Welcome to the British History Podcast, my name is Jamie, and this is episode 141, breaking

up is hard to do.

Hey members, check your feeds.

In addition to the fun stuff we do with food, myths, and TV shows that I hate, I also

want the members feed to include episodes that are basically study aids that will help

you better understand what's going on with certain areas of history, in context and

with greater focus.

Basically, so you can listen to the main story, but also have a better understanding

of how all the gears in this machine work together.

So with that in mind, we have the first of a two-part series on the women of Mercia.

Now, why are we handling this as a separate members in the episode?

Well, because we're just hitting the point where we're going to start seeing how Mercia

is a little different from other kingdoms in the Germanic East, especially with regard

to women.

But because of the way the story is told and how scant our sources are, it's possible that

you might miss the forest for the trees.

So while we will be talking about these women over the coming months, I wanted to put

something together that would give you a more focused framing on what seems to be developing

in the Midlands and include some other stories back to back.

Naturally, these stories will also be included in the main show, but I think it would be

helpful to see the general trend of what's occurring over in Penda's homeland over the

centuries and how it probably led to the rise of figures like Aethelflaid, Lady of Mercia.

...