Aethelflaed: the Lady of the Mercians, by Tim Clarkson

 

Aethelflaed is the oldest daughter of Alfred the Great, but the most important near-contemporary history of that time, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, doesn't devote much attention to her. Tim Clarkson, an independent scholar of the Anglo-Saxon period, uses other sources to flesh out Aethelflaed's life, including many Anglo-Saxon charters, the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland, and the Mercian Register. Even with these (and other) additional sources, there is a lot of speculation about Aethelflaed's life; however, this book provides a rich and well-written history of the early 10th century period in what eventually becomes England. In addition to eight pages of photographs, I really appreciated the many maps throughout the book along with the many drawings of the layouts of various towns and burhs that Aethelflaed founded or built up; many of them show the original Roman walls and streets as well as the newer Anglo-Saxon defenses added in the 10th century. The overarching theme is of Aethelflaed and Edward the Elder building burhs and other defenses against both the Danes in the north and east and the Welsh in the west, and ultimately expanding the borders of the Mercian and Wessex territories into East Anglia and Northumbria, slowly growing their lands to become the England that we're familiar with today, although that doesn't happen until later.