The Mercian Supremacy 

     England in the early VIII^th century was a much sophisticated place than it had been in the early VII^th. A United English Kingdom was still far away, but the English were now starting to become aware of themselves as an ethnic and cultural munity(unit). The VIII^th century Mercian Kings lived in a world of greater literacy and equility, which made their power quite stable and more capable of development.

     AEthelberght of Mercia (716-757) inherited much of the influence won by wart written charters, recording royal grants and they were now appearing in some quantity. So we can see how kings liked to style themselves. Aethelberght’s titles are very impressive, but perhaps not wholy new. He called himself King not only of the Mercians, but of all provinces, called by the general name – Southern English. So it was a rather complicated and long title, but still, as a very powerful king, he liked it very much. But we should remember that Mercian supremacy was never to go north of the river Hamba, so Mercian Kingdom was only powerful between the river Hamba.

     AEthelberght’s successor, his name was Offa (757-796), was the most powerful English king before a very important king – King Alfred the Great. Offa’s power in all the kingdoms, except Northumbria and Wessex, seemes to have been more that of a direct ruler, than a remood overlord. He had full control over Kent and he treated its kings as his servants. Offa is the first ruler, whose charters used the simple title, and it is King of the English. So he considered himself to be the King of all England.

     In 787 Offa had his son, Egthrith(f), made king of the Mercians by a solemn consecration [освящение], which Northumbria copied nine years later. The semi-Sussex character of kingship was becoming stronger and stronger. But this ////// made dinasties more stable. Succession again even in the VIII^th century was uncertain. Long after king Offa, kings would still be chosen, but not chosen – elected, but they were chosen from the royal stok. And who chose the kings? The Witan, a formal body, it was called Witan. So any vaguely eligible candidate with forces behind him could aim at the throne. And Mercia, Wessex and Northumbria were all torn by dinasty’s(dinasties’) flui(e)ds during the VIII^th century, so everybody wanted to be (a) king.

     When Offa’s son died, shortly after Offa himself, the Northumbrian scholar Althie saw it was a judgment, and he wrote, that the blood shed by (the) father had now reached the son, for you know very well how much blood his father shed to secure the kingdom on his son. So the son had to pay for the blood actually his father had shed and it was very sad. L Much of these shows Offa in a savage light, but some important institutions did start to take shape under Mercian kings.

     A few words about the Church.

     The church was now firmly established, with lands and privilegies. And if we compare the Church in the VII^th century, where there was a great conflict between two churches, between the Roman Church and the Celtic one, so now it was more stable and more established and it had land and privilegies. Its assembleys were solemn affairs and it was recorded in writing. AEthelberght and Offa were often involved in Church Councils on very important affairs. The Church Assembleys might have helped to transform the band of warriors around a VII^th century king into the formal Witan (or Grand Council), which we find in late Saxon England. The Concept of Bookland - land for which a written Charter gave legal title - wasn’t well established. The VIII^th century aristocracy began to seem a little less like warriors, a little like country gentlemen and evidence starts to appear for family houses and family churches – and it meant, of course, the beginning of aristocracy.

     Little is known of the houses, athough one had been escavated at Golthow in Lincolnshire(Lincoln – the city, which was important at Roman times). So a mid IX^th century dependent house containing a hall, a kitchen, chamber and outbuildings. So you can see, there’s only one house left, but from the mid IX^th century, no archaeological evidence is left from the VIII^th century.  But for the churches there’s more evidence. Hereditary private ministeries, controlled by families of noble patrons[покровитель], often figure the VIII^th century sources. Earlier, as you remember, kings had had their royal villas, but King Offa seems to have tried to make his residence at Thameworth a kind of capital. So Thameworth at Offa’s time, and it was the VIII^th century, was the capital of Mercia. Near Tangworth was the Mercian Cathedral of Litchfield, which Offa managed to cooperate(have reigned-??) for several years into Archbishop.

     The duty of landowners to help in the building of bridges and fortifications first appeared in a document of 749. So either the aristocracy and rich people had to pay taxes or they had to give money for building the bridges, or probably built the bridges and cathedrals, fortifications themselves. This is significant in an age, which produced massive public works of at least two kinds. One is Offa’s Dyke. Recent excavations suggest that this enormous earthwork was a barrier between England and Wales, running from sea to sea. We can’t call it a wall, a real wall like the Hadrian Wall (120!AD). So Offa’s known to have raided in two ///. But the Dyke must be a defensive rather than an extencive(offensive) work built to stop the Welsh attacks.

     The charter references also to fortress work or started to be in his time. It is well-known that Alfred and his airs developed a network of large fortresses to protect Wessex against the Vikings. Several of the IX^th century fortresses may have even earlier origins, such as Wearham, which is situated in Dorset; Dorchester, also in Dorset; and Oxford. And they are certainly on the sites, which was very important in the VIII^th century, and who have seen two factors in the emergance of towns. And these two factors are churches and the fortresses. The third is straight(strength).

     Offa lived in an age, when foreign and internal traits was both expended. The cleariest sign is the appearance of a systematic coinage and it meant real money. Until 600 only foreign gold coins had circulated in England. The silver coins minted by VII^th and VIII^th century kings were very unreliable. And usually they were used only for local circulation; but gold coins, of course, were very reliable and they were in use of all over the country. Offa’s beautiful pennies [not penis-JJJ-прим.авт.] quickly drove out older coins and they gave a wider circulation than any currency since Roman times (Celts used iron bars for money). So money was becoming of general importance in the English economy.

     In England commercial settlements were often linked to royal centers and their names often include the element -nic and sometimes wick, for example in Hamnic, it’s a city, a silver minting centre, which is situated in South Hampton. And this city lay at the junction of the Test and Itchen [some geographic names-прим.авт.] near a royal villa called Hampton. Others were probably Eapswich, which is still a major pottery producing centre, Sandwich, which is clear what do(??) they make there, and Portswich, and, of course, York. Most important centre still was London and it remained a big economic centre for many people coming to England by land and sea.

     The VIII^th century was a rather unsettled time for the English Church. The patronage of ministeries had brought its own problems. Monks were forbidden to live like lead-nobles, drunkenness and circular songs were condemned[обсуждать]. The growth of Church Government enchanced royal dignity and also raised the pretensioness of bishops. Relations between church and state were not always easy, especially with a very severe king like AEthelberght, who combined monestic reform with simultaneous robbing monasteries and soducing nu///. On the positive side the English church did produce one outstanding scholar and he’s, of course, worth mentioning, it is Alqueen. A product of the Cathedral School at York, he was a leading figure in scholar system. But, of course, it must be remembered, that he was a Northumbrian. And we know very little about Mercian culture and Mercian schools of that time. Probably this simply means that much of the evidence has been lost.

     Mercian power didn’t loan outlast Offa. His successor, who was King Senwolf kept hold of Kent and Sussex and even gain some new territory from the Northern Welsh, but Wessex slipped from his grasp in 802. And a new destiny of overlords was about to appear – and this time it was West Saxon Destiny. In 825 Egbeth of Wessex won a victory(a battle, maybe?) near Swinder. He expelled a Mercian underking from Kent and he actually won Kent, Essex, Surrey and Sussex. Four year later Mercia itself fell to Egbeth and even Northumbria aknowledged his lordship. But by Egbeth’s death in 839 Mercia  was independent once again. It became independent, but it never became so important in the history of Britain.

     The Viking Invasion

     Meanwhile, while there were so many battles and so many conflicts between these different kingdoms: Northumbria, Mercia, Kent (the Jutes), Essex (East Saxons), Wessex (West Saxons), Sussex (southern Saxons) and East Anglia (Angles), the Vikings had arrived. And for the Saxons, who formed Britain, it was the dawn of a terrifying new age. And the year was 793 and their prosperous world was now about to be turned on its head. Few people, if any at all, had even considered that their wealth would be a target for simple plunderers from across the sea.

     And the word “viking” meant “a pirot” (we don’t know for sure) or “a person from the sea”. Certainly none could have imagined the routhless and blood thirsty warriors, who would soon be pouring onto the shores of the native land, so for the Saxons and Jutes and Angles the British Isles started to be their native land.

     As for the tall fair-hair invadors from Scandinavia, they might have been astonished at the lack of resistance they met. So they simply didn’t expect anybody on their land. Very often their sluck long boats (it was the main means of transport for the Vikings) would come racing towards a beach to be confronted by simple very few locals standing around absolutely astonished and in dismay. It was never much of a fight. The well-armed powerful Vikings would slotter all, who crossed their path before striking nearby villages.

     What they did? They came there not to plunder, as Anglo-Saxons, they came there for wealth and money. And usually they robbed and burnt the villages and put back to sea. Even if the Saxons had a mind to organise defences, it would have been an impossible task, because there was no telling, when or where the enemy would strike next. And the remood coastal settlement of Northern and Eastern England had no hope of gathering forces in time. And, of course, consequently it meant rich and easy pickings for the raiders. And a typical ship carrying 30 or about that men was usually more than sufficient to see off the native opposition.

    1)Who were the Vikings or North(or Norse) man?

    2) What drove them to make war?

1. The Vikings originated from the lands that are now modern Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The Norwegian people tended to build their settlements around fjords, sheir-sided ////// valleys benetrating far in land and well protected from the terrible west(worst) weather of their land. Some historians believe, the name “Viking” may actually stam[основа] from the old Icelandic word “vik”, which described a sea in land or cold(coal).
2. The Norwegians were excellent seamen, but their agricultural land was limited by the country’s topology.

Sweden, however, was much easier to cultivate, because the land was generally lower and flatter, but the winters were much colder and longer than those in Norway. The farmers had only a short growing season and the frozen rivers may trade and travel difficult. Denmark’s problem was the quality, not the quantity, but the quality of crops: although the country was low and flat, and the climate reasonably mild, much of the land was covered by thin unproductive layer of soil. And Denmark had to rely on its position at the centre of trading routes across the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic shore for its prosperity.

    Shortage of good farmland was certainly one reason, why young Vikings took their ships in search of a better life. Any rise in the Scandinavian population quickly led to a food crisis. And this didn’t matter much to the wealthier chieftains, who owned most of the land. But, of course, if badly effected the middle classes, that were known as Carls, who tended to be farmers, tradors and sailors. Lowest of the low in their class system were the Throlls or sometimes they were called slaves. They had the worst- paid and dirtiest jobs, and were happy to take on a sea adventure if it meant even the slightest chance of improving their position and place. To make things worse, the size of farms tended to grow smaller. A farmer would devide his land among his sons, when he grew too old or stick to continue himself. And these smaller farms were less efficient. No surprise, that a majority even of the landed classes desided it was easier to take than to grow by themselves.

    The limited amount of land available for cultivation in Scandinavia and nearby places was prosperous and futile. And it led to an explosion of activity from the late VIII^th to the late XI^th centuries. The most dramatic results were the establishment of Swedish power in Russia and Norwegian settlement in Iceland and Greenland. In Western Europe the Danes compained extensively in Northern France, establishing themselves in ancient Normandie. The British Isles close to Scandinavia and with a long coastline from to marine raiders and invasion. They were extensively attacked. The Norwegians overran the Orkney and the Shetland Islands (north of the British Isles), the farther - North of Scotland and much of its West coast as well as coasten regions of Ireland.

      The Viking raiders inspired such terror that for more than 300 years all of Europe lived in fear of their coming. The appearance of these warriors might have been awesome[устрашающий]. Their main weapons of protect were the two-edged iron swords and heavy battle axes[колесницы]; also a stabbing spear[копьё] and another spear, which was much lighter, and (was) used for throwning. They would also use bows and arrows. And in defence a warrior relied upon his large round shield[щит], a helmet and a mail-shirt[кольчуга - mail-chain]. The Vikings were not very well disciplined fighters. They were far from very much people, who wanted only glory. And for them death or glory was a symbol at war. They had little time for tactice if it meant a delay in engaging the enemy, whom they preferred to catch unware with the way of war. They even had shock troops, who, according to a very famous Scandinavian saga, were sent like mad dogs and wolves biting their shields in their fury[ярость]. They were as strong as bears and wild bulls and struck men down right and left, neither fire nor steel could stop them – so these were these shock groups(troops!).

      England, as you should remember, had been free from continental invasion for two centuries, but in 789 the Danish ships were first recorded and in 793-794 the pagan Danes grutely sacked the great Northumbrian monasteries of Lindisfarne and Jarrow. Viking pressure increased in the 830s and 840s with frequent attacks on Southern England. The kings of Wessex played a major role in resisting these attacks. Egbeth, the king of Mercia, defeated a joined Viking konnish army at Hingston Town in 838 and his son, Atheloo defeated a Danish force at Alcar in 851. The latest son Alfred was much later to save Wessex by his effort, so as we can see the first attacks on the Scandinavians didn’t amount to invasion. From the early nuistant[писала, как слышала] trait(raid) on Northern England and Ireland in the VIII^th century it was to be more than 70 years before the first full scaled Viking armies arrived at the British Isles.

      From the mid IX^th century the Vikings came not to plunder, but to conquer the islands and to stay there permenantly. Danish invadors took up winter quarters in Senath in 850 and in Shapp(h)ey in 854. The Danish great army abandoned operations in Northern France and overran East Anglia in 865 and Northumbria a year and two later. In 865 a force of about 500 to 1000 men landed in North East England under the lidership of Ivar the Boneless. There were three people: The Ivar of the Boneless, Ubi and Haldan. These three men were sons of the unlikely named Regna Hairy brichers and they were apparantly seeking revenge their father’s death. Regna came to England with two ships some years earlier only to be defeated by king Aella of Northumbria. Aella had Regna killed by throwing him into a pit of snakes, but before he died the Vikings void(lloyd) the Englishmen that his sons would avenge him and he was definitely right. At 867 the Danes defeated Aella at York and killed him savagely.

     Gradually the overking the little resistance, they encounted in Central and Southern England. But the Kingdom of Wessex was a different enemy all together. Wessex, which was attacked in 871, owned its survival in fact to the skill of its young king Alfred, although a struggle was a desparate one. Wessex came very close to total defeat in 871, when the Danes won 4 of 6 major battles between Wessex and Vikings. Brief periods of peace came at a price. Alfred’s dealings with the Danes involved both the pay of tribute and the exchange of hostages. Wessex’s resistance encouraged the Danes to turn to the conquest of another powerful kingdom – Mercia. King Burghred led to Rome in 874 and his successor, Serwolf, paid tributes to the Danes. In 877 Mercia East and North of Watling Street became Danish.

     Throughout these drammatic years, however, Alfred continued on fighting. The young king beat the Viking in a very important naval battle in 875, capturing one lawnship of the south coast and putting seven others to fight. It was the first time the invadors had found their seapower challenged, and they determined to seek revenge (as you’ve noticed the Vikings were very revengeful people). Hearing of Alfred’s success the Viking king, Guthrum[Guthorn-the Viking variant of spelling], marched South with the large force and began the occupation of Wessex. Most of the locals gave up their struggle against him, but Alfred fought on and as a resistance leader from a secret hideout immaches[иммашез] of Athelney  and they were situated in the west country.

     According to the Chronicle of the Kings of England, this is another important reading document by William of Melsbury, Alfred wished to find out the plans of the Viking army, so he disguised[переодеться] himself to look like a wandering minister and he went bowardly to their camp. He was able to get right into the inner most place, where the Viking leaders were holding a council of war. There, playing simply his wonderful harp[арфа] in a dark corner he listened and looked as hard as he could and he found all their secret plans.