Ceolred of Mercia - Ancestry and Reign

Ancestry and Reign

Ceolred's father, Æthelred, came to throne of Mercia in 675 on the death of his brother, Wulfhere. Æthelred abdicated in 704 and went to Rome, leaving the kingdom to his nephew Coenred, Wulfhere's son.

The reduced prestige of both Ceolred and his predecessor, Coenred, may have stirred unrest among the Mercian nobility: Æthelbald was in exile during Ceolred's reign, and the survival of a hostile account of Ceolred may indicate a more general dissatisfaction with the ruling line.

In 709 Coenred abdicated in favour of Ceolred. Coenred went to Rome and was made a monk there by Pope Constantine. Historians have generally accepted Bede's report of Coenred's abdication, but Barbara Yorke has suggested that he may not have relinquished his throne voluntarily. There are instances of kings being forcibly removed and placed in holy orders to make them ineligible for kingship; one such was King Osred II of Northumbria, who was forced into a monastery.

Ceolred was Æthelred's son, but his mother was not Osthryth, Æthelred's only recorded wife. He may have still been young at the time of his accession. Much of what is recorded about Ceolred is highly negative, accusing him of crimes and immorality; this may reflect poor treatment of the Church. In 715, the Mercians under Ceolred fought a battle at "Woden's Barrow", either against the West Saxons under Ine or together with them against an unnamed opponent, possibly the British; the outcome of this battle was not recorded.