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Wiglaf of Mercia
Wiglaf (died 839) was King of Mercia from 827 to 829 and again from 830 until his death. His ancestry is uncertain: the 820s were a period of dynastic conflict within Mercia and the genealogy of several of the kings of this time is unknown. Wigstan, his grandson, was later recorded as a descendant of Penda of Mercia, so it is possible that Wiglaf was descended from Penda, one of the most powerful seventh-century kings of Mercia.
Wiglaf succeeded Ludeca, who was killed campaigning against East Anglia. His first reign coincided with the continued rise of the rival Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex under Egbert. Egbert drove Wiglaf from the throne in 829, and ruled Mercia directly for a year. Wiglaf recovered the kingdom in 830, probably by force although it may be that Wiglaf remained subject to Egbert's overlordship. Mercia never regained the south-eastern kingdoms, but Berkshire and perhaps Essex came back into Mercian control. The causes of the fluctuating fortunes of Mercia and Wessex are a matter of speculation, but it may be that Carolingian support influenced both Egbert's ascendancy and the subsequent Mercian recovery. Although Wiglaf appears to have restored Mercia's independence, the recovery was short-lived, and later in the century Mercia was divided between Wessex and the Vikings. Wiglaf died in about 839, and was eventually succeeded by Beorhtwulf, though one tradition records his son, Wigmund as having reigned briefly. Wiglaf is buried at Repton, near Derby.
==Historical context==
Mercia had been the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom for most of the 8th century, with Offa, who died in 796, the most powerful king of his time.〔Blair, ''Roman Britain'', p. 274.〕 Coenwulf, who took the Mercian throne shortly after Offa's death, was able to retain Mercian influence in the kingdoms of Kent, East Anglia and Essex,〔Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 121.〕 and made frequent incursions across Offa's Dyke into what is now Wales.〔Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp. 187–189.〕 However, Coenwulf's death, in 821, marked the beginning of a period in which the political map of England was dramatically redrawn.〔Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p. 185〕 Although one eleventh-century source claims that Coenwulf's son, Cynehelm, briefly succeeded to the throne, it is more likely that Ceolwulf, Coenwulf's brother, was the next king.〔See Alan Thacker, "Kings, Saints and Monasteries in Pre-Viking Mercia", in Midland History, 1985, p. 8, for an account of the myth and the historical problems with it. Both Kirby (''Earliest English Kings'', p. 188) and Yorke (''Kings and Kingdoms'', pp. 121–122) assume Coenwulf succeeded directly.〕 He reigned for only two years before being deposed.〔Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp. 189–193.〕
The next king, Beornwulf, was of no known royal line, though it has been conjectured on the basis of the common initial letter B that he was connected to the later kings Beorhtwulf and Burgred.〔For example, Barbara Yorke (''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 119) regards the alliteration as suggestive.〕 It was probably Beornwulf whose defeat of the kingdom of Powys and destruction of the fortress of Deganwy are recorded in a Welsh chronicle, the ''Brut y Tywysogion'', in 823, and it is clear that Mercia was still a formidable military power at that time. However, in 825 Beornwulf was decisively defeated by Egbert of Wessex at the battle of Ellendun, and died the next year in an unsuccessful invasion of East Anglia. His successor, Ludeca, of unknown lineage, also invaded East Anglia, and like Beornwulf died while campaigning there, in 827. These defeats, in rapid succession, are likely to have exacerbated the apparent dynastic contention for Mercian royal authority. Outside Mercia, the power of the kingdom of Wessex, to the south, was strong and growing when Wiglaf came to the throne.〔
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