Saint Alban's Cross, the flag of Mercia

Mercia and her neighbors c. 600

Mercia was one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the Heptarchy. It was in the region now known as the English Midlands now East Midlands & West Midlands. Mercia was centered on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries. Settled by Angles, their name is the root of the name 'England'. Their neighbors included other Angles, Saxons and Jutes all from Germany. Mercia bordered on Northumbria, Wessex, Sussex, Essex and East Anglia. To the west were Britons in Powys and the kingdoms of southern Wales. Its capital was Tamworth, which is today part of Staffordshire.