675. Wulfhere of Mercia dies
Wulfhere's brother Æthelred succeeds to Mercia
Æthelred of Mercia ravaged Kent in 676, and won back Lindsey in the battle of the Trent against Ecgfrith of Northumbria in 679. Bede notes that after that battle there was a long peace between Mercia and Northumbria (HE, iv.21). The Hwicce remained under Mercian control in Æthelred's time (see entry on c.670-790), though Æthelred lost Surrey and Sussex to the control of Cædwalla of the West Saxons (see entry on 685). It was also in the late 680s that members of the East Saxon royal line were ruling in Kent, apparently with Æthelred's support (see entry on 686-90). However, by the early 690s, with the strong rulers Wihtred in Kent and Ine in Wessex, Mercian expansion was blocked and southern English affairs became much more stable. Æthelred resigned and became a monk in 704.