Edward the Elder

Alfred the Great died on May 26th 899 and was succeeded by his son, Edward the Elder. Aethelflaed worked in concert with her brother against their joint enemies and her personal standing helped her to maintain Mercian independence for the rest of her life.

She died in 918, leaving one daughter Aelfwynn. In December 919 Aelfwynn was virtually kidnapped by her uncle Edward who from then on ruled Mercia directly. It was in this period that the town acquired its first mint.

Aethelstan

In 924 Edward's son, Aethelstan, was recognised as King of Wessex and, independently, as King of Mercia: there was still no such country as England. At Hereford in 937, the overlordship which the Welsh had come to accept of the English kings was emphasised when he negotiated a yearly tribute which included 20 pounds of gold, 300 pounds of silver and 25,000 oxen from the five Welsh kings of the time. The River Wye was recognised as the border between the Welsh and the English.

The Wye at Bredwardine. In 930 King Athelstan and the Welsh princes negotiated that this should be the border. Downstream the English had already crossed the Wye and reached the Worm Brook.

Even now the union of the old English kingdoms was not complete. There were still separate councils, 'Witans', for Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria. The north rebelled against the Saxons and chose the Viking Eric Bloodaxe as King of York, which remained a separate kingdom until 954 when King Eadred re-conquered it.

When Edward the Elder's grandson, Eadwig, succeeded to the throne in 955 Mercia and Northumbria rejected him after two years and chose his brother Edgar as king. Edgar succeeded to Wessex only when Eadwig died in 959.
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Cnut

The Anglo-Saxon kingdom fell at the end of the century. Sven Forkbeard defeated Aethelred the Unready and Sven's son Cnut became king of an Anglo-Danish empire. Danish kings were to rule until 1042, when the West Saxon house was temporarily restored.

Earl Hrani

In autumn 1016 Cnut appointed a Danish follower, Hrani, as earl of Hereford but Englishmen also held senior positions in Cnut's government. By 1018 the formidable Godwine was an Earl. Godwine married a Danish princess and their sons, who were figure large in history, received Danish names - Sven, Harold and Tostig.

It seems to have been Cnut who extended the Wessex shire system into Mercia. Hereford became a county town of an area which included the southern part of the old Western Hecani/Magonsaetan territory and the northern part of the old kingdom of Ergyng - south Ergyng or Archenfield was not assimilated in the same way.

On Cnut's death in 1035, the kingdom was split again. In Wessex, Cnut's widow Emma was regent for her son Harthacnut, while Mercia and Northumbria were ruled by Harthacnut's half brother Harold Harefoot.

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