Aethelflaed

In those savage times the emergence of a woman ruler was enough to betoken her possession of extraordinary qualities. Edward the Elder as he was afterwards called, and his sister, "the Lady of the Mercians", conducted the national war in common and carried it's success to heights which Alfred never knew.

—Winston Churchill, The History of the English Speaking Peoples

Aethelflaed is a little known but remarkable and interesting historical figure. She was something of an Anglo-saxon Joan of Arc during the dark days of the Danish invasions.

Aethelflaed was the oldest daughter of Alfred the Great . She was married to Aethelred, Ealdorman of Mercia in an effort to seal the merger of the remaining Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into, well,"Angleland"-now known as England . Aethelred was apparently sickly through much of his term and Aethelflaed appears to have been the woman behind the man in Mercia and became the Unexpected Successor after her husband's death. In partnership with her brother Edward, King of Wessex, she led campaigns culminating in the Battle of Tettenhall which stopped the Danish advance and began the reconquest of the Danish territories.

Aethelflaed provides examples of the following tropes:

• The Alliance: with Edward
• Badass Family: Alfred and his children form one of the most badass families in English history.
• Badass Princess
• Brother-Sister Team: With Edward of Wessex
• Jeanne D'Archetype
• Lady of War
• Like Father Like Daughter
• The Magnificent
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Anyone whose father is Alfred the Great is automatically Overshadowed by Awesome.
• Proud Warrior Race Gal

Aethelflaed is featured in or referenced by the following works:

• King Alfreds Daughter: The Lady of the Mercians by Marjory Grieser
• Features heavily in 'The Saxon Stories' series, particularly in the later books.
• The Edge on the Sword by Rebecca Tingle