Page:VCH Staffordshire 1.djvu/263

 POLITICAL HISTORY They settled at Repton in 874, and from there subdued the whole of the surrounding country, 15 destroying and plundering Tamworth and Stafford. When the Treaty of Wedmore put an end for a time to this ruinous war, Watling Street may be taken as the practical boundary between the Danelaw and Alfred's dominion. 18 Staffordshire therefore was divided between the two, the northern and central portions going to the Danes, the southern to Alfred. How far did the Danes fill up the district assigned to them ? This unfortunately is a question which as yet we have not sufficient materials to answer definitely. Our best guide is that of place-names, the commonest Danish terminations being 'by,' 'thorpe,' and 'toft,' and according to this test the Danes hardly left any permanent trace in Staffordshire. The contest soon broke out again. The Danes, thrown back from the Continent by a great defeat at Louvain, turned their attention to England with renewed vigour, and were assisted by their brethren of the Danelaw. A terrible internal struggle was waged all along the boundary, Watling Street, 17 and must have involved Staffordshire. However, a deliverer was at hand. In 910 Edward the Elder met the Danes at Tettenhall, 18 and defeated them, and from this time the Viking host was steadily pushed eastwards. The chief credit for the conquest of Danish Mercia must be given to Edward's ' manlike sister,' Ethelfleda, the ' lady of the Mercians.' The daughter of a Mercian princess and married to one who was probably connected with the royal line of Offa, she is one of the most capable women in English history. After her husband's death in 911 she won the ' love and loyalty of the Mercian people in an astonishing degree and wielded the warlike resources of the Midland Kingdom with wonderful energy and success.' 19 Her plan of campaign was to build a ' burh ' in the hostile territory and hold it against all comers till the surrounding country was entirely subdued. In the year 9 i 3 God granting, Ethelfleda, lady of the Mercians, went with all the Mercians to Tnmworth, and built the burh there in the early summer, and before the following Lammas (Aug. i) that at Stafford. Then in the year after this that at Eddisbury in the early summer. 20 The short time occupied in the building shows that the burhs must have been of very elementary construction. The burhs at Tamworth and Stafford are an excellent instance of the military genius of this warlike woman, as they blocked the way along the Trent and Watling Street, which the Danes used in order to effect a junction with their Irish brethren at Chester. Ethelfleda died at the Tamworth burh which she had built, in 918, and was buried at Gloucester. 21 Her precise relationship with her royal brother Edward is hard to define. She fought, made treaties, and governed with apparently entire independence, but she is always described as ' lady,' never as ' queen.' Probably Edward was her ' mund bora,' 23 or protector, and 11 Angl.-Sax. Chron (Rolls Ser.), ii, 63. " Hodgkin, op. cit. i, 315. " Ibid, i, 309. " Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 77. Symeon of Dur. Hist. Reg. 112 (Rolls Ser.), and Flor. of Wore. Chron. i, izo, say 911. K Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 78-9. Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), i, 443, says she restored Tamworth and the tower at Stafford, no doubt referring to the fact that they had lain in ruins since 874. 11 Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 81. " Hodgkin, op. cit. i, 322- 3. 219
 * Hodgkin, op. cit. i, 321.