Book Review: Founder, Fighter, Saxon Queen: Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians by Margaret C. Jones ***1/2

In Founder, Fighter, Saxon Queen, Margaret C. Jones labors mightily to flesh out a life of Aethelflaed, eldest child of Alfred the Great, “Lady of the Mercians” after her husband Aethelred’s death, and most recently known to many as a character in The Last Kingdom, Bernard Cornwell’s book and TV series about Anglo-Saxon England at and after the time of Alfred. She is successful only to a degree, mainly because there is so little known about even men of the period, let alone women, that gives a true sense of their personalities. (While I understand why she included them and they may help other readers, the author’s vignettes of various moments of Aethelflaed’s life, how she might have felt and experienced them, didn’t do much for me.)

Jones aims to present a balanced view of Aethelflaed, as opposed to others who she seems to feel have overemphasized one aspect of her personality at the expense of another (warrior over ruler or patron of the Church, for example), and in this, she is largely successful. She looks at the upbringing a young girl might have received at the time in conjunction with known events of Alfred’s life and how they (and her relationship with her father) might have affected her life, her marriage to and partnership with Aethelred, and her life after his death, including her efforts to ensure the succession of her daughter Aelfwynn, who was unfortunately deposed by her uncle Edward (Aethelflaed’s brother) and disappears from history at that point. This section was the part where I felt like I came closest to Aethelflaed as a person. Her patronage of churches, leading of her troops into battle and foundation of burhs (fortified towns to defend against the Vikings), both with her husband, during his long illness and after his death, are also examined.

Finally, after her death and a disappearance from history almost as complete as Aelfwynn’s, Jones examines how Aethelflaed has been brought forward once again and celebrated in various ways, culminating (although not ending) in the millenary celebrations of many of the towns and cities where she was instrumental in founding burhs in the early 1900s, as well as her portrayal in fiction, nonfiction, art and film/TV, including Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom.

This was overall a well-written and enjoyable book, and any flaws I found in it were more the fault of the time period and lack of sources than of the author.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

From August 14, 2018