The Last Kingdom season 5: Fiction or History?
By Michael East
The aftermath of Aethelflaed’s death was different in real life
In some ways, Aethelflaed’s storyline in season 5 sticks pretty close to history, with the real-life Aethelflaed also dying of an unspecified illness. On the show, she gets cancer; there’s no historical evidence for that, but it’s not out of the question either. Also, as in real-life, Aethelflaed was desperate for her daughter Aelfwynn to succeed her on the throne of Mercia, and she did, reigning for between six and 18 months.
However, the power vacuum created after Aethelflaed’s death on the show is hugely exaggerated, with Aethelhelm plotting to see his grandson on the throne, Edward murdering the ealdormen, and Aelfwynn fleeing Mercia. The shocking scenes foreshadow a showdown between Uhtred and King Edward in Seven Kings Must Die, yet the end result is the same, with the actual Edward deposing Aelfwynn in 918.
The West Saxon Anglo-Saxon Chronicle claims that “all the people who had settled in Mercia, both Danish and English, submitted to [Edward].” However, the Mercian Register claims that Aelfwynn “was deprived of all authority in Mercia and taken into Wessex” and that Mercia resented Edward entirely.
The events surrounding Constantine, Aelfwynn and the battle at Bebbanburg are fictionalized as well. While King Constantine of Scotland existed and his war in Northumbria in 918 did actually took place, he fought that war against Rǫgnvaldr, not Edward. Constantine eventually retreated back to Scotland, leaving Rǫgnvaldr to claim Jorvik/York and declare himself king of all Northumbria.