Æthelred had at least one son, Ceolred. According to the thirteenth-century "Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham", Ceolred was not the son of Osthryth, although it does not name Ceolred's mother, and in the view of the historian Ann Williams this may mean that Æthelred remarried after Osthryth's death. However, Susan Kelly states that Osthryth was "most likely (though not certainly)" Ceolred's mother. Ceolred succeeded to the throne in 709, after Coenred abdicated in 709 to go to Rome on pilgrimage. One version of the regnal lists for Mercia shows a king named Ceolwald reigning after Ceolred, and it is possible that Ceolwald, if he existed, was also a son of Æthelred's.