Following the death of Anna at the hands of Penda of Mercia, Aethelhere became king. He participated in Penda's massive invasion of Bernicia in 655, and when the invaders met the Bernician army under Oswiu at the Battle of Winwaed on November 15, Aethelhere fought, unlike two other prominent allies of Penda, Aethelwald of Deira and Cadfael ap Cynfeddw of Gwynedd, who deserted him. Aethelhere was killed in the battle, along with Penda.
Reference
Prestwich, J. O. "King Æthelhere and the battle of the Winwaed", The English Historical Review, Vol. 83, No. 326. (January 1968), pages 89–95.
The kingdom of Middle Anglia, which appears to have included the counties of Northampton, Rutland, Huntingdon, and parts of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, was formed into a dependent principality under his son Peada.
Under these later kings Mercia seems to have extended from the Humber to the Thames, including London, though EastAnglia was independent, and that part of Essex which corresponds to the modern county of that name had been annexed to Wessex after 825.
With this exception, `'Watling Street, the Ouse and the Lea, continued to be the boundary between Mercia and the Danish kingdom of EastAnglia down to the death of "'Ethelred, between 910 and 912.
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