Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is episode 268, Viking

Invasion. This show is ad-free due to member support and is a way of thanking members

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And thank you very much to Rick and Amy for signing up already.

Atholflad Lady of Mercia and her brother, King Edward, had been bringing the fight to

the Danes. They had been stretching their borders into Danish-controlled lands, and they

hadn't just been on the offence. They'd been winning. When an army was raised out of

Lester in 913 for the express purpose of countering the Mercian advance, Atholflad and the

ferd of Mercia defeated them. And they did so, even though Lester wasn't alone, they

were fighting right alongside their North Hampton allies. Mercia was out there kicking

ass and taking names, but oddly, despite that victory against a combined army of Danes,

many historians refer to 913 as unusually quiet. And I've been trying to wrap my head

around why they take that view, considering what happened. And the only answer that I

have is that 913 was pretty much just a Mercia in the year. The news coming out of 913

from Wessex wasn't all that much. It almost exclusively came out of Mercia. So for King Edward,

913 probably was a bit of a quiet year, but for Atholflad, it was a year of triumph.

Mercia of Old, the warrior Mercia, was back. And as 914 dawned, Atholflad continued

her project of fortifying Mercia. She began by gathering her forces early in the campaigning

season, marching to Edisbury and building a fortress there. Afterwards, we're told

that she once again gathered up her troops and in late autumn, she built a fortress

...