Æthelbald (also spelled Ethelbald, or Aethelbald) (died 757) was the King of Mercia, in what is now the English Midlands, from 716 until 757. During his long reign, Mercia became the dominant kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons, and recovered the position of pre-eminence it had enjoyed during the seventh century under the strong Mercian kings Penda and Wulfhere. Mercian domination of England continued until the end of the eighth century; Offa, the grands...
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Æthelbald (also spelled Ethelbald, or Aethelbald) (died 757) was the King of Mercia, in what is now the English Midlands, from 716 until 757. During his long reign, Mercia became the dominant kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons, and recovered the position of pre-eminence it had enjoyed during the seventh century under the strong Mercian kings Penda and Wulfhere. Mercian domination of England continued until the end of the eighth century; Offa, the grandson of Æthelbald's cousin Eanwulf, ruled for an additional thirty-nine years, starting shortly after Æthelbald's death.
Æthelbald came to the throne on the death of his cousin, King Ceolred. Both Wessex and Kent were ruled by strong kings at that time, but within fifteen years the contemporary chronicler Bede describes Æthelbald as ruling all England south of the river Humber. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle does not list Æthelbald as a bretwalda, or "Ruler of Britain", though this may be due to the West Saxon origin of the Chronicle.
St Boniface...
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