alert: the below contains spoilers through the third season of Vikings. The attack was as shocking, if not more so, than the show makes it seem. In the second episode, the Vikings, now accompanied by King Horik, land in Wessex and we meet King Egbert. She claims that Magnus was conceived by the mighty Ragnar Lothbrok. He looks to be in his 40s in the series, but let’s say life was hard back then and he was 25: that would mean he lived to be 100. The first raid portrayed in the series, in the second episode of the first season, is the infamous first Viking raid ever recorded, in 793 A.D., at the monastery on the East English isle of Lindisfarne. Some later chroniclers, such as Roger of Wendover, have alleged that Cynethryth was either personally responsible for the assassination of Æthelberht, or to have incited Offa to kill him. Leofric was the son of Leofwin, who became Ealdormann of the Hwicce in 994 AD during the reign of Æþelred Unrede. And actually, our historical sources from back then are so shaky, that who knows if what we think we know actually happened that way. Often thought of as being brutal and commandeering, Vikings were also intellectually and … 8. As one of the most colorful characters of the TV series, Ragnar Lothbrok’s best friend, Floki … The postcode is within the Devon ward/electoral division, which is in the constituency of Newark. In the eighth episode, we meet a Princess Kwenthrith of Mercia, who seems to want to be either Queen Cynethryth or Princess Cwenthryth. Over the past three years, Vikings has gotten better and better every year. However, the real Æthelwulf was indeed married to a Judith in order to form an alliance, but she was Judith of Flanders, and the alliance was with West Francia. After Offa's death in 796, Cynethryth entered a religious order. The article gets the crux of it: the show is both radically compressing and extending eras. 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