Regatta Kid's Point 214 Mercia Walking Jacket

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The British Army has made use of several regional identities in naming larger, amalgamated formations. After the Second World War, the infantry regiments of Cheshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire were organised in the Mercian Brigade (1948–1968). Today, "Mercia" appears in the titles of two regiments, the Mercian Regiment, founded in 2007, which recruits in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire, and parts of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, and the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry, founded in 1992 as part of the Territorial Army. In 1967, the police forces of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire were combined into the West Mercia Constabulary, which changed its name to West Mercia Police in 2009. [42] Those dwelling north of the River Trent (approx. N. Staffordshire, S. Derbyshire& Nottinghamshire). The wyvern, a type of dragon, came to have a strong association with Mercia in the 19th century. The Midland Railway, which used a white (silver) wyvern sans legs (legless) as its crest, having inherited it from the Leicester and Swannington Railway, asserted that the "wyvern was the standard of the Kingdom of Mercia", and that it was "a quartering in the town arms of Leicester". [52] The symbol appeared on numerous stations and other company buildings in the region, and was worn as a silver badge by all uniformed employees. However, in 1897 the Railway Magazine noted that there appeared "to be no foundation that the wyvern was associated with the Kingdom of Mercia". [53] It has been associated with Leicester since the time of Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster and Leicester (c. 1278–1322), the most powerful lord in the Midlands, who used it as his personal crest, and was recorded in a heraldic visitation of the town in 1619. [54] Mercian rulers remained resolutely pagan until the reign of Peada in 656, although this did not prevent them joining coalitions with Christian Welsh rulers to resist Northumbria. The first appearance of Christianity in Mercia, however, had come at least thirty years earlier, following the Battle of Cirencester of 628, when Penda incorporated the formerly West Saxon territories of Hwicce into his kingdom. [34] Heraldry of the world - Coventry". www.ngw.nl. Archived from the original on 28 June 2008 . Retrieved 17 May 2008.

At the end of the 9th century, following the invasions of the Vikings and their Great Heathen Army, Danelaw absorbed much of the former Mercian territory. Danelaw at its height included London, all of East Anglia and most of the North of England. Edwin of Northumbria had become ruler not only of the newly unified Northumbria, but bretwalda, or high king, over the English kingdoms, and Penda was determined to overthrown Northumbrian lordship. Allied to Cadwallon ap Cadfan, King of Gwynedd, Penda defeated and slew Edwin in 633 at Hatfield Chase. Cadwallon bore the title "King of Britain" and sought to make the paper title a reality in Northumbria, for according to chroniclers he ravaged that land as if to drive the English out and restore Britain to the Britons. At this point Oswald (later known as St Oswald) came to take up the Northumbrian throne and defeated and slew Cadwallon at Heavensfield; when he marched against Penda though in 642, he also was defeated and killed, at the Battle of Maserfield (by Oswestry). In 655, after a period of confusion in Northumbria, Penda brought 30 sub-kings to fight the new Northumbrian king, Oswiu, at the Battle of Winwæd, but on this field Penda was defeated and slain. [7] Penda was the last pagan king of the Mercians. The saltire had become the attributed arms of the Kingdom of Mercia by the 13th century. [22] The arms are blazoned Azure, a saltire Or, meaning a gold (or yellow) saltire on a blue field. The arms were subsequently used by the Abbey of St Albans, founded by King Offa of Mercia. With the dissolution of the Abbey and the incorporation of the borough of St Albans the device was used on the town's corporate seal and was officially recorded as the arms of the town at an heraldic visitation in 1634. [23] The title Earl of March (etymologically identical to 'Earl of Mercia') was created in the western Midlands for Roger Mortimer in 1328. It has fallen extinct, and been recreated, three times since then, and exists today as a subsidiary title of the Duke of Richmond and Lennox. Miller, Sean (2004). "Ceolwulf II (fl. 874–879), king of the Mercians". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/39145. (subscription or UK public library membership required)Mercia's exact evolution at the start of the Anglo-Saxon era remains more obscure than that of Northumbria, Kent, or even Wessex. Mercia developed an effective political structure and was Christianised later than the other kingdoms. [6] Archaeological surveys show that Angles settled the lands north of the River Thames by the 6th century. The name "Mercia" is Mercian Old English for "boundary folk" (see Welsh Marches), and the traditional interpretation is that the kingdom originated along the frontier between the native Welsh and the Anglo-Saxon invaders. However, Peter Hunter Blair argued an alternative interpretation: that they emerged along the frontier between Northumbria and the inhabitants of the Trent river valley. [7] Brooks, N. (1989). "The formation of the Mercian kingdom". In Bassett, Steven (ed.). The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. Leicester. p.159. {{ cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link) For 300 years (between 600 and 900), known as Mercian Supremacy or the "Golden Age of Mercia", having annexed or gained submissions from five of the other six kingdoms of the Heptarchy ( East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex), Mercia dominated England south of the Humber estuary. During King Offa's reign, a dyke was created as the boundary between Mercia and the Welsh kingdoms. Nicholas Brooks noted that "the Mercians stand out as by far the most successful of the various early Anglo-Saxon peoples until the later ninth century", [4] and some historians, such as Sir Frank Stenton, believe the unification of England south of the Humber estuary was achieved during Offa's reign. [5] Once a kingdom in its own right, disputed with Northumbria in the 7th century before finally coming under Mercian control (roughly corresponding to the historic riding of Lindsey in Lincolnshire). After Æthelred's death 911 Æthelflæd ruled as 'Lady of the Mercians' but Edward took control of London and Oxford, which had been under Æthelred's control. She and her brother continued Alfred's policy of building fortified burhs, and in 917-18 they were able to conquer the southern Danelaw in East Anglia and Danish Mercia. [12] Loss of independence

Penda son of Pybba ruled from about 626 or 633 until 655. Some of what is known about Penda comes through the lengthy account given by Bede, who condemned Penda both for being an enemy to Northumbria and for being a pagan, though Bede admits that Penda freely allowed Christian missionaries from Lindisfarne into Mercia, and did not restrain them from preaching. Penda ruled at a time of changes in the balance of power between the kingdoms of Britain and in the influence of Christianity.Anglo-Saxon ChronicleParker Chronicle(918) 7 him cierde to eall se þeodscype on Myrcna lande þe Æþelflæde ær underþeoded wæs Leicestershire History: What is the Origin of the Leicester Wyvern?". Archived from the original on 26 August 2019 . Retrieved 12 June 2019. A disorganised region under Mercian control from the 7th century (roughly corresponding to Merseyside, Greater Manchester, and Lancashire south of the River Ribble). It was the most northern extent of the kingdom, and at certain times was claimed by Northumbria and Danelaw. Saxon cross in the graveyard at St Marys Church in Trentham in south Stoke-on-Trent; both Saxon and Danish foundations have been discovered here. Saint Werburgh died at Trentham in 699 or 700.