918. Æthelflæd peacefully obtains control of Leicester and receives pledges from the people of York
Edward takes Stamford and Nottingham
In the first half of the year, Æthelflæd peacefully obtained control of Leicester (another of the Five Boroughs), and also received pledges from the people of York that they would be under her direction. It is not certain whether the "people of York" at this point were English or Danes or whether they were already a mixed people, but they seem to be displaying the political pragmatism seen among the Northumbrians of the 8th century and later in the mid-10th century. The submission to Æthelflæd was probably designed to gain a strong southern ally against the depradations of Ragnall and his Norse Vikings: if with Æthelflæd's help they could defend themselves more successfully against the Norse, then so be it. Very shortly after this, Æthelflæd died.
Also in the first half of 918, Edward took his army to Stamford, and started to build another fortress there, and Stamford submitted to him (third of the Five Boroughs to fall). On Æthelflæd's death Edward went back south to Tamworth (see next entry), but after that he came back and captured Nottingham and ordered it to be repaired and manned with both Englishmen and Danes. The Chronicle concludes that all the people who had settled in Mercia, both Danish and English, submitted to him. This implies that Edward also took Lincoln, the last of the Five Boroughs. However, the existence of a Viking coinage of Lincoln in the early 920s suggests either that Edward did not recapture Lincoln, or that it regained its independence almost immediately (see Grierson and Blackburn, p.323).
P. Grierson and M. Blackburn, Medieval European Coinage, 1: The Early Middle Ages (5th-10th centuries) (Cambridge: 1986)