Independent Mercia is a de jure independent region in the greater Midlands of England, regenerated under the 2003 agreed Constitution of Mercia (its fundamental law code), and the Acting Witan of Mercia is its legal and acting government, accepted as such by all its registered citizens. As free Mercia was forcibly destroyed by the Norman conquerors in the years following 1066 and continues to be under the illegal control of the United Kingdom, the region remains independent in law. The Acting Witan is consequently spearheading the drive to the recovery of Mercia’s de facto independence also.

The Independent Mercia Wyrm official image

The Independent Mercia Wyrm official image

Mercia developed in the valleys of the upper Trent and its tributaries in the sixth century from the amalgamation of four English tribes and thus, from its very origin, was located in the middle lands of lowland Britain. The eighth century Tribal Hidage indicated the fusion of 32 separate tribes to form an expanded Mercia within its natural geographic boundaries, which stretched from the Mersey to the Humber, through the Fens to the River Lea, up the Thames to the lower Severn and along the transitional lowland to upland zone between the Severn and the Dee.

Map of Eighth Century Mercia (designed by Cyril Hart)

Map of Eighth Century Mercia (designed by Cyril Hart)

In 1066, Mercia was one of six earldoms which comprised the non-expansionist confederation of England and essentially operated as an organic democracy. However, it was destroyed by the French-speaking Norman invaders following its conquest in the late 1060s and its people were downgraded to serfs, owned by the new foreign lords. Nevertheless, during the millennium since there have been continual attempts to throw off the Norman Yoke, in modern times that of the United Kingdom (the inheritor state of the Norman Empire, with the same illegal monarchy), and the current initiative in the region to try to achieve this is Independent Mercia.

The origins of Independent Mercia can be found in the formation of The Mercia Movement on 19 August 1993, which marked the beginning of the modern campaign for the independence of the region. The Mercia Movement published the 128-page book, The Mercia Manifesto: A Blueprint for the Future Inspired by the Past, in 1997 and the booklet, A Draft Constitution for Mercia, in 2001.

The Mercian Constitutional Convention was formed on 17 March 2001 as a result of the complete refusal of the UK government to discuss the future of the region with The Mercia Movement. Membership of the Convention was open to all interested people across the region and, following over two years of debate and discussion in Birmingham, it produced the 21-page Constitution of Mercia in 2003, based on the original draft. The Constitution offered a new holistic society in the region’s 20 historic shires, based on the principles of organic democracy, co-operative community and ecological balance and inspired by the Anglo-Saxon past. The Constitution thus became the ultimate legal authority in Mercia.

On 29 May 2003, members of the Constitutional Convention issued the Declaration of Mercian Independence, in Victoria Square, in Birmingham, in the heart of the region.

Declaration of Mercian Independence, Victoria Square, Birmingham, 29 May 2003

Declaration of Mercian Independence, Victoria Square, Birmingham, 29 May 2003

Following the Declaration of Independence, the Constitutional Convention metamorphosed into The Acting Witan of Mercia to spearhead the full democratisation of the region and the re-establishment of its de facto independence under the Constitution of Mercia.

On 29 May 2004, the first Mercian Independence Day anniversary, members of the Acting Witan launched a new currency for the region, the Mercian penny, again in Victoria Square, Birmingham, and handed out the coins free to people who registered as citizens of Mercia.

On 26 February 2010, members of the Acting Witan, outside the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, declared the Staffordshire Hoard to be the property of the citizens of Mercia.

The Acting Witan hosted the Visions of Mercia – The Midlands after Meltdown conference in Stoke-on-Trent on 20 March 2010, which included speakers from Greenpeace, the Optimum Population Trust, the Regionalist Seminar, Devolve! and Transition Towns.

The Speakers at the Visions of Mercia Conference in 2010

The Speakers at the Visions of Mercia Conference in 2010

The Acting Witan organised a meeting of English Independent Regions in Birmingham on 4 January 2020, at which Independent Mercia and Independent Northumbria were represented and following which the two regions agreed to confederate under the name of Independent England.

2,500 people have now registered as citizens of Mercia, acknowledging the Constitution as the ultimate legal authority in the region and the Acting Witan as the de jure acting government of Mercia. Membership of the Acting Witan is open to all the registered citizens of Mercia.

Under Article 1.1 of the Constitution of Mercia, the region consists of its twenty historic shires, which are, as shown in the below map: 1. Bedfordshire, 2. Buckinghamshire, 3. Cambridgeshire, 4. Cheshire, 5. Derbyshire, 6. Gloucestershire, 7. Herefordshire, 8. Hertfordshire, 9. Huntingdonshire, 10. Leicestershire, 11. Lincolnshire, 12. Middlesex, 13. Northamptonshire, 14. Nottinghamshire, 15. Oxfordshire, 16. Rutland, 17. Shropshire, 18. Staffordshire, 19. Warwickshire, 20. Worcestershire.

The Current Shires (Counties) of Mercia (map designed by Tony Steele)

The Current Shires (Counties) of Mercia (map designed by Tony Steele)