Make yourself dreadful to your enemies and indispensable to your allies.
Definition/Summary:
Æthelflæd Anglo-Saxon
“Iron Lady of the Mercians” &
“Founding Mother of England”
- She believed to be charged by god to defend her people & rebuild Mercia which laid the foundation for England
Successfully attacked & wiped out an entire generation of previous Viking invaders - Legendary stories tell of her defenders of Chester (one of her fortresses) pouring beer and dropping bee hives on Viking attackers. This rendered them unable to move because of the stinging bees.
- Æthelflæd & Æthelred together helped rebuild projects at Gloucester, Worcester, Stafford & Chester
- She reclaimed churches, new relic collections and Saints’ cults
- Æthelflæd “Lady of the Mercians” died in Tamworth as one of the most powerful political figures in 10th-century Britain