Æthelmund

Æthelmund (also Aethelmund, Æðelmund, Æþelmund, Athelmund, Ethel mouth Eþelmund etc.; † 802) Ealdorman was the Hwicce. The identity of the various documents referred to in Æthelmund is assured beyond reasonable doubt, but very likely.

Life

Æthelmunds father Ingeld was the time of King Æthelbalds ( 716-757 ) Mercian dux et Prefect ( Ealdorman ) the Hwicce. Æthelmund was with Ceolburg († 807 ), married to the son he had the Æthelric.

The oldest source to Æthelmund the Charter S58 from the year 767, with him the regulus ( Under King ) Uhtred ( 755- after 779 ) as a " loyal assistant" ( minister ) transferred lands at Eastun (Aston in Worcestershire ) for life. In the year 770, the investiture of two generations of heirs was extended before the lands should revert to the church of Worcester.

After the kingdom of Hwicce had been extinguished by 780 and absorbed the kingdom of Mercia, Æthelmund became the first Ealdorman the new Mercian province. To 793/796 Æthelmund received large estates in Uuestburg ( Westbury-on -Trym, Bristol, Gloucestershire ) by Offa ( 757-796 ) of Mercia, which were beyond even largely exempt from taxes to the king. Also Offa's son and successor Ecgfrith ( 787-796 ), who called him as princeps ( " Prince " ) and Prefect, gave him gifts. Also, in the king's court Cenwulf ( 796-821 ) enjoyed high reputation Æthelmund: On certificates that time, he signed as a witness, he had the title dux ( as " Duke ").

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that in the year 802 " Beorhtric and the ealdorman Worr died and Ecgberht succeeded to the throne ". At the same time passed the Ealdorman Æthelmund of Hwicce at Kempsford ( Gloucestershire ), the Thames, but was defeated by the West Saxon ealdorman Wiohstan and its contingent of Wiltshire in a battle and fell. Whether the dependent of Mercia Hwicce intervened on the side of Beorhtric in the battles for the West Saxon throne or would selfishly exploit the upheavals in Wessex remains speculation. Successor as Ealdorman his son Æthelric. His widow Ceolburg was abbess of the monastery at Berkeley ( Gloucestershire ).

Swell

• Anonymous: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Online in Project Gutenberg (English)
• Æthelweard: Chronica