Æthelflæd

Lady of Mercia, queen before queens,

Founding mother on a chessboard of kings,
 
In the days of hand forged blades on the battlefield
The power struggle for Mercia yields
Blood spilled to mud, what once was real
Was weaponised beehives and boiling vats of beer
Throne of the kingdom was Alfred’s and fears
Of a godless army was hanging in the air
Heathens carried by the waves soon appeared,
Danish warriors, axes and spears
Strike at the overlord’s fortress and shields,
War waged on as days turned to years
Children were born to this conflict and steered
The pathways of history these lands adhered to
A soon to be king named Edward was reared
Just one sibling born beat him here
Who after a tactical marriage reappeared
As the widow of Nich la clafed, Aethelflaed
Myrcna hlædige, queen before queens
A founding mother on a chessboard of kings
Ethereal whispers off skins and strings
Sing within God given murmurs and ring
Through actions as plans were mapped out to bring
The bones of St Oswald back from the Vikings
Thoughts of them soaring on angelic wings
In the minds of followers and warriors during
Attempts at reprisal, assuring the sure thing
Of victory battling on fields of Woden.
Fixed up the old and built on the Roman
Ruins, replenishing what become broken
A thousand years pass, millennia flows
She’s still remembered in lyrics and prose
Remains are resting in Gloucester,
Her soul scribed to the history of stories told
 
Myrcna hlædige, Lady Of Mercia
Tales of her actions spanning a millennia
Nich La Clafed, passed on the power
Widowed was Alfred's first born daughter
Took to the path that was plotted before her
Adopted the tactics of war from her father
Saga eclipsed by her husband and brother
These words were written for a founding mother…..
 
Aethelflaed
Noble Beauty
Delight Of Her Subjects
And The Dread Of Her Enemies
Woman Of Enlarged Soul,
A Thousand Years Pass And Millennia Flows
Still she’s remembered in lyrics and prose.

Aetheflaed is known as The Lady Of Mercia. She was the overlord of Mercia over a 1000 years ago and largely responsible for defeating the Danelaw and driving Viking armies out of the Anglo Saxon kingdom. 2018 is the 1100th anniversary of her death and the city here remembers because she loved Gloucester and is buried at St Oswald’s Priory where she established a minster.

I introduced my friend Eloise, who is the project visual artist, to Aethelflaed and asked Dave aka JPDL to write some verse about her. Aetheflaed is a strong female role model; a bad-ass Anglo Saxon Warrior Queen. For a woman to become and be accepted as overlord of an Anglo Saxon kingdom and also achieve prominence and enjoy reputation as a savvy war leader and tactician is astonishing really. She captured our imagination fully and we’ve become massive fans!

We released the track early in June to coincide with the Aethelflaed events in the city and it was received really well. Eloise created a painting and we reproduced the painting as a giant scaffolding mesh that is hanging on the scaffolding for the works on the cathedral estate this year.

JPDL’s verse has fired the imagination of everyone who has heard the track and there are a bunch of brilliant musicians who contributed their skills and time recording the music in St Michael’s Tower. Every element of the arrangement has been well crafted, Luke’s wicked drum groove, Jo’s haunting bowed double bass, Joe and Lee’s ethereal synthesiser tones, Simon’s cracking djembe rhythms, my acoustic guitar and keys parts, Emma’s dark jazzy trumpet with Madeleine’s call to prayer like singing and JPDL’s awesome flow of rapped verse - in the amazing acoustic of that 15th century tower right at the centre of the city - I’m still amazed that it happened and thinking about it emotes a surreal feeling - this amazing woman from another millennium, a warrior who led a kingdom who spent significant time in the city, who’s body is buried here and there I am with my friends in the same city paying tribute through music so she can be remembered in the present time - that’s a very special privilege….