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===Secondary sources=== *[http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=view&r=an&dbid=6892&iid=6892-11-7-14-0959&rc=1549,243,1724,287;1323,1184,1503,1215;1872,1403,1970,1434;1285,1702,1400,1733;1664,1776,1776,1807;1607,1888,1720,1918;1674,2146,1788,2176;1439,2296,1552,2326&fn=&ln=Record+Leofric&st=d&ssrc=&pid=15283 Dictionary of National Biography(1922), "Leofric"] (Lat. Leuricus), Earl of Mercia (d. 1057), was son of Leofwine, ealdorman of the Hwiccas (Worcestershire), and brother of Northman, slain by Cnut's orders in 1017. His father, probably after the death of Eadric or Edric Streona [q.v.] in 1017, became earl of Mercia. Leofric witnesses charters as 'minister' or thegn, perhaps from 1005 (Kemble, 'Codex', No. 714), or earlier, to 1026, in which year he is also described as 'dux'(ib. Nos. 742, 743), though the charter is probably spurious ('Norman Conquest', i. 461 n.) Florence (an. 1017) says that on Northman's death Cnut made Leofric earl in his stead, and that he always regarded him with affection. In the face of the later descriptions of Leofric as thegn, the first statement is hard to accept, and it has been suggested that the passage contains a confusion between Leofric and his father Leofwine (ib. u.s.) Leofric may have received some government, perhaps that of Chester, before held by Northman, and he certainly had a grant from Cnut of Hampton, Worcestershire, formerly granted by Ethelred to Northman (comp. Kemble, Nos. 662 and 938). By 1032 Leofric was an earl, and as Leofwine does not appear as a witness to charters after 1024, it may fairly be assumed that at some date between 1024 and 1032 Leofric succeeded his father in the earldom of Mercia, which was at that time of less extent than the ancient kingdom, for portions had been cut off to form inferior earldoms, and though Leofric's superiority was no doubt recognized by other earls, his immediate rule probably did not for many years after he had received his father's earldom extend beyond Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, and the North Welsh border ('Norman Conquest', ii. 557-61; Green, 'Conquest of England', p. 498). Yet he was possessed of immense power in middle England, and ranked with Godwine and Siward as one of the three great earls among whom the government of the kingdom was divided. Chester was the head of his earldom, and no doubt the place where he chiefly resided, and he was therefore sometimes described as Earl of Chester (Kemble, No. 939)</blockquote>
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