In 827 Ludeca, the successor of Beornwulf, was slain in battle with five of his earls. Wiglaf, who succeeded him, was expelled two years later by Ecgberht, but regained the throne in the fol lowing year. He died, probably in 839, and was succeeded by Berhtwulf, who reigned until 852. Under these later kings Mercia seems to have extended from the Humber to the Thames, includ ing London, though East Anglia was independent, and that part of Essex which corresponds to the modern county of that name had been annexed to Wessex after 825. Berhtwulf was succeeded in 852 by Burgred, who married Aethelswith, daughter of Aethelwulf. His power seems to have been more or less dependent on the West Saxons. In 853, with the assistance of Aethelwulf he reduced North Wales to subjection. Again in 868 he called upon the West Saxon king Aethelred for assistance against the Danes under Loo brok's sons, who at this time invaded Mercia after their overthrow of the Northumbrians at York. No battle took place, and the Mercians subsequently made peace with the Danes. In 872 the Danes occupied London on their return from invading Wessex, after which a truce was again made. In 873 the Danes encamped at Torksey, Lincolnshire, and although another truce ensued, they advanced in the following year to Repton, and Burgred was driven from the kingdom. He went to Rome, where he remained until his death. In 874 Ceolwulf, a king's thegn, was made king by the Danes, and definitely acknowledged their over lordship. In 877, after the second invasion of Wessex, the Danes seem to have taken the eastern part of Mercia into their own hands. How long Ceolwulf reigned over the western portion is
unknown. About 884 the most important person in English Mer cia was an earl, Aethelred, who accepted the suzerainty of Alfred, and in or before 887 married his daughter Aethelflaed. Aethelred and Aethelflaed appear to have had practically regal power, though they did not use the royal title. In 886 London, which had been recovered by Alfred from the Danes, was restored to Aethelred. During the invasion of 893-97 English Mercia was again repeat edly ravaged by the Danes; but in the last of these years, by the united efforts of Alfred and Aethelred, they were at length expelled. In the following years the government was carried on by Aethelred and Aethelflaed, who after her husband's death co-op erated with her brother Edward the Elder in the great campaigns which led to the conquest of Danish Mercia. After her death in 918 her daughter, Aelfwyn was soon deprived of the government by Edward, and English Mercia was definitely annexed to Wessex.
From this time onwards its existence as a separate kingdom was at an end, though during the last years of Eadwig's reign the Mercians and Northumbrians set up Eadgar as king. In the last century of the Saxon period the earls of Mercia frequently occupied a semi-royal position. The most important of these were Aelfhere under Eadgar, Edward and Aethelred, Eadric Stre ona, and Leofric, under Edward the Confessor.