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Beorhtwulf (, meaning "bright wolf"; also spelled ''Berhtwulf''; died 852) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 839 or 840 to 852. His ancestry is unknown, though he may have been connected to Beornwulf, who ruled Mercia in the 820s. Almost no coins were issued by Beorhtwulf's predecessor, Wiglaf, but a Mercian coinage was restarted by Beorhtwulf early in his reign, initially with strong similarities to the coins of Æthelwulf of Wessex, and later with independent designs. The Vikings attacked within a year or two of Beorhtwulf's accession: the province of Lindsey was raided in 841, and London, a key centre of Mercian commerce, was attacked the following year. Another Viking assault on London in 851 "put Beorhtwulf to flight", according to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''; the Vikings were subsequently defeated by Æthelwulf. This raid may have had a significant economic impact on Mercia, as London coinage is much reduced after 851. Berkshire appears to have passed from Mercian to West Saxon control during Beorhtwulf's reign. The Welsh are recorded to have rebelled against Beorhtwulf's successor, Burgred, shortly after Beorhtwulf's death, suggesting that Beorhtwulf had been their overlord. Charters from Beorthwulf's reign show a strained relationship with the church, as Beorhtwulf seized land and subsequently returned it. Beorhtwulf and his wife, Sæthryth, may have had two sons, Beorhtfrith and Beorhtric. Beorhtric is known from witnessing his father's charters, but he ceased to do so before the end of Beorhtwulf's reign. Beorhtfrith appears in later sources which describe his murder of Wigstan, the grandson of Wiglaf, in a dispute over Beorhtfrith's plan to marry Wigstan's widowed mother Ælfflæd. Beorhtwulf's death is not recorded in any surviving sources, but it is thought that he died in 852. == Background and sources == For most of the 8th century, Mercia was the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom.〔Hunter Blair, ''Roman Britain'', p. 274.〕 Mercian influence in the south-eastern kingdoms of Kent, East Anglia, and Essex continued into the early 820s under Coenwulf of Mercia.〔Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 121.〕 However, Coenwulf's death in 821 marked the beginning of a period in which Mercia suffered from dynastic conflicts and military defeats that redrew the political map of England.〔Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p. 185〕 Four (possibly five) kings, from what appear to be four different kin-groups, ruled Mercia throughout the next six years. Little genealogical information about these kings has survived, but since Anglo-Saxon names often included initial elements common to most or all members of a family, historians have suggested that kin-groups in this period can be reconstructed on the basis of the similarity of their names. Three competing kin-groups are recognizable in the charters and regnal lists of the time: the ''C'', ''Wig'' and ''B'' groups. The ''C'' group, which included the brothers Coenwulf, Cuthred of Kent, and Ceolwulf I, was dominant in the period following the deaths of Offa of Mercia and his son Ecgfrith in 796. Ceolwulf was deposed in 823 by Beornwulf, perhaps the first of the ''B'' group, who was killed fighting against the East Anglians in 826. He was followed by Ludeca, not obviously linked to any of the three groups, who was killed in battle the following year. After Ludeca's death, the first of the ''Wig'' family came to power: Wiglaf, who died in 839 or 840. Beorhtwulf, who succeeded to the throne that year, is likely to have come from the ''B'' group, which may also have included the ill-fated Beornred who "held () a little while and unhappily" after the murder of King Æthelbald in 757.〔Simon Keynes, "Mercia and Wessex in the Ninth Century", pp. 314–323; Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', pp. 119–122 & table 14. Baldred of Kent (ruled 821?–825) may have been a member of the ''B'' family. Finally, a possible East Anglian link, with King Beonna of East Anglia and the Beodric for whom Bury St Edmunds was originally named, has been mooted; 〕 An alternative model of Mercian succession is that a number of kin-groups may have competed for the succession. The sub-kingdoms of the Hwicce, the Tomsæte, and the unidentified Gaini are examples of such power-bases. Marriage alliances could also have played a part. Competing magnates—those called in charters "dux" or "princeps" (that is, leaders)—may have brought the kings to power. In this model, the Mercian kings are little more than leading noblemen.〔 An important source for the period is the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', a collection of annals in Old English narrating the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The ''Chronicle'' was a West Saxon production, however, and is sometimes thought to be biased in favour of Wessex.〔Campbell, ''Anglo-Saxon State'', p. 144.〕 Charters dating from Beorhtwulf's reign have survived; these were documents which granted land to followers or to churchmen and were witnessed by the kings who had the authority to grant the land.〔Hunter Blair, ''Roman Britain'', pp. 14–15.〕〔Campbell, ''The Anglo-Saxons'', pp. 95–98.〕 A charter might record the names of both a subject king and his overlord on the witness list appended to the grant. Such a witness list can be seen on the Ismere Diploma, for example, where Æthelric, son of king Oshere of the Hwicce, is described as a "''subregulus''", or subking, of Æthelbald of Mercia.〔Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 67, pp. 453–454.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Beorhtwulf of Mercia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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