ÃÂlfwynn ( â after 918) was the ruler of Mercia as the 'Second Lady of the Mercians' for a few months in 918, following her mother's death on 12 June 918. She was the daughter of ÃÂthelred and ÃÂthelflæd, the rulers of Mercia. Her accession was the only example of rule passing from one woman to another in the early medieval period in the British Isles. Manuscript C of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ASC C) states: "Here also the daughter of ÃÂthelred, Lord of the Mercians, was deprived of all control in Mercia, and was led into Wessex three weeks before Christmas; she was called ÃÂlfwynn." ASC C dates ÃÂthelflæd's death as 12 June 918 and ÃÂlfwynn's deposition to December 919, but most historians revise the deposition to 918. George Molyneux gives the period of ÃÂlfwynn's power as "six or eighteen months". ASC C is the only version of the Chronicle to mention ÃÂlfwynn. Other versions reflect a West Saxon view point and ASC A states that Edward took power in Mercia immediately after ÃÂthelflæd's death, but ASC C includes entries from a lost version called the 'Mercian Chronicle'.
ÃÂlfwynn's parents may have married as early as 882 and not later than 887. According to William of Malmesbury, ÃÂlfwynn was the only child of ÃÂthelflæd and ÃÂthelred. The date of her birth is not recorded, but it is presumed that she was born soon after her parents' marriage, perhaps around 888. William's account states that her birth was a difficult one, and that this led her mother to abstain from further sexual relations.
ÃÂlfwynn's father spent much of the decade after her birth on campaign with his father-in-law King Alfred and brother-in-law Edward ÃÂtheling (later King Edward the Elder). By 902 his health was poor and ÃÂthelflæd was from then onwards the effective ruler of Mercia. William of Malmesbury states that Alfred sent his eldest grandson, ÃÂthelstan son of Edward, to be educated at the court of ÃÂthelflæd. William's panegyric on ÃÂthelstan claims that he received a first-class education in Mercia, and it is thought likely that ÃÂlfwynn would have been equally well educated.
The first contemporary written evidence of ÃÂlfwynn is dated to around 904, a charter (S 1280) recording the lease of land by ÃÂthelred and ÃÂthelflæd for the traditional three livesâÂÂthose of ÃÂthelred, ÃÂthelflæd and ÃÂlfwynnâÂÂin and around Worcester from Bishop Waerferth and the monks and clerics of Worcester Cathedral. ÃÂlfwynn did not witness this charter, but she may have witnessed charter S 225 of circa 915, concerning lands around Farnborough, and she is very probably the ÃÂlfwynn who witnessed S 367 of circa 903 relating to lands in Buckinghamshire.
ÃÂlfwynn's mother died on 12 June 918. Unlike her mother, ÃÂlfwynn may have lacked broad support. No opposition to Edward's decision to remove her from power and send her to Wessex in December 918 is recorded by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle or elsewhere. It could be considered that ÃÂlfwynn was the last ruler of Mercia, but that kingdom was not entirely absorbed into the kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons, later the kingdom of England, until much later. Her cousin ÃÂthelstan was ruler of Mercia only before becoming king of the Anglo-Saxons, and so too was King Edgar ruler of the Mercians under his elder brother King Eadwig.
There is no certain record of ÃÂlfwynn after her removal from power. In Maggie Bailey's view, she probably entered holy orders. It is possible that she is the religious woman named ÃÂlfwynn who is the beneficiary of charter S 535 dated 948 in the reign of King Eadred. Shashi Jayakumar suggests that she may have been the ÃÂlfwynn who was wife of ÃÂthelstan Half-King and foster-mother of the future King Edgar.
Caradoc's History of Wales preserves a tradition that ÃÂlfwynn was deposed on a pretense of secretly planning to marry a Danish king, but this is described by Michael Livingston as "historically unlikely".