Beornred of Mercia

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox royalty Beornred (Old English: Beornrǣd) (? – 757) was a Mercian Thane who was briefly King of Mercia in 757.<ref name=Glover329/> Beornred ascended the throne following the murder of King Æthelbald.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, he was defeated by Offa and forced to flee the country, and was killed that same year.<ref name=Glover329/> There is very little information about him, and the mentions of him are commonly brief.

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in 757: "...Æthelbald, king of Mercia, was killed at Seckington, and his body rests at Repton; and he ruled 41 years. And then Beornred succeeded to the kingdom, and held it a little while and unhappily; and that same year Offa put Beornred to flight and succeeded to the kingdom, and held it for 39 years..."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Ingulf, an 11th-century Benedictine abbot, Beornred was regarded as a tyrant, while Roger of Wendover, a thirteenth-century chronicler, states that he was an unjust king and that the people of Mercia rose in rebellion against him.<ref name=Glover329>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was possibly involved in his predecessor's death.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Professor Michelle P. Brown, Beornred has been considered by some historians to have been part of the same dynasty as Beorhtric of Wessex, as well as several other prominent Anglo-Saxon nobles whose names begin with the letter B.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>