Kingdom of Mercia
| Kingdom of Mercia | ||||||||||||||
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Miercna rīce Merciorum regnum |
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| Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex (c. 879–918) |
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 The Kingdom of Mercia (thick line) and the kingdom's extent
during the Mercian Supremacy (green shading) |
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| Capital | Tamworth | |||||||||||||
| Languages | Old English, Latin | |||||||||||||
| Religion | Paganism, Christianity | |||||||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | |||||||||||||
| Monarch | ||||||||||||||
| • | 527–? | Icel (first) | ||||||||||||
| • | c. 626–655 | Penda | ||||||||||||
| • | 716–757 | Ethelbald | ||||||||||||
| • | 757–796 | Offa | ||||||||||||
| • | c. 881–911 | Ethelred | ||||||||||||
| • | 918 | Ælfwynn (last) | ||||||||||||
| Legislature | Witenagemot | |||||||||||||
| Historical era | Heptarchy | |||||||||||||
| • | Established | 527 | ||||||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 918 | ||||||||||||
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| Today part of |
 United Kingdom∟ West Midlands ∟ East Midlands ∟ East of England ∟ Greater London ∟ northern parts of South East of England (incl. Oxon. and Bucks.) ∟ Cheshire |
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Mercia (Old English: Miercna rīce) was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. The name is a Latinisation of the Old English Mierce or Myrce, meaning "border people" (see March).
The kingdom was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries, in the region now known as the English Midlands. The kingdom's "capital" was the town of Tamworth, which was the seat of the Mercian Kings from at least around AD 584, when King Creoda built a fortress at the town.
For 300 years (between AD 600 and 900), having annexed or gained submissions from five of the other six kingdoms of the Heptarchy (East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex), Mercia dominated England south of the River Humber: this period is known as the Mercian Supremacy. The reign of King Offa, who is best remembered for his Dyke that designated the boundary between Mercia and the Welsh kingdoms, is sometimes known as the "Golden Age of Mercia". Nicholas Brooks noted that "the Mercians stand out as by far the most successful of the various early Anglo-Saxon peoples until the later ninth century", and some historians, such as Sir Frank Stenton, believe the unification of England south of the Humber estuary was achieved during the reign of Offa.
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