POLITICIAN

Penda of Mercia

606 - 655

Photo of Penda of Mercia

Icon of person Penda of Mercia

Penda (died 15 November 655) was a 7th-century king of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the defeat of the powerful Northumbrian king Edwin at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633. Nine years later, he defeated and killed Edwin's eventual successor, Oswald, at the Battle of Maserfield; from this point he was probably the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon rulers of the time, laying the foundations for the Mercian Supremacy over the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Penda of Mercia has received more than 570,771 page views. His biography is available in 39 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 38 in 2019). Penda of Mercia is the 6,969th most popular politician (down from 6,845th in 2019), the 1,373rd most popular biography from United Kingdom (up from 1,439th in 2019) and the 228th most popular British Politician.

Memorability Metrics

  • 570k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 57.01

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 39

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.98

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.33

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among POLITICIANS

Among politicians, Penda of Mercia ranks 6,969 out of 19,576. Before him are Otto I, Margrave of Brandenburg, Veleda, Margaret Chan, Kaliman Asen II of Bulgaria, Emperor Mo of Jin, and Shutruk-Nakhunte. After him are Carlos Castillo Armas, Jean Chrétien, Zoltán of Hungary, Richilde of Provence, Rhadamistus, and Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 606, Penda of Mercia ranks 4. Before him are Rothari, Chintila, and Abbad ibn Bishr.  Among people deceased in 655, Penda of Mercia ranks 2. Before him is Pope Martin I. After him is Lubaba bint al-Harith.

Others Born in 606

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Others Deceased in 655

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, Penda of Mercia ranks 1,373 out of 8,785. Before him are Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet (1810), Frederick Abel (1827), Hertha Ayrton (1854), Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1854), Mary de Bohun (1369), and Rupert Everett (1959). After him are Jack Hawkins (1910), Alan Walker (1997), Norman Lockyer (1836), Guy Pearce (1967), Steven Berkoff (1937), and W. T. Stead (1849).

Others born in United Kingdom

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Among POLITICIANS In United Kingdom

Among politicians born in United Kingdom, Penda of Mercia ranks 228. Before him are Blanche of Lancaster (1345), Horace Walpole (1717), George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (1784), Jeremy Corbyn (1949), Reginald Johnston (1874), and Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet (1810). After him are John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset (1404), John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury (1384), John Bowring (1792), Herbert Pitman (1877), Constantine II of Scotland (801), and Prince William, Duke of Cumberland (1721).

British born Politicians

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