tiny-librarian: There had been powerful Anglo-Saxon queens before Aethelflaed, exercising power
tiny-librarian: There had been powerful Anglo-Saxon queens before Aethelflaed, exercising power as the wife of a king; and this was particularly true of Mercia. But Aethelflaed’s choice to rule alone after her husband’s death, instead of retiring quietly to a nunnery as royal widows were usually expected to do, was unique. Still more radical, was her attempt before her own death, to pass on the rule of Mercia to her daughter Aelfwynn. One woman would not again succeed another on a throne in England for 600 years - when Elizabeth I inherited the title of queen after the death of Mary Tudor. Founder, Fighter, Saxon Queen: Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians - Margaret C. Jones -- source link