Warrior queen was a Shropshire town planner

No, not the 21st century, but over 1,000 years ago. And she's somebody you may not have even heard of, let alone be able to spell.

Step forward Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, who is the subject of a new book by Margaret Jones, who says in recent years her story has been rediscovered by feminist historians and romantic historians.

"She did what no Anglo-Saxon woman before her had done – she led her army in battle," says Margaret in her book, "Founder, Fighter, Saxon Queen," published by Pen & Sword, and costing £19.99.

"But no Anglo-Saxon woman was expected to negotiate treaties either, or to be a town planner, or, in widowhood, to rule a kingdom in her own right, to collect taxes, hear appeals, and administer the law.

"These aspects of the career of the Lady of the Mercians, as she was known to her subjects, are where Aethelflaed's real achievement lies. Many decisions that she took, in the previously unheard of role of de facto queen of Mercia, changed the face of England."

Margaret says many of the urban centres we know today, including Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Chester and Stafford, are Aethelflaed's gift to the Midlands.

Shrewsbury had been founded between 901 and 912, to keep watch from a hilltop over a bend in the River Severn.

"St Alkmund's Church is unusual in having retained the name and dedication of the original Aethelflaedan church. This is where Aethelflaed is said to have brought the remains of St Alkmund – Ealhmund – from Derby, to keep them safe from the Danes and to bless the newly established town."

Margaret says while locals in Bridgnorth insist on dating the town from 1101 when a Norman lord built a castle there, it in fact dates back nearly another 200 years, and is almost certainly the place referred to in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles where Aethelflaed built a burh – a fortified settlement – on a hill overlooking the river in 912.

In 896 the marauding Danes had wintered near Bridgnorth, but were to find it impossible to do so again.

Both Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth were entirely new towns built from scratch, she says, although Bridgnorth was in effect refounded in the 12th century when the layout of the main streets probably changed.

Aethelflaed, the daughter of Alfred the Great, was the first Saxon woman to rule a kingdom.

“When I started the research I knew the barest facts about Aethelflaed – that she was King Alfred’s daughter and a warrior queen. And that she’s buried in Gloucester, where she did a bit of urban renewal.

"Even then, I knew enough to wonder why the city of Gloucester didn’t celebrate her more. I came to realise how much Aethelflaed really did to shape our contemporary world. As a warrior queen defending her realm against invasion, and as the founder of strategic towns like Runcorn, Stafford, Shrewsbury and Warwick, she brought peace to the Midlands and paved the way for the unification of England.

"I now realise how unique she is."