<i>Princeps Merciorum gentis</i>: the family, career and connections of Ælfhere, ealdorman of Mercia, 956–83

Abstract

Ælfhere, ealdorman of Mercia from 956 to 983, is not an immediately familiar figure. Yet he was one of the most powerful men in the political life of his day. The author of the Vita Oswaldi was in no doubt of his importance in the disturbances which followed the death of Edgar: