918. Second Battle of Corbridge: Ragnall against the Scots and the English Northumbrians
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)
June 12, 918. Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, dies at Tamworth
Edward occupies Tamworth, receives submissions of all the English Mercians (and some Welsh kings)
December 918. Ælfwyn, Æthelflæd's daughter, taken into Wessex
On June 12, 918, Æthelflæd died at Tamworth, seven years after the death of her husband Æthelred in 911. The Mercian annals note that this was in the eighth year in which with lawful authority she was holding dominion over the Mercians, and that she was buried at Gloucester. They continue in their next annal that three weeks before Christmas, Ælfwyn, daughter of Æthelred, lord of the Mercians, was deprived of all authority in Mercia and taken into Wessex.
The main body of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (or what can more properly be called the West Saxon version) states only that Edward's sister Æthelflæd died and that Edward occupied Tamworth and all the Mercians who had been subject to Æthelflæd submitted to him, as did also three Welsh kings, Hywel, Clydog and Idwal. As far as West Saxon observers were concerned, Æthelflæd was to be the last separate ruler of Mercia.
It is clear from several sources that Edward was in overall charge of both Wessex and Mercia in the first twenty years of the 10th century, and the change in 918 was not so much Edward taking over Mercia as Edward removing an intermediate level of government between himself and his Mercian subjects. Edward commanded armies of West Saxons and Mercians in 909 and 910; he seems to have issued coins in his own name throughout Wessex and Mercia (no coins survive in the names of Æthelred and Æthelflæd); the charters make clear that Æthelred and Æthelflæd hold their power under Edward's authority (e.g. S 367 of 903).
However, the references to Æthelflæd's "legitimate authority" and Ælfwyn being "deprived of all authority" in the Mercian annals make it equally clear that at least one Mercian observer expected that the Mercians would keep their own governor. It is most unfortunate that no royal diplomas survive from the period, so we have no evidence of whether Ælfwyn ever exercised authority in Mercia. A charter from the second half of 918 in Ælfwyn's name, witnessed by the members of her court, might offer a fascinating glimpse into the politics of the period. (The West Saxon version of the Chronicle, which states that all the Mercians submitted to Edward shortly after Æthelflæd's death, implies that the West Saxons would see any attempt by Ælfwyn to issue charters in her own name as a revolt -- but the way the Mercian annals suggest that Ælfwyn was deprived of authority may suggest the attempt was made.)
The most tantalizing question about Mercian politics in 918 is what part was taken by Edward's son Æthelstan. Pre-Conquest sources tell us little about Æthelstan's upbringing, but the 12th-century William of Malmesbury notes that he was brought up at the court of Æthelred and Æthelflæd. If this is so, he may have played a key part in these events, either for Edward or for Ælfwyn, and his actions here might well relate to his own apparently problematic succession in 924/5.
918. Edward builds and occupies a fortress at Thelwall (Cheshire)
Edward orders a Mercian army to occupy and repair the fortress at Manchester in Northumbria
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle puts these events "after autumn", so towards the end of 918. Edward takes the army to Thelwall (the new fortress is just northeast and east of Æthelflæd's fortresses of Runcorn and Eddisbury, defending the northern border of Mercia), and orders a Mercian army to go farther northeast (this time north of the Mersey) to build another fortress at Manchester. The Danelaw south of the Humber may have been almost entirely under Edward's control, but the Norse Vikings north of the Humber were still a threat, as Ragnall's storming of York in 919 and Sihtric's storming of Davenport in Cheshire in 920 would make clear.