Æthelflaed and Other Rulers in English Histories, c.900–1150

Abstract This article explains why Æthelflaed, ruler of Mercia, mattered to writers history in twelfth-century England. It argues that these evaluated and compared rulers based not on sex or bloodline, but the quality a ruler’s achievements relative set scale challenges faced. They thought Æthelflaed remarkable because her triumphs for Mercia distinguished from other rulers. The shows new understanding attitudes England towards rulers, past present, is required. accounts absence gendered comments about as well presence non-binary concepts gender, medieval writing. also enduring idea Latin imposed shared, Wessex-dominated national vision English past. asserted Mercia’s independence under Æthelflaed’s sole rule, which regional interests persisted historical imagination long after Norman Conquest.