Wulfhere of Mercia Wulfhere or Wulfar ( died 675 ) was King of Mercia from 658 until 675 AD . He was the first Christian king of all of Mercia , though it is not known when or how he converted from Anglo - Saxon paganism . His accession marked the end of Oswiu of Northumbria ' s overlordship of southern England , and Wulfhere extended his influence over much of that region . His campaigns against the West Saxons led to Mercian control of much of the Thames valley . He conquered the Isle of Wight and the Meon valley and gave them to King Æthelwealh of the South Saxons . He also had influence in Surrey , Essex , and Kent . He married Eormenhild , the daughter of King Eorcenberht of Kent . Wulfhere ' s father , Penda , was killed in 655 at the Battle of Winwaed , fighting against Oswiu of Northumbria . Penda ' s son Peada became king under Oswiu ' s overlordship but was murdered a year later . Wulfhere came to the throne when Mercian nobles organized a revolt against Northumbria n rule in 658 and drove out Oswiu ' s governors . By 670 , when Oswiu died , Wulfhere was the most powerful king in southern Britain . He was effectively the overlord of Britain south of the Humber from the early 660s , although not overlord of Northumbria as his father had been . In 674 , he challenged Oswiu ' s son Ecgfrith of Northumbria , but was defeated . He died , probably of disease , in 675 . Wulfhere was succeeded as King of Mercia by his brother , Æthelred . Stephen of Ripon ' s " Life of Wilfrid " describes Wulfhere as " a man of proud mind , and insatiable will " . Mercia in the seventh century . England in the early 7th century was ruled almost entirely by the Anglo - Saxon peoples who had come to Britain from northwestern Europe , starting in the early 5th century . The monk Bede , who wrote in the 8th century , considered the Mercians to be descended from the Angles , one of the invading groups ; the Saxons and Jutes settled in the south of Britain , while the Angles settled in the north . Little is known about the origins of the kingdom of Mercia , in what is now the English midlands , but according to genealogies preserved in the " Anglo - Saxon Chronicle " and the Anglian collection the early kings were descended from Icel ; the dynasty is therefore known as the Iclinga s . The earliest Mercian king about whom definite historical information has survived is Penda of Mercia , Wulfhere ' s father . According to Bede ' s " Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum " , a history of the English church , there were seven early Anglo - Saxon rulers who held " imperium " , or overlordship , over the other kingdoms . The fifth of these was Edwin of Northumbria , who was killed at the battle of Hatfield Chase by a combined force including Cadwallon , a British king of Gwynedd , and Penda . At the time of this victory , Penda was probably not yet king of Mercia . His children included two future kings of Mercia : Wulfhere and Æthelred . After Edwin ' s death , Northumbria briefly fell apart into its two constituent kingdoms . Within a year Oswald killed Cadwallon and reunited the kingdoms , and subsequently re - established Northumbrian hegemony over the south of England . However , on 5 August 642 , Penda killed Oswald at the battle of Maserfield , probably at Oswestry in the northwest midlands . Penda is not recorded as overlord of the other southern Anglo - Saxon kings , but he became the most powerful of the Anglo - Saxon kings after he defeated Oswald . On Oswald ' s death , Northumbria was divided again : Oswald ' s son Oswiu succeeded to the throne of Bernicia , and Osric ' s son Oswine to Deira , the southern of the two kingdoms . The main source for this period is Bede ' s " History " , completed in about 731 . Despite its focus on the history of the church , this work also provides valuable information about the early pagan kingdoms . For other kingdoms than his native Northumbria , such as Wessex and Kent , Bede had an informant within the ecclesiastical establishment who supplied him with additional information . This does not seem to have been the case with Mercia , about which Bede is less informative than about other kingdoms . Further sources for this period include the " Anglo - Saxon Chronicle " , compiled at the end of the 9th century in Wessex . The Chronicle ' s anonymous scribe appears to have incorporated much information recorded in earlier periods . Ancestry . Wulfhere was the son of Penda of Mercia . Penda ' s queen , Cynewise , is named by Bede , who does not mention her children ; no other wives of Penda are known and so it is likely but not certain that she was Wulfhere ' s mother . The " Anglo - Saxon Chronicle " gives Penda ' s age as fifty in 626 , and credits him with a thirty - year reign , but this would put Penda at eighty years old at the time of his death , which is generally thought unlikely as two of his sons ( Wulfhere and Æthelred ) are recorded as being young when he was killed . It is thought at least as likely that Penda was 50 years old at his death , rather than at his accession . Wulfhere ' s date of birth is unknown , but Bede describes him as a youth at the time of his accession in 658 , so it is likely he was in his middle teens at that time ; Penda would then have been in his thirties at the time Wulfhere was born . Nothing is known of Wulfhere ' s childhood . He had two brothers , Peada and Æthelred , and two sisters , Cyneburh and Cyneswith ; it is also possible that Merewalh , king of the Magonsæte , was Wulfhere ' s brother . He married Eormenhild of Kent ; no date is recorded for the marriage and there is no record of any children in the earliest sources , though Coenred , who was king of Mercia from 704 to 709 , is recorded in John of Worcester ' s 12th century chronicle as Wulfhere ' s son . Another possible child is Berhtwald , a subking who is recorded as a nephew of Æthelred , and a third child , Werburh , is recorded in an 11th - century manuscript as a daughter of Wulfhere . An 11th - century history of St . Peter ' s Monastery in Gloucester names two other women , Eadburh and Eafe , as queens of Wulfhere , but neither claim is plausible . Accession and overlordship . In 655 Penda besieged Oswiu of Northumbria at Iudeu , the location of which is unknown but which may have been Stirling , in Scotland . Penda took Oswiu ' s son , Ecgfrith , as hostage , and Oswiu paid tribute , in the form of treasure , to secure Penda ' s departure . On the way back to Mercia , Oswiu overtook Penda and on 15 November 655 Oswiu and Penda fought on the banks of the ( unidentified ) river Winwaed . Penda was killed and beheaded by Oswiu , who divided Mercia into northern and southern halves . The northern portion was kept under direct Northumbrian control ; the southern kingdom was given to Penda ' s son Peada , who had married Oswiu ' s daughter Ealhflæd " ca " 653 . Peada did not remain king long . He was murdered at Easter in 656 , perhaps with the connivance of his wife , Oswiu ' s daughter . Oswiu then ruled all Mercia himself . Bede lists Oswiu as the seventh and last king to hold " imperium " ( or bretwalda in the language of the " Anglo - Saxon Chronicle " ) over the other Anglo - Saxon kingdoms . Overlordship was a common relationship between kingdoms at this time , often taking the form of a lesser king under the domination of a stronger one . Oswiu went further than this , however , and installed his own governors in Mercia after the deaths of Penda and Peada . This attempt to establish close control of Mercia failed in 658 when three Mercian leaders , Immin , Eafa and Eadbert , rebelled against the Northumbrians . Bede reports that they had kept Wulfhere in hiding , and when the revolt succeeded Wulfhere became king . It has been suggested that the Mercian revolt succeeded because Oswiu may have been occupied with fighting in Pictland , in northern Britain . His nephew the Pictish king Talorgan , son of Eanfrith , had died in 657 . How much direct control Oswiu exerted over the southern kingdoms during his imperium is unclear . Bede describes Oswiu ' s friendship and influence over Sigeberht of the East Saxons , but generally the pattern in the southeast is of more local domination , with Oswiu ' s influence unlikely to have been particularly strong . Wulfhere appears to have taken over Oswiu ' s position in many instances . Bede does not list him as one of the rulers who exercised " imperium " , but modern historians consider that the rise to primacy of the kingdom of Mercia began in his reign . He seems to have been the effective overlord of Britain south of the Humber from the early 660s , though not overlord of Northumbria as his father had been . A document called the Tribal Hidage may date from Wulfhere ' s reign . Drawn up before many smaller groups of peoples were absorbed into the larger kingdoms , such as Mercia , it records the peoples of Anglo - Saxon England , along with an assessment in hides , a unit of land . The Tribal Hidage is difficult to date precisely ; it may have been written down in Wulfhere ' s reign , but other suggested origins include the reign of Offa of Mercia , or Edwin or Oswiu of Northumbria . A convert king . Britain had been Christianized under the Romans , but the incoming Anglo - Saxons practiced their indigenous religion ( Anglo - Saxon paganism ) and the church in Great Britain was limited to the surviving British kingdoms in Scotland and Wales , and the kingdom of Dumnonia in the southwest of England . Missionaries from Rome began converting the Anglo - Saxons to Christianity at the end of the 6th century , and this process was well under way in Penda ' s reign , though Penda himself remained pagan throughout his life . Records survive of the baptism of other kings at this time — Cynegils of Wessex was baptized in about 640 , for example , and Edwin of Northumbria was converted in the mid 620s . However , later kings , such as Cædwalla of Wessex , who ruled in the 680s , are recorded as pagan at their accession . Bede writes that after Wulfhere became king : " Free under their own king , they [ the Mercians ] gave willing allegiance to Christ their true king , so that they might win his eternal kingdom in heaven " . While Wulfhere ' s father had refused to convert to Christianity , and Peada had apparently converted in order to marry Oswiu ' s daughter , the date and the circumstances of Wulfhere ' s conversion are unknown . It has been suggested that he adopted Christianity as part of a settlement with Oswiu . Bede records that two years before Penda ' s death , his son Peada converted to Christianity , influenced partly by Oswiu ' s son Ealhfrith , who had married Peada ' s sister Cyneburh . Peada brought a Christian mission into Mercia , and it is possible that this was when Wulfhere became a Christian . Wulfhere ' s marriage to Eormenhild of Kent would have brought Mercia into close contact with the Christian kingdoms of Kent and Merovingian Gaul , which were connected by kinship and trade . The political and economic benefits of the marriage may therefore also have been a factor in Wulfhere ' s Christianization of his kingdom . Wulfhere ' s relationship with Bishop Wilfrid is recorded in Stephen of Ripon ' s " Life of Wilfrid " . During the years 667 – 9 , while Wilfrid was at Ripon , Wulfhere frequently invited him to come to Mercia when there was need of the services of a bishop . According to Stephen , Wulfhere rewarded Wilfrid with " many tracts of land " , in which Wilfrid " soon established minsters for servants of God " . According to the " Anglo - Saxon Chronicle " , Wulfhere endowed a major monastery at Medeshamstede , in modern Peterborough . The monastery had initially been endowed by Peada ; for the dedication of Wulfhere ' s gift both Archbishop Deusdedit ( died 664 ) , and Bishop Jaruman ( held office from 663 ) , were present . The endowment was signed by Wulfhere and Oswiu , and by Sigehere and Sæbbi , the Kings of Essex . West Saxons , South Saxons and Hwicce . In 661 , Wulfhere is recorded in the Chronicle as harrying Ashdown , in West Saxon territory . The Gewisse , thought to be the original group from which the West Saxons came , appear to have originally settled in the upper Thames valley , and what records survive of the 6th century show them active in that region . The Mercian resurgence under Wulfhere placed them under severe pressure . Also in the early 660s , the West Saxon see of Dorchester , in the same area , was divided , and a new bishopric set up at Winchester . This decision was probably a reaction to the advance of the Mercians into the traditional heartland of the West Saxons , leaving Dorchester dangerously close to the border . Within a few years , the Dorchester see was abandoned ; the exact date is not known , but it was probably in the mid 660s . In addition to the attack on Ashdown , Wulfhere raided the Isle of Wight in 661 . He subsequently gave both the island and the territory of the Meonware , which lay along the river Meon , on the mainland north of the Isle of Wight , to his godson King Æthelwealh of the South Saxons . It seems likely that the ruling dynasty on the island found these arrangements acceptable to some degree , since the West Saxons , under Cædwalla , exterminated the whole family when they launched their own attack on the island in 686 . After the conquest of the Isle of Wight , Wulfhere ordered the priest Eoppa to provide baptism to the inhabitants . According to the Chronicle , this was the first time Christian baptism had reached the island . In the early 670s , Cenwealh of Wessex died , and perhaps as a result of the stress caused by Wulfhere ' s military activity the West Saxon kingdom fragmented and came to be ruled by underkings , according to Bede . Eventually these underkings were defeated and the kingdom reunited , probably by Cædwalla but possibly by Centwine . A decade after Wulfhere ' s death , the West Saxons under Cædwalla began an aggressive expansion to the east , reversing much of the Mercian advance . In addition to being Wulfhere ' s godson , King Æthelwealh of the South Saxons had a connection to the Mercians via marriage . His wife was Queen Eafe , the daughter of Eanfrith of the Hwicce , a tribe whose territory lay to the southwest of Mercia . The Hwicce had their own royal family , but it appears that at this date they were already subordinate to Wulfhere : the marriage between Æthelwealh and Eafe may well have taken place at Wulfhere ' s court , since it is known Æthelwealh was converted there . The kingdom of the Hwicce is sometimes regarded as a creation of Penda ' s , but it is equally likely that the kingdom existed independently of Mercia , and that Penda and Wulfhere ' s increasing influence in the area represented an extension of Mercian power rather than the creation of a separate entity . East Anglia and the East Saxons . In 664 , Æthelwald of East Anglia died , and was succeeded by Ealdwulf , who reigned for fifty years . Almost nothing is known of Mercian relations with East Anglia during this time ; East Anglia had previously been dominated by Northumbria , but there is no evidence that this continued after Wulfhere ' s accession . Swithhelm of the East Saxons also died in 664 ; he was succeeded by his two sons , Sigehere and Sæbbi , and Bede describes their accession as " rulers . . . under Wulfhere , king of the Mercians " . A plague the same year caused Sigehere and his people to recant their Christianity , and according to Bede , Wulfhere sent Jaruman , the bishop of Lichfield , to reconvert the East Saxons . Jaruman was not the first bishop of Lichfield ; Bede mentions a predecessor , Trumhere , but nothing is known about Trumhere ' s activities or who appointed him . It is apparent from these events that Oswiu ' s influence in the south had waned by this time , if not before , and that Wulfhere now dominated the area . This becomes even clearer in the next few years , as some time between 665 and 668 Wulfhere sold the see of London to Wine , who had been expelled from his West Saxon bishopric by Cenwealh . London fell within the East Saxons ' territory in that period . From the archaeological evidence , it appears to be about this time that the Middle Saxon settlement in London began to expand significantly ; the centre of Anglo - Saxon London was not at the old Roman centre , but about a mile west of that , near what is now the location of the Strand . Wulfhere may have been in control of the city when this expansion began . Kent , Surrey and Lindsey . Eorcenberht was the king of Kent at Wulfhere ' s accession , and the two families became connected when Wulfhere married Eorcenberht ' s daughter Eormenhild . In 664 Eorcenberht ' s son Egbert succeeded to the Kentish throne . The situation in Kent at Egbert ' s death in 673 is not clearly recorded . It appears that a year passed before Hlothhere , Egbert ' s brother , became king . Wulfhere may have had an interest in the succession , as through his marriage to Eormenhild he was the uncle of Egbert ' s two sons , Eadric and Wihtred . It has been speculated that Wulfhere acted as the effective ruler of Kent in the interregnum between Egbert ' s death and Hlothhere ' s accession . Another Mercian connection to Kent was through Merewalh , the king of the Magonsæte , and hence a subking under Wulfhere . Merewalh , who may have been Wulfhere ' s brother , was married to Hlothhere ' s sister , Eormenburh . Surrey is not recorded as ever having been an independent kingdom , but was at least a province that was under the control of different neighbours at different times . It was ruled by Egbert until the early 670s , when a charter shows Wulfhere confirming a grant made to Bishop Eorcenwald by Frithuwold , a sub - king in Surrey , which may have extended north into modern Buckinghamshire . Frithuwold himself was probably married to Wilburh , Wulfhere ' s sister . The charter , made from Thame , is dated between 673 and 675 , and it was probably Egbert ' s death that triggered Wulfhere ' s intervention . A witness named Frithuric is recorded on a charter in the reign of Wulfhere ' s successor , Æthelred , making a grant to the monastery of Peterborough , and the alliteration common in Anglo - Saxon dynasties has led to speculation that the two men may have both come from a Middle Anglian dynasty , with Wulfhere perhaps having placed Frithuwold on the throne of Surrey . The charter is witnessed by three other subkings , named Osric , Wigheard , and Æthelwold ; their kingdoms are not identified but the charter mentions Sonning , a province in what is now eastern Berkshire , and it may be that one of these subkings was a ruler of the Sunningas , the people of that province . This would in turn imply Wulfhere ' s domination of that province by that time . Wulfhere ' s influence among the Lindesfara , whose territory , Lindsey , lay in what is now Lincolnshire , is known from information about episcopal authority . At least one of the Mercian bishops of Lichfield is known to have exercised authority there : Wynfrith , who became bishop on Chad ' s death in 672 . In addition it is known that Wulfhere gave land at Barrow upon Humber , in Lindsey , to Chad , for a monastery . It is possible that Chad also had authority there as bishop , probably no later than 669 . It may be that the political basis for Mercian episcopal control of the Lindesfara was laid early in Wulfhere ' s reign , under Trumhere and Jaruman , the two bishops who preceded Chad . Defeat and death . When Wulfhere attacked Oswiu ' s son Ecgfrith in 674 , he did so from a position of strength . Stephen of Ripon ' s " Life of Wilfrid " says that Wulfhere " stirred up all the southern nations against [ Northumbria ] " . Bede does not report the fighting , nor is it mentioned in the " Anglo - Saxon Chronicle " , but according to Stephen , Ecgfrith defeated Wulfhere , forcing him to surrender Lindsey , and to pay tribute . Wulfhere survived the defeat but evidently lost some degree of control over the south as a result ; in 675 , Æscwine , one of the kings of the West Saxons , fought him at Biedanheafde . It is not known where this battle was , or who was the victor . Henry of Huntingdon , a 12th - century historian who had access to versions of the Anglo - Saxon Chronicle now lost , believed that Mercians had been the victors in a " terrible battle " and remarks upon Wulfhere having inherited " the valour of his father and grandfather " . Kirby , however , presumes Æscwine was sufficiently successful to break Wulfhere ' s hold over Wessex . Wulfhere died later in 675 . The cause of death , according to Henry of Huntingdon , was disease . He would have been in his mid - thirties . His widow , Eormenhild , is thought to have later become the abbess of Ely . Æthelred , Wulfhere ' s brother , succeeded to the throne and reigned for nearly thirty years . Æthelred recovered Lindsey from the Northumbrians a few years after his accession , but he was generally unable to maintain the domination of the south achieved by Wulfhere .