View source for Offa of Mercia

{{Short description|King of Mercia from 757 to 796}}
{{Redirect|Offa}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Offa
| image        = Offa, King of Mercia, silver penny; (obverse).png
| caption      = Portrait of Offa on a silver [[History of the English penny (c. 600 – 1066)|penny]] struck during his reign<br/>Legend: {{nowrap|{{Smallcaps|offa rex}}}}
| succession   = [[King of Mercia]]
| reign        = 757&nbsp;– 29 July 796
| predecessor  = [[Beornred of Mercia|Beornred]]
| successor    = [[Ecgfrith of Mercia|Ecgfrith]]
| house        = [[Iclingas]]
| house-type   = House
| spouse       = [[Cynethryth]]
| issue        = {{Plainlist|
*[[Ecgfrith of Mercia|Ecgfrith, King of Mercia]]
*[[Eadburh|Eadburh, Queen of Wessex]]
*[[Ælfflæd of Mercia|Ælfflæd, Queen of Northumbria]]
*Æthelburh
}}
| issue-link   = #Ancestry and family
| issue-pipe   = 
| father       = Thingfrith
| birth_date   = circa 730
| birth_place  = [[Mercia]]
| death_date   = 29 July 796
| place of burial = [[Bedford]]
}}

'''Offa''' ({{Circa|730}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=King Offa {{!}} Award-Winning Heritage in a Stunning Castle |url=https://www.tamworthcastle.co.uk/king-offa |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=www.tamworthcastle.co.uk}}</ref> {{En dash}} 29 July 796 AD<ref name="BROWN_310" />) was [[List of monarchs of Mercia|King]] of [[Mercia]], a kingdom of [[History of Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon England]], from 757 until his death in 796. The son of [[Thingfrith]] and a descendant of [[Eowa of Mercia|Eowa]], Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of [[Æthelbald of Mercia|Æthelbald]]. Offa defeated the other claimant, [[Beornred of Mercia|Beornred]]. In the early years of Offa's reign, it is likely that he consolidated his control of [[Midlands|Midland]] peoples such as the [[Hwicce]] and the [[Magonsæte]]. Taking advantage of instability in the [[kingdom of Kent]] to establish himself as overlord, Offa also controlled [[Kingdom of Sussex|Sussex]] by 771, though his authority did not remain unchallenged in either territory. In the 780s he extended [[Mercian Supremacy]] over most of southern England, allying with [[Beorhtric of Wessex]], who married Offa's daughter [[Eadburh]], and regained complete control of the southeast. He also became the overlord of [[Kingdom of the East Angles|East Anglia]] and had King [[Æthelberht II of East Anglia]] beheaded in 794, perhaps for rebelling against him.

Offa was a Christian king who came into conflict with the Church, particularly with [[Jænberht]], the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. Offa persuaded [[Pope Adrian I]] to divide the archdiocese of [[Canterbury]] in two, creating a new [[Bishop of Lichfield|archdiocese of Lichfield]]. This reduction in the power of [[Canterbury]] may have been motivated by Offa's desire to have an [[archbishop]] consecrate his son [[Ecgfrith of Mercia|Ecgfrith]] as king, since it is possible Jænberht refused to perform the ceremony, which took place in 787. Offa had a dispute with the [[Bishop of Worcester]], which was settled at the Council of [[Brentford]] in 781.

Many surviving coins from Offa's reign carry elegant depictions of him, and the artistic quality of these images exceeds that of the contemporary [[Franks|Frankish]] coinage. Some of his coins carry images of his wife, [[Cynethryth]]—the only [[Anglo-Saxon]] queen ever depicted on a coin. Only three gold coins of Offa's have survived: one is [[Offa's imitation dinar|a copy of an Abbasid dinar]] of 774 and carries Arabic text on one side, with "Offa Rex" on the other. The gold coins are of uncertain use but may have been struck to be used as alms or for gifts to Rome.

Many historians regard Offa as the most powerful Anglo-Saxon king before [[Alfred the Great]]. His dominance never extended to [[Kingdom of Northumbria|Northumbria]], though he gave his daughter [[Ælfflæd of Mercia|Ælfflæd]] in marriage to the Northumbrian king [[Æthelred I of Northumbria|Æthelred I]] in 792. Historians once saw his reign as part of a process leading to a unified England, but this is no longer the majority view: in the words of historian [[Simon Keynes]], "Offa was driven by a lust for power, not a vision of English unity; and what he left was a reputation, not a legacy."<ref name=BEASE_340>Simon Keynes, "Offa", in ''Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;340.</ref> His son Ecgfrith succeeded him after his death, but reigned for less than five months before [[Coenwulf of Mercia]] became king.

==Background and sources==
[[File:British kingdoms c 800.svg|thumb|right|200px|The kingdoms of Britain during Offa's reign]]
[[File:Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - Offa Myrcna cyning.jpg|thumb|right|A mention of Offa, the Mercian king, in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'']]
In the first half of the 8th century, the dominant Anglo-Saxon ruler was King [[Æthelbald of Mercia]], who by 731 had become the overlord of all the provinces south of the River [[Humber]].<ref name=Bede_V_23>Bede, ''HE'', V, 23, p.&nbsp;324.</ref> Æthelbald was one of a number of strong Mercian kings who ruled from the mid-7th century to the early 9th, and it was not until the reign of [[Ecgberht, King of Wessex|Egbert of Wessex]] in the 9th century that Mercian power began to wane.<ref name=BEASE_306>Simon Keynes, "Mercia", in Lapidge, ''Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;307.</ref>

The power and prestige that Offa attained made him one of the most significant rulers in [[Early Middle Ages|early medieval]] [[Great Britain|Britain]],<ref name=RF_109>Richard Fletcher (''Who's Who'', p.&nbsp;100) describes him as "by common consent the most imposing Anglo-Saxon ruler before Alfred".</ref> though no contemporary [[biography]] of him survives.<ref name=BEASE_306/> A key source for the period is the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'', a collection of annals in [[Old English]] narrating the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The ''Chronicle'' was a [[Wessex|West Saxon]] production, however, and is sometimes thought to be biased in favour of Wessex; hence it may not accurately convey the extent of power achieved by Offa, a Mercian.<ref name=CampbellTASS_144>Campbell, ''Anglo-Saxon State'', p.&nbsp;144.</ref> That power can be seen at work in [[Anglo-Saxon Charters|charters]] dating from Offa's reign. Charters were documents which granted land to followers or to churchmen and were witnessed by the kings who had the authority to grant the land.<ref name=BlairRBaEE_14>Hunter Blair, ''Roman Britain'', pp. 14–15.</ref><ref name=Campbell_95_2>Campbell, ''The Anglo-Saxons'', pp.&nbsp;95–98.</ref> A charter might record the names of both a subject king and his overlord on the witness list appended to the grant. Such a witness list can be seen on the [[Ismere Diploma]], for example, where Æthelric, son of king Oshere of the Hwicce, is described as a "''subregulus''", or subking, of Æthelbald's.<ref name=EHD_453>Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 67, pp.&nbsp;453–454.</ref><ref name=Campbell_123>For a discussion showing the use of this in evidence in an account of the progression from Offa's overlordship of the Hwicce to suppression of the ruling dynasty, and consequent absorption of the kingdom into Mercia, see Patrick Wormald, "The Age of Offa and Alcuin", in Campbell et al., ''The Anglo-Saxons'', p.&nbsp;123.</ref> The eighth-century monk and chronicler the Venerable [[Bede]] wrote a history of the English church called {{lang|la|[[Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum]]}}; the history only covers events up to 731, but as one of the major sources for Anglo-Saxon history it provides important background information for Offa's reign.<ref name=BEASE_57>Roger Ray, "Bede", in Lapidge et al., ''Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;57–59.</ref>

[[Offa's Dyke]], most of which was probably built in his reign, is a [[testimony]] to the extensive resources Offa had at his command and his ability to organise them.<ref name=Yorke_117>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;117.</ref> Other surviving sources include a problematic document known as the [[Tribal Hidage]], which may provide further evidence of Offa's scope as a ruler, though its attribution to his reign is disputed.<ref name=BF_Hidage_29>Peter Featherstone, provides a review of some theories about the origins of the [[Tribal Hidage]] in "The Tribal Hidage and the Ealdormen of Mercia" in Brown & Farr, ''Mercia'', p.&nbsp;29.</ref> A significant corpus of letters dates from the period, especially from [[Alcuin]], an English deacon and scholar who spent over a decade at [[Charlemagne]]'s court as one of his chief advisors, and corresponded with kings, nobles and ecclesiastics throughout England.<ref name=BEASE_24>[[Michael Lapidge]], "Alcuin of York", in Lapidge et al. ''Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;24.</ref> These letters in particular reveal Offa's relations with the continent, as does his [[coin]]age, which was based on [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian]] examples.<ref name=TAS_110>Patrick Wormald, "The Age of Offa and Alcuin", in Campbell et al., eds., ''The Anglo-Saxons'', pp.&nbsp;110,&nbsp;118.</ref><ref>Sutherland ''English Coinage 600–1900'' p.&nbsp;10.</ref>

==Ancestry and family==
[[File:Offa genealogy.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|left|Offa's immediate family]]

Offa's ancestry is given in the [[Anglian collection]], a set of genealogies that include lines of descent for four Mercian kings. All four lines descend from [[Pybba of Mercia|Pybba]], who ruled Mercia early in the 7th century. Offa's line descends through Pybba's son [[Eowa of Mercia|Eowa]] and then through three more generations: Osmod, Eanwulf and Offa's father, Thingfrith. Æthelbald, who ruled Mercia for most of the forty years before Offa, was also descended from Eowa according to the genealogies: Offa's grandfather, Eanwulf, was Æthelbald's first cousin.<ref name="Yorke1997">{{cite book|last=Yorke|first=Dr Barbar|title=Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XRTy8IrOAGsC|access-date=9 August 2012|date=5 November 1997|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-16639-3|pages=101, 104}}</ref> Æthelbald granted land to Eanwulf in the territory of the Hwicce, and it is possible that Offa and Æthelbald were from the same branch of the family. In one charter Offa refers to Æthelbald as his kinsman, and Headbert, Æthelbald's brother, continued to witness charters after Offa rose to power.<ref name=Yorke_112>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;112.</ref><ref name = Kirby_163/>

[[File:Cynethryth penny.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Penny of [[Cynethryth]], wife of King Offa (1.29 g)]]

Offa's wife was [[Cynethryth]], whose ancestry is unknown. The couple had a son, [[Ecgfrith of Mercia|Ecgfrith]], and at least three daughters: Ælfflæd, [[Eadburh]] and Æthelburh.<ref>Kelly, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref> It has been speculated that Æthelburh was the abbess who was a kinswoman of [[Ealdred of Hwicce|King Ealdred of the Hwicce]], but there are other prominent women named Æthelburh during that period.<ref name=Kirby_163/>

==Early reign, the midland territories and the Middle and East Saxons==
Æthelbald, who had ruled Mercia since 716, was assassinated in 757. According to a later continuation of Bede's ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' (written anonymously after Bede's death) the king was "treacherously murdered at night by his own bodyguards", though the reason why is unrecorded. Æthelbald was initially succeeded by [[Beornred of Mercia|Beornred]], about whom little is known. The continuation of Bede comments that Beornred "ruled for a little while, and unhappily", and adds that "the same year, Offa, having put Beornred to flight, sought to gain the kingdom of the Mercians by bloodshed."<ref name=CCEL>The "continuation of Bede" is by other hands than Bede's, though the first few entries may be by Bede himself. See {{cite web | url = http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bede/history.v.v.xxiii.html| title = Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England: Christian Classic Ethereal Library | access-date=3 June 2007 }}</ref> It is possible that Offa did not gain the throne until 758, however, since a charter of 789 describes Offa as being in the thirty-first year of his reign.<ref name=Kirby_163>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;163.</ref>

[[File:Offa king of Mercia 757 796 b.jpg|thumb|left|Another coin of Offa]]
The conflict over the succession suggests that Offa needed to re-establish control over Mercia's traditional dependencies, such as the Hwicce and the [[Magonsæte]]. Charters dating from the first two years of Offa's reign show the Hwiccan kings as ''reguli'', or kinglets, under his authority; and it is likely that he was also quick to gain control over the Magonsæte, for whom there is no record of an independent ruler after 740.<ref name=BEASE_340/><ref name=Kirby_163/><ref name=Yorke_113_1>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;113.</ref> Offa was probably able to exert control over the [[kingdom of Lindsey]] at an early date, as it appears that the independent dynasty of Lindsey had disappeared by this time.<ref name=BEASE_340/><ref>According to the genealogies, the last king of Lindsey was named Aldfrith, and the identification of this king with an Aldfrith who witnesses a charter of Offa's in 787 led at one time to the belief that Aldfrith was still ruling at that date. However, it is no longer thought that the two Aldfrith's are likely to be the same person. Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;113.</ref>

Little is known about the history of the [[Kingdom of Essex|East Saxons]] during the 8th century, but what evidence there is indicates that both London and Middlesex, which had been part of the kingdom of Essex, were finally brought under Mercian control during the reign of Æthelbald. Both Æthelbald and Offa granted land in Middlesex and London as they wished; in 767 a charter of Offa's disposed of land in [[Harrow, London|Harrow]] without a local ruler as witness.<ref name=SW_1>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;204–205; the charter itself is translated in Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 73, p.&nbsp;461.</ref> It is likely that both London and Middlesex were quickly under Offa's control at the start of his reign.<ref name=Kirby_164>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;164.</ref> The East Saxon royal house survived the 8th century, so it is probable that the kingdom of Essex retained its native rulers, but under strong Mercian influence, for most or all of the 8th century.<ref name=Yorke_50>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;50.</ref>

It is unlikely that Offa had significant influence in the early years of his reign outside the traditional Mercian heartland. The overlordship of the southern English which had been exerted by Æthelbald appears to have collapsed during the civil strife over the succession, and it is not until 764, when evidence emerges of Offa's influence in Kent, that Mercian power can be seen expanding again.<ref name=Stenton_206>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;206.</ref>

==Kent and Sussex==
[[File:Offa Kent map.gif|thumb|right|Southeastern England showing locations connected with Offa]]

Offa appears to have exploited an unstable situation in Kent after 762.<ref name=Kirby_165>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;165.</ref> Kent had a long tradition of joint kingship, with east and west Kent under separate kings, though one king was typically dominant.<ref name=Yorke_32>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;32.</ref> Prior to 762 Kent was ruled by [[Æthelbert II of Kent|Æthelberht II]] and [[Eadbert I of Kent|Eadberht I]]; Eadberht's son Eardwulf is also recorded as a king. Æthelberht died in 762, and Eadberht and Eardwulf are last mentioned in that same year. Charters from the next two years mention other kings of Kent, including [[Sigered of Kent|Sigered]], [[Eanmund of Kent|Eanmund]] and [[Heaberht of Kent|Heahberht]]. In 764, Offa granted land at [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]] in his own name, with Heahberht on the witness list as king of Kent. Another king of Kent, [[Ecgberht II of Kent|Ecgberht]], appears on a charter in 765 along with Heahberht; the charter was subsequently confirmed by Offa.<ref name=Stenton_206-207>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;206–207.</ref> Offa's influence in Kent at this time is clear, and it has been suggested that Heahberht was installed by Offa as his client.<ref name=Kirby_165/> There is less agreement among historians on whether Offa had general overlordship of Kent thereafter. He is known to have revoked a charter of Ecgberht's on the grounds that "it was wrong that his thegn should have presumed to give land allotted to him by his lord into the power of another without his witness", but the date of Ecgberht's original grant is unknown, as is the date of Offa's revocation of it.<ref name=EHD_80>The evidence comes from a charter of [[Coenwulf of Mercia]]'s in 799, in which he grants the land again, quoting the grounds on which Offa revoked it, but without giving any date. The charter is translated in Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 80, p.&nbsp;470.</ref> It may be that Offa was the effective overlord of Kent from 764 until at least 776. The limited evidence for Offa's direct involvement in the kingdom between 765 and 776 includes two charters of 774 in which he grants land in Kent; but there are doubts about their authenticity, so Offa's intervention in Kent prior to 776 may have been limited to the years 764–65.<ref name=KSB_1>Kirby quotes Stenton's comment that Ecgberht was "a mere dependant" of Offa's, and gives his opinion that there is "no certain evidence" of this. On the other hand, Keynes agrees with Stenton that Offa "[took] control of Kent in the 760s". Simon Keynes, "Offa", in Lapidge, ''Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;340; Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;207; Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp.&nbsp;165–166.</ref>

The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' records that "the Mercians and the inhabitants of Kent fought at [[Otford]]" in 776, but does not give the outcome of the battle. It has traditionally been interpreted as a Mercian victory, but there is no evidence for Offa's authority over Kent until 785: a charter from 784 mentions only a Kentish king named [[Ealhmund of Kent|Ealhmund]], which may indicate that the Mercians were in fact defeated at Otford.<ref name=KS_1>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;207–208; Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;165.</ref> The cause of the conflict is also unknown: if Offa was ruling Kent before 776, the battle of Otford was probably a rebellion against Mercian control.<ref name=BEASE_340/> However, Ealhmund does not appear again in the historical record, and a sequence of charters by Offa from the years 785–89 makes his authority clear. During these years he treated Kent "as an ordinary province of the Mercian kingdom",<ref name=KS_2>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp.&nbsp;166–167; Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;207–208.</ref> and his actions have been seen as going beyond the normal relation of overlordship and extending to the annexation of Kent and the elimination of a local royal line. After 785, in the words of one historian, "Offa was the rival, not the overlord, of Kentish kings".<ref name=Kirby_W_167>The quote is from Patrick Wormald, "Bede, the ''Bretwaldas'', and the origin of the ''Gens Anglorum''", in Wormald et al., ''Ideal and Reality'', p.&nbsp;113, quoted in Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;167.</ref> Mercian control lasted until 796, the year of Offa's death, when [[Eadberht II|Eadberht Præn]] was temporarily successful in regaining Kentish independence.<ref>The Chronicle does not make it clear whether Eadberht casme to the throne after Offa's death, or after Ecgfrith's. Stenton suggests that the revolt in Kent began prior to Offa's death. See Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', pp.&nbsp;56–57; Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;225; Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;178.</ref>

Ealhmund was probably the father of [[Ecgberht, King of Wessex|Egbert of Wessex]], and it is possible that Offa's interventions in Kent in the mid-780s are connected to the subsequent exile of Egbert to Francia. The ''Chronicle'' claims that when Egbert invaded Kent in 825, the men of the southeast turned to him "because earlier they were wrongly forced away from his relatives".<ref name=Swanton_60>Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', p.&nbsp;60.</ref> This is likely to be an allusion to Ealhmund, and may imply that Ealhmund had a local overlordship of the southeastern kingdoms. If so, Offa's intervention was probably intended to gain control of this relationship and take over the dominance of the associated kingdoms.<ref name=Kirby_168>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;168.</ref>

The evidence for Offa's involvement in the [[kingdom of Sussex]] comes from charters, and as with Kent there is no clear consensus among historians on the course of events. What little evidence survives that bears on Sussex's kings indicates that several kings ruled at once, and it may never have formed a single kingdom. It has been argued that Offa's authority was recognised early in his reign by local kings in western Sussex, but that eastern Sussex (the area around Hastings) submitted to him less readily. [[Symeon of Durham]], a twelfth-century chronicler, records that in 771 Offa defeated "the people of Hastings", which may record the extension of Offa's dominion over the entire kingdom.<ref name=SW_2>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;208; Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', p.&nbsp;243.</ref> However, doubts have been expressed about the authenticity of the charters which support this version of events, and it is possible that Offa's direct involvement in Sussex was limited to a short period around 770–71. After 772, there is no further evidence of Mercian involvement in Sussex until c. 790, and it may be that Offa gained control of Sussex in the late 780s, as he did in Kent.<ref name=Kirby_167-8>Kirby gives details of the problems with the charters, and also suggests that the situation in Kent and Sussex at this time may be connected with the entry for 823 in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' which asserts that the southeastern kingdoms were "wrongly forced away" from the kinsmen of [[Egbert of Wessex]], who was the son of king [[Ealhmund of Kent]]. Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp.&nbsp;167–168; see also Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', p.&nbsp;60.</ref>

==East Anglia, Wessex and Northumbria==
[[File:Offa king of Mercia 757 793 silver penny.jpg|thumb|Silver [[penny]] of Offa]]
In East Anglia, [[Beorna of East Anglia|Beonna]] probably became king in about 758. Beonna's first coinage predates Offa's own, and implies independence from Mercia. Subsequent East Anglian history is quite obscure, but in 779 [[Æthelberht II of East Anglia|Æthelberht II]] became king, and was independent long enough to issue coins of his own.<ref name="Kirby 164, 166">Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp.&nbsp;164,&nbsp;166.</ref> In 794, according to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', "King Offa ordered King Æthelberht's head to be struck off". Offa minted pennies in East Anglia in the early 790s, so it is likely that Æthelberht rebelled against Offa and was beheaded as a result.<ref name=Yorke_64>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;64.</ref> Accounts of the event have survived in which Aethelberht is killed through the machinations of Offa's wife Cynethryth, but the earliest manuscripts in which these possibly legendary accounts are found date from the 11th and 12th centuries, and recent historians do not regard them with confidence.<ref name=SKZ_1>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;210; Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;177; see also Zaluckyj & Zaluckyj, "The Age of Mercian Supremacy", in Zaluckyj et al., ''Mercia'', pp.&nbsp;152–153, which gives the details of the earliest versions of the legend.</ref> The legend also claims that Æthelberht was killed at Sutton St. Michael and buried {{Convert|4|mi|0|spell=in}} to the south at [[Hereford]], where his cult flourished, becoming at one time second only to Canterbury as a pilgrimage destination.<ref name=JBlair_288>Blair, ''Church in Anglo-Saxon Society'', p.&nbsp;288.</ref><ref name=Zaluckyj_153>Zaluckyj & Zaluckyj, "The Age of Mercian Supremacy", in Zaluckyj et al., ''Mercia'', p.&nbsp;153.</ref>

To the south of Mercia, [[Cynewulf of Wessex|Cynewulf]] came to the throne of [[Wessex]] in 757 and recovered much of the border territory that Æthelbald had conquered from the West Saxons. Offa won an important victory over Cynewulf at the [[Battle of Bensington]] (in [[Oxfordshire]]) in 779, reconquering some of the land along the Thames.<ref name=Stenton_209>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;209.</ref> No indisputably authentic charters from before this date show Cynewulf in Offa's entourage,<ref name=Kirby_168/> and there is no evidence that Offa ever became Cynewulf's overlord.<ref name=Stenton_209/> In 786, after the murder of Cynewulf, Offa may have intervened to place [[Beorhtric of Wessex|Beorhtric]] on the West Saxon throne. Even if Offa did not assist Beorhtric's claim, it seems likely that Beorhtric to some extent recognised Offa as his overlord shortly thereafter.<ref name=Stenton_209/><ref name=Yorke_141>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;141.</ref> Offa's currency was used across the West Saxon kingdom, and Beorhtric had his own coins minted only after Offa's death.<ref name=BG_281-2>Blackburn & Grierson, ''Early Medieval Coinage'', pp.&nbsp;281–282.</ref> In 789, [[Beorhtric of Wessex|Beorhtric]] married [[Eadburh]], a daughter of Offa;<ref name=Yorke_141/> the ''Chronicle'' records that the two kings combined to exile Egbert to [[Francia]] for "three years", adding that "Beorhtric helped Offa because he had his daughter as his queen".<ref name=Swanton_62>Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', p.&nbsp;62.</ref> Some historians believe that the ''Chronicle''{{'}}s "three years" is an error, and should read "thirteen years", which would mean Egbert's exile lasted from 789 to 802, but this reading is disputed.<ref name=SSF_1>E.g. Fletcher assumes that Egbert spent essentially all Beorhtric's reign in Francia; see Fletcher, ''Who's Who'', p. 114. Similarly, Swanton annotates "3 years" with "in fact thirteen years&nbsp;... this error is common to all MSS." See note 12 in Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', pp. 62–63. On the other hand, Stenton accepts the figure as three: see Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 220. Stenton adds in a footnote that "it is very dangerous to reject a reading which is so well attested".</ref> Eadburh is mentioned by [[Asser]], a 9th-century monk who wrote a biography of [[Alfred the Great]]: Asser says that Eadburh had "power throughout almost the entire kingdom", and that she "began to behave like a tyrant after the manner of her father".<ref name=KL_71-2>Keynes & Lapidge, ''Alfred the Great'', p.&nbsp;71.</ref> Whatever power she had in Wessex was no doubt connected with her father's overlordship.<ref name=Yorke_147>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;147.</ref>

If Offa did not gain the advantage in Wessex until defeating Cynewulf in 779, it may be that his successes south of the river were a necessary prerequisite to his interventions in the south-east. In this view, Egbert of Kent's death in about 784 and Cynewulf's death in 786 were the events that allowed Offa to gain control of Kent and bring Beorhtric into his sphere of influence. This version of events also assumes that Offa did not have control of Kent after 764–65, as some historians believe.<ref>This theory is due to Kirby; see Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;169.</ref>

Offa's marital alliances extended to [[Kingdom of Northumbria|Northumbria]] when his daughter [[Ælfflæd of Mercia|Ælfflæd]] married [[Æthelred I of Northumbria]] at [[Catterick, North Yorkshire|Catterick]] in 792.<ref name=Kirby_154>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;154.</ref> However, there is no evidence that Northumbria was ever under Mercian control during Offa's reign.<ref name=BEASE_340/>

==Wales and Offa's Dyke==
{{main|Offa's Dyke}}
Offa was frequently in conflict with the various Welsh kingdoms. There was a battle between the Mercians and the Welsh at [[Hereford]] in 760, and Offa is recorded as campaigning against the Welsh in 778, 784 and 796 in the tenth-century ''[[Annales Cambriae]]''.<ref name=AC>Annales Cambriae, ''sub anno'' 760, 778 and 784.</ref><ref name=Stenton_214-5>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;214–215.</ref>

[[File:Offa's Dyke.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Looking along [[Offa's Dyke]], near [[Knill]], [[Herefordshire]]]]

The best known relic associated with Offa's time is [[Offa's Dyke]], a great earthen barrier that runs approximately along the border between England and [[Wales]]. It is mentioned by the monk [[Asser]] in his biography of Alfred the Great: "a certain vigorous king called Offa&nbsp;... had a great dyke built between Wales and Mercia from sea to sea".<ref name=Asser_71>Asser, ''Alfred the Great'', ch.&nbsp;14, p.&nbsp;71.</ref> The dyke has not been dated by archaeological methods, but most historians find no reason to doubt Asser's attribution.<ref name=BEASE_341>Margaret Worthington, "Offa's Dyke", in Lapidge, ''Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;341.</ref> Early names for the dyke in both Welsh and English also support the attribution to Offa.<ref name=Stenton_213>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;213.</ref> Despite Asser's comment that the dyke ran "from sea to sea", it is now thought that the original structure only covered about two-thirds of the length of the border: in the north it ends near [[Llanfynydd, Flintshire|Llanfynydd]], less than {{Convert|5|mi|0|spell=in}} from the coast, while in the south it stops at [[Rushock Hill]], near [[Kington, Herefordshire|Kington]] in Herefordshire, less than {{Convert|50|mi|spell=in}} from the [[Bristol Channel]]. The total length of this section is about {{Convert|64|mi}}.<ref name="BEASE_341"/> Other earthworks exist along the Welsh border, of which [[Wat's Dyke]] is one of the largest, but it is not possible to date them relative to each other and so it cannot be determined whether Offa's Dyke was a copy of or the inspiration for Wat's Dyke.<ref name=BEASE_468>Margaret Worthington, "Wat's Dyke", in Lapidge et al., ''Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;468.</ref>

The construction of the dyke suggests that it was built to create an effective barrier and to command views into Wales. This implies that the Mercians who built it were free to choose the best location for the dyke.<ref name=BEASE_341/> There are settlements to the west of the dyke that have names that imply they were English by the 8th century, so it may be that in choosing the location of the barrier the Mercians were consciously surrendering some territory to the native [[Celtic Britons|Britons]]<!--this seems a rather loaded, POV term-->.<ref name=Stenton_214>Stenton cites, for example, the village "Burlingjobb", in [[Powys]], not far from the south end of the dyke, as having a name unlikely to have risen as late as the 9th century. Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;214.</ref> Alternatively, it may be that these settlements had already been retaken by the Welsh, implying a defensive role for the barrier. The effort and expense that must have gone into building the dyke are impressive, and suggest that the king who had it built (whether Offa or someone else) had considerable resources at his disposal. Other substantial construction projects of a similar date do exist, however, such as Wat's Dyke and [[Danevirke]], in what is now [[Germany]] as well as such sites as [[Stonehenge]] from millennia earlier. The dyke can be regarded in the light of these counterparts as the largest and most recent great construction of the preliterate inhabitants of Britain.<ref name=TAS_120-1>Patrick Wormald, "Offa's Dyke", in James Campbell et al., ''The Anglo-Saxons'', pp.&nbsp;120–121.</ref>

==Church==
Offa ruled as a Christian king, but despite being praised by [[Charlemagne]]'s advisor, [[Alcuin]], for his piety and efforts to "instruct [his people] in the precepts of God",<ref name="EHD 198, 783">Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 198, p.&nbsp;783.</ref> he came into conflict with [[Jænberht]], the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. Jænberht had been a supporter of [[Ecgberht II of Kent]], which may have led to conflict in the 760s when Offa is known to have intervened in Kent. Offa rescinded grants made to [[Canterbury]] by Egbert, and it is also known that Jænberht claimed the monastery of [[Cookham]], which was in Offa's possession.<ref name=Yorke_116-7>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', pp.&nbsp;116–117.</ref>

In 786 [[Pope Adrian I]] sent [[papal legate]]s to England to assess the state of the church and provide canons (ecclesiastical decrees) for the guidance of the English kings, nobles and clergy. This was the first papal mission to England since [[Augustine of Canterbury|Augustine]] had been sent by [[Pope Gregory the Great]] in 597 to convert the Anglo-Saxons.<ref name=Stenton_215-6>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;215–216.</ref> The legates were Bishop [[George of Ostia]], and Theophylact, the [[Diocese of Todi|bishop of Todi]]. They visited Canterbury first, and then were received by Offa at his court. Both Offa and [[Cynewulf]], king of the West Saxons, attended a council where the goals of the mission were discussed. George then went to Northumbria, while Theophylact visited Mercia and "parts of Britain". A report on the mission, sent by the legates to [[Pope Adrian I|Pope Adrian]], gives details of a council held by George in Northumbria, and the canons issued there, but little detail survives of Theophylact's mission. After the northern council George returned to the south and another council was held, attended by both Offa and Jænberht, at which further canons were issued.<ref name=Kirby_170>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;170.</ref>

[[File:Offa dioceses.gif|thumb|right|The dioceses of England during Offa's reign. The boundary between the archdioceses of Lichfield and Canterbury is shown in bold.]]

In 787, Offa succeeded in reducing the power of Canterbury through the establishment of a rival [[diocese of Lichfield|archdiocese at Lichfield]]. The issue must have been discussed with the papal legates in 786, although it is not mentioned in the accounts that have survived. The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' reports a "contentious synod" in 787 at [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], which approved the creation of the new archbishopric. It has been suggested that this synod was the same gathering as the second council held by the legates, but historians are divided on this issue. [[Hygeberht]], already Bishop of [[Lichfield]], became the new [[archdiocese]]'s first and only archbishop, and by the end of 788 he received the [[pallium]], a symbol of his authority, from Rome.<ref name=Stenton_217-8>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;217–218 & 218 notes 3 & 4.</ref> The new archdiocese included the sees of [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], [[Hereford]], [[Leicester]], [[Lindsey (government district)|Lindsey]], [[Dommoc]] and [[North Elmham|Elmham]]; these were essentially the midland Anglian territories. Canterbury retained the sees in the south and southeast.<ref name=Kirby_174>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;174.</ref>

The few accounts of the creation of the new archbishopric date from after the end of Offa's reign. Two versions of the events appear in the form of an exchange of letters between [[Coenwulf]], who became king of Mercia shortly after Offa's death, and [[Pope Leo III]], in 798. Coenwulf asserts in his letter that Offa wanted the new archdiocese created out of enmity for Jænberht; but Leo responds that the only reason the papacy agreed to the creation was because of the size of the kingdom of Mercia.<ref name=EHD_204-5>Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 204 & 205, pp.&nbsp;791–794.</ref> Both Coenwulf and Leo had their own reasons for representing the situation as they did: Coenwulf was entreating Leo to make London the sole southern archdiocese, while Leo was concerned to avoid the appearance of complicity with the unworthy motives Coenwulf imputed to Offa. These are therefore partisan comments. However, both the size of Offa's territory and his relationship with Jænberht and [[Kent]] are indeed likely to have been factors in Offa's request for the creation of the new archdiocese.<ref name=Kirby_169-170>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp.&nbsp;169–170.</ref> Coenwulf's version has independent support, with a letter from Alcuin to [[Æthelhard|Archbishop Æthelheard]] giving his opinion that Canterbury's archdiocese had been divided "not, as it seems, by reasonable consideration, but by a certain desire for power".<ref name=EHD_203>Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 203, pp.&nbsp;788–790.</ref> Æthelheard himself later said that the award of a pallium to [[Lichfield]] depended on "deception and misleading suggestion".<ref name=EHD_210>Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 210, pp.&nbsp;799–800.</ref>

Another possible reason for the creation of an archbishopric at Lichfield relates to Offa's son, [[Ecgfrith of Mercia]]. After [[Hygeberht]] became archbishop, he consecrated Ecgfrith as king; the ceremony took place within a year of Hygeberht's elevation.<ref name=Swanton_52-4>Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', sub anno 785, pp.&nbsp;52–54.</ref> It is possible that [[Jænberht]] refused to perform the ceremony, and that Offa needed an alternative archbishop for that purpose.<ref name=Kirby_173>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;173.</ref> The ceremony itself is noteworthy for two reasons: it is the first recorded consecration of any English king, and it is unusual in that it asserted Ecgfrith's royal status while his father was still alive. Offa would have been aware that [[Charlemagne]]'s sons, [[Pepin the Hunchback|Pippin]] and [[Louis the Pious|Louis]], had been consecrated as kings by [[Pope Adrian I|Pope Adrian]],<ref name=Stenton>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;218–219.</ref> and probably wished to emulate the impressive dignity of the Frankish court.<ref name=Yorke_115>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;115.</ref> Other precedents did exist: [[Æthelred of Mercia]] is said to have nominated his son [[Coenred of Mercia|Coenred]] as king during his lifetime, and Offa may have known of Byzantine examples of royal consecration.<ref name=Kirby_173/>

Despite the creation of the new archdiocese, [[Jænberht]] retained his position as the senior cleric in the land, with Hygeberht conceding his precedence.<ref name=Stenton_218>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;218.</ref> When Jænberht died in 792, he was replaced by Æthelheard, who was consecrated by [[Hygeberht]], now senior in his turn. Subsequently, [[Æthelhard|Æthelheard]] appears as a witness on charters and presides at synods without Hygeberht, so it appears that Offa continued to respect [[Canterbury]]'s authority.<ref name=Kirby_172>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;172.</ref>

A letter from [[Pope Adrian I|Pope Adrian]] to [[Charlemagne]] survives which makes reference to Offa, but the date is uncertain; it may be as early as 784 or as late as 791. In it Adrian recounts a rumour that had reached him: Offa had reportedly proposed to Charlemagne that Adrian should be deposed, and replaced by a Frankish pope. Adrian disclaims all belief in the rumour, but it is clear it had been a concern to him.<ref name=Stenton_215>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;215.</ref> The enemies of Offa and Charlemagne, described by Adrian as the source of the rumour, are not named. It is unclear whether this letter is related to the legatine mission of 786; if it predates it, then the mission might have been partly one of reconciliation, but the letter might well have been written after the mission.<ref name=Kirby_171>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;171.</ref>

Offa was a generous patron of the church, founding several churches and monasteries, often dedicated to [[St Peter]].<ref name=Yorke_116>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;116.</ref> Among these was [[St Albans Cathedral|St Albans Abbey]], which he probably founded in the early 790s.<ref name=BEASE_340/> He also promised a yearly gift of 365 [[mancus]]es to Rome; a mancus was a term of account equivalent to thirty silver pennies, derived from [[Abbasid]] gold coins that were circulating in [[Francia]] at the time.<ref name=Stenton_223>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;223.</ref> Control of religious houses was one way in which a ruler of the day could provide for his family, and to this end Offa ensured (by acquiring papal privileges) that many of them would remain the property of his wife or children after his death.<ref name=Yorke_116/> This policy of treating religious houses as worldly possessions represents a change from the early 8th century, when many charters showed the foundation and endowment of small minsters, rather than the assignment of those lands to laypeople. In the 770s, an abbess named Æthelburh (who may have been the same person as Offa's daughter of that name) held multiple leases on religious houses in the territory of the [[Hwicce]]; her acquisitions have been described as looking "like a speculator assembling a portfolio". Æthelburh's possession of these lands foreshadows [[Cynethryth]]'s control of religious lands, and the pattern was continued in the early 9th century by [[Cwenthryth|Cwoenthryth]], the daughter of King [[Coenwulf of Mercia|Coenwulf]].<ref name=JBlair_129>Blair, ''Church in Anglo-Saxon Society'', pp.&nbsp;129–30.</ref>

Either Offa or [[Ine of Wessex]] is traditionally supposed to have founded the [[Schola Saxonum]] in Rome, in what is today the Roman [[rione]], or district, of [[Borgo (rione of Rome)|Borgo]]. The Schola Saxonum took its name from the militias of Saxons who served in Rome, but it eventually developed into a hostelry for English visitors to the city.<ref name=KL_244>Keynes & Lapidge, ''Alfred the Great'', p.&nbsp;244.</ref>

==European connections==
Offa's diplomatic relations with Europe are well documented, but appear to belong only to the last dozen years of his reign.<ref name=Stenton_215/> In letters dating from the late 780s or early 790s, [[Alcuin]] congratulates Offa for encouraging education and greets Offa's wife and son, [[Cynethryth]] and [[Ecgfrith]].<ref name=Kirby_175>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;175.</ref><ref name=EHD_195>Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 195, pp.&nbsp;779–780.</ref> In about 789, or shortly before, [[Charlemagne]] proposed that his son Charles marry one of Offa's daughters, most likely [[Ælfflæd]]. Offa countered with a request that his son Ecgfrith should also marry Charlemagne's daughter Bertha: Charlemagne was outraged by the request, and broke off contact with Britain, forbidding English ships from landing in his ports. Alcuin's letters make it clear that by the end of 790 the dispute was still not resolved, and that Alcuin was hoping to be sent to help make peace. In the end diplomatic relations were restored, at least partly by the agency of Gervold, the abbot of [[Abbey of Saint Wandrille|St Wandrille]].<ref name=Stenton_220>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;220.</ref><ref name=EHD_20>Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 20, p.&nbsp;313.</ref>

Charlemagne sought support from the English church at the [[council of Frankfurt]] in 794, where the canons passed in 787 at the [[Second Council of Nicaea]] were repudiated, and the heresies of two Spanish bishops, [[Felix (bishop of Urgell)|Felix]] and [[Elipandus]], were condemned.<ref name=Stenton_219>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;219.</ref> In 796 Charlemagne wrote to Offa; the letter survives and refers to a previous letter of Offa's to Charlemagne. This correspondence between the two kings produced the first surviving documents in English diplomatic history.<ref name=Stenton_215/> The letter is primarily concerned with the status of English pilgrims on the continent and with diplomatic gifts, but it reveals much about the relations between the English and the [[Franks]].<ref name=Stenton_220/> Charlemagne refers to Offa as his "brother", and mentions trade in black stones, sent from the continent to England, and cloaks (or possibly cloths), traded from England to the Franks.<ref name="EHD 198, 782–784">Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 198, pp.&nbsp;782–784.</ref> Charlemagne's letter also refers to exiles from England, naming Odberht, who was almost certainly the same person as [[Eadberht III Præn|Eadberht Præn]], among them. [[Egbert of Wessex]] was another refugee from Offa who took shelter at the Frankish court. It is clear that Charlemagne's policy included support for elements opposed to Offa; in addition to sheltering Egbert and Eadberht he also sent gifts to [[Æthelred I of Northumbria]].<ref name=Kirby_176-7>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp.&nbsp;176–177.</ref>

Events in southern Britain to 796 have sometimes been portrayed as a struggle between Offa and Charlemagne, but the disparity in their power was enormous. By 796 Charlemagne had become master of an empire which stretched from the [[Atlantic Ocean]] to the [[Great Hungarian Plain]], and Offa and then [[Coenwulf of Mercia|Coenwulf]] were clearly minor figures by comparison.<ref>[[Janet L. Nelson|Nelson, Janet]], "Carolingian Contacts" in Brown & Farr, ''Mercia'', especially pp.&nbsp;139–143. For the contrary view, see Wormald, "The Age of Offa and Alcuin", pp.&nbsp;101–106.</ref>

==Government==
The nature of [[Mercia]]n kingship is not clear from the limited surviving sources. There are two main theories regarding the ancestry of Mercian kings of this period. One is that descendants of different lines of the royal family competed for the throne. In the mid-7th century, for example, [[Penda of Mercia|Penda]] had placed royal kinsmen in control of conquered provinces.<ref name=Yorke_119>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', pp.&nbsp;119–120</ref> Alternatively, it may be that a number of kin-groups with local power-bases may have competed for the succession. The sub-kingdoms of the [[Hwicce]], the [[Tomsæte]] and the unidentified [[Gaini]] are examples of such power-bases. Marriage alliances could also have played a part. Competing magnates, those called in charters "dux" or "princeps" (that is, leaders), may have brought the kings to power. In this model, the Mercian kings are little more than leading noblemen.<ref>For all this, see Keynes, "Mercia and Wessex in the Ninth Century", pp.&nbsp;314–323, in Brown & Farr, ''Mercia''; see also Williams, "Military Institutions and Royal Power", pp.&nbsp;304–305.</ref> Offa seems to have attempted to increase the stability of Mercian kingship, both by the elimination of dynastic rivals to his son Ecgfrith, and the reduction in status of his subject kings, sometimes to the rank of [[ealdorman]].<ref name=Yorke_TAS_43-4>Yorke, ''Anglo-Saxons'', pp.&nbsp;43–44.</ref> He was ultimately unsuccessful, however; [[Ecgfrith]] only survived in power for a few months, and ninth-century [[Mercia]] continued to draw its kings from multiple dynastic lines.<ref name=BF_314>Simon Keynes, "Mercia and Wessex in the Ninth Century", in Brown & Farr, ''Mercia'', p.&nbsp;314.</ref>

There is evidence that Offa constructed a series of defensive ''[[burh]]s'', or fortified towns; the locations are not generally agreed on but may include [[Bedford]], [[Hereford]], [[Northampton]], [[Oxford]] and [[Stamford, Lincolnshire|Stamford]]. In addition to their defensive uses, these ''burhs'' are thought to have been administrative centres, serving as regional markets and indicating a transformation of the Mercian economy away from its origins as a grouping of midland peoples. The ''burhs'' are forerunners of the defensive network successfully implemented by [[Alfred the Great]] a century later to deal with the [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danish]] invasions.<ref name=Kirby_3>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;3.</ref><ref name=BF_Market_192>[[Alan Vince]], "Market Centres and Towns in the Mercian Hegemony", in Brown & Farr, ''Mercia'', p.&nbsp;192.</ref> However, Offa did not necessarily understand the economic changes that came with the ''burhs'', so it is not safe to assume he envisioned all their benefits.<ref name=Yorke_117/> In 749, [[Æthelbald of Mercia]] had issued a charter that freed [[ecclesiastical]] lands from all obligations except the requirement to build forts and bridges—obligations which lay upon everyone, as part of the [[trinoda necessitas]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=92 | title = Anglo-Saxons.net: S 92 | access-date=28 April 2007 |publisher=Sean Miller}}</ref><ref name=Campbell_100>Campbell, ''The Anglo-Saxons'', p. 100.</ref> Offa's Kentish charters show him laying these same burdens on the recipients of his grants there, and this may be a sign that the obligations were being spread outside Mercia.<ref name=Yorke_165>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;165.</ref><ref name=BF_Military_297>Gareth Williams, "Military Institutions", in Brown & Farr, ''Mercia'', p.&nbsp;297.</ref> These burdens were part of Offa's response to the threat of "the pagan seaman".<ref name=BEASE_456>Richard Abels, "''Trinoda Necessitas''", in Lapidge et al., "Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England", p.&nbsp;456.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=134 | title = Anglo-Saxons.net: S 134 | access-date=18 January 2008 |publisher=Sean Miller}}</ref>

Offa issued laws in his name, but no details of them have survived. They are known only from a mention by [[Alfred the Great]], in the preface to Alfred's own law code. Alfred says that he has included in his code those laws of Offa, [[Ine of Wessex]] and [[Æthelberht of Kent]] which he found "most just".<ref name=KL_164>Keynes & Lapidge, ''Alfred the Great'', p.&nbsp;164.</ref> The laws may have been an independent lawcode, but it is also possible that Alfred is referring to the report of the legatine mission in 786, which issued statutes that the Mercians undertook to obey.<ref name=KL_305>Keynes & Lapidge, ''Alfred the Great'', pp.&nbsp;305.</ref>

==Coinage==
[[File:Offa moneyer Edelmod 7 8th century.jpg|thumb|Reverse of a coin of Offa, bearing the name of the moneyer Ethelnoth. [[British Museum]], London]]
At the start of the 8th century, [[sceatta]]s were the primary circulating [[coin]]age. These were small silver pennies, which often did not bear the name of either the [[moneyer]] or the king for whom they were produced. To contemporaries these were probably known as pennies, and are the coins referred to in the laws of [[Ine of Wessex]].<ref name=Stenton_222>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;222.</ref><ref name=IWL>A transcription of Ine's laws can be read at {{cite web| url = http://www8.georgetown.edu/departments/medieval/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/prose/laws.html#cap44| title = Laws of Alfred and Ine| access-date = 30 December 2007| publisher = Georgetown University| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071217131452/http://www8.georgetown.edu/departments/medieval/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/prose/laws.html#cap44| archive-date = 17 December 2007| df = dmy-all}}</ref><ref name=BG_157>Blackburn & Grierson, ''Medieval European Coinage'', p.&nbsp;157.</ref> This light coinage (in contrast to the heavier coins minted later in Offa's reign) can probably be dated to the late 760s and early 770s. A second, medium-weight coinage can be identified before the early 790s.<ref name=BG_278>Blackburn & Grierson, ''Medieval European Coinage'', p.&nbsp;278.</ref> These new medium-weight coins were heavier, broader and thinner than the pennies they replaced,<ref name=Stenton_222/> and were prompted by the contemporary [[Carolingian]] currency reforms.<ref name=Kirby_175/> The new pennies almost invariably carried both Offa's name and the name of the moneyer from whose mint the coins came.<ref name=Stenton_222/> The reform in the coinage appears to have extended beyond Offa's own mints: the kings of [[East Anglia]], Kent and [[Wessex]] all produced coins of the new heavier weight in this period.<ref name=BG_277>Blackburn & Grierson, ''Medieval European Coinage'', p.&nbsp;277.</ref>

Some coins from Offa's reign bear the names of the archbishops of Canterbury, Jænberht and, after 792, Æthelheard. Jænberht's coins all belong to the light coinage, rather than the later medium coinage. There is also evidence that coins were issued by [[Eadbrightus|Eadberht]], who was [[Bishop of London]] in the 780s and possibly before. Offa's dispute with Jænberht may have led him to allow Eadberht coining rights, which may then have been revoked when the see of [[Lichfield]] was elevated to an archbishopric.<ref name=BG_279>Blackburn & Grierson, ''Medieval European Coinage'', p.&nbsp;279.</ref>

[[File:Offa and Cynethryth pennies.gif|thumb|left|300px|Two silver pennies of Offa's reign. The right-hand penny portrays Cynethryth.]]

The medium-weight coins often carry designs of high artistic quality, exceeding that of the contemporary Frankish currency.<ref name=BG_278/> Coin portraits of Offa have been described as "showing a delicacy of execution which is unique in the whole history of the Anglo-Saxon coinage".<ref name=Stenton_223/> The depictions of Offa on the coins include a "striking and elegant" portrait showing him with his hair in voluminous curls, and another where he wears a fringe and tight curls. Some coins show him wearing a necklace with a pendant. The variety of these depictions implies that Offa's die-cutters were able to draw on varied artistic sources for their inspiration.<ref name=Gannon_31-2>Gannon, ''Iconography of Early Anglo-Saxon Coinage'', pp.&nbsp;31–32.</ref>

Offa's wife [[Cynethryth]] was the only Anglo-Saxon queen ever named or portrayed on coinage, in a remarkable series of pennies struck by the moneyer Eoba.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coupland |first=Simon |date=2023 |title=A coin of Queen Fastrada and Charlemagne |journal=Early Medieval Europe|volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=585–597 |doi=10.1111/emed.12640 |s2cid=258491265 |doi-access=free }}</ref> These were probably derived from contemporary coins from the reign of the [[Byzantine]] emperor [[Constantine VI]], who minted a series showing a portrait of his mother, the later Empress [[Irene (empress)|Irene]],<ref name=BG_279-80>Blackburn & Grierson, ''Medieval European Coinage'', pp.&nbsp;279–280.</ref> though the Byzantine coins show a frontal bust of Irene rather than a profile, and so cannot have been a direct model.<ref name=BF_Women_39>Pauline Stafford, "Political Women in Mercia" in Brown & Farr, ''Mercia'', p.&nbsp;39.</ref>

Around the time of [[Jænberht]]'s death and replacement with [[Æthelhard|Æthelheard]] in 792–93, the silver currency was reformed a second time: in this "heavy coinage" the weight of the pennies was increased again, and a standardised non-portrait design was introduced at all mints. None of Jænberht's or Cynethryth's coins occur in this coinage, whereas all of Æthelheard's coins are of the new, heavier weight.<ref name=BG_280>Blackburn & Grierson, ''Medieval European Coinage'', p.&nbsp;280.</ref>

[[File:Offa king of Mercia 757 793 gold dinar copy of dinar of the Abassid Caliphate 774.jpg|thumb|A [[mancus]] or gold [[dinar]] of Offa, a copy of the dinars of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] (774)]]
There are also surviving gold coins from Offa's reign. One is a copy of an [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] [[dinar]] struck in 774 by Caliph [[Al-Mansur]],<ref name=BF_211>Williams, ''Mercian Coinage'', p.&nbsp;211,</ref> with "Offa Rex" inserted into three lines of arabic, which are inverted. The inscription is the [[shahada]]h, the Islamic declaration of faith, and reads " محمد رسول ﷲ " ("Muḥammad rasūl Allāh") which translates as "Muhammad, messenger [of] God". It is likely that the moneyer had no understanding of [[Arabic]] as the Arabic text is poorly reproduced. The coin may have been produced to trade with [[Al-Andalus|Islamic Spain]]; or it may be part of the annual payment of 365 [[mancus]]es that Offa promised to Rome.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TGkz9NGFXIMC&q=manqush+coin&pg=PA327 |title=Medieval European Coinage By Philip Grierson p.330 |access-date=17 August 2012|isbn=9780521031776 |last1=Grierson |first1=Philip |last2=Blackburn |first2=Mark A. S. |year=1986 |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> There are other Western copies of Abbasid dinars of the period, but it is not known whether they are English or Frankish. Two other English gold coins of the period survive, from two moneyers, Pendraed and Ciolheard: the former is thought to be from Offa's reign but the latter may belong either to Offa's reign or to that of Coenwulf, who came to the throne in 796. Nothing definite is known about their use, but they may have been struck to be used as alms.<ref name=BG_281>Blackburn & Grierson, ''Medieval European Coinage'', p.&nbsp;281.</ref><ref name=Stenton_223-4>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;223–224.</ref>

Although many of the coins bear the name of a moneyer, there is no indication of the mint where each coin was struck. As a result, the number and location of mints used by Offa is uncertain. Current opinion is that there were four mints, in [[Canterbury]], [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]], [[East Anglia]] and London.<ref name=BG_281/>

==Stature==
The title Offa used on most of his charters was "rex Merciorium", or "king of the Mercians", though this was occasionally extended to "king of the Mercians and surrounding nations".<ref name=PASE_title>See the listing under "King", in the "Office" section under {{cite web | url = {{PASE|305|bare=1}} | title = Offa 7 | website = Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England | access-date=31 December 2007 |publisher=[[King's College London]]}}</ref> Some of his charters use the title "Rex Anglorum", or "King of the English", and this has been seen as a sweeping statement of his power. There is debate on this point, however, as several of the charters in which Offa is named "Rex Anglorum" are of doubtful authenticity. They may represent later forgeries of the 10th century, when this title was standard for kings of England.<ref name=Kirby_174/> The best evidence for Offa's use of this title comes from coins, not charters: there are some pennies with {{not a typo|"Of ℞ A"}} inscribed, but it is not regarded as definite that this stood for "Offa Rex Anglorum".<ref name=BG_279/>

In ''Anglo-Saxon England'', Stenton argued that Offa was perhaps the greatest king of the English kingdoms, commenting that "no other Anglo-Saxon king ever regarded the world at large with so&nbsp;... acute a political sense".<ref name=Stenton_224>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;224.</ref> Many historians regard Offa's achievements as second only to [[Alfred the Great]] among the Anglo-Saxon kings.<ref>For example, [[Peter Hunter Blair]] describes him as "perhaps the greatest of all the Anglo-Saxon kings, save only Alfred"; Blair, ''Introduction'', p. 53.</ref> Offa's reign has sometimes been regarded as a key stage in the transition to a unified England, but this is no longer the general view among historians in the field. In the words of [[Simon Keynes]], "Offa was driven by a lust for power, not a vision of English unity; and what he left was a reputation, not a legacy."<ref name=BEASE_340/> It is now believed that Offa thought of himself as "King of the Mercians", and that his military successes were part of the transformation of Mercia from an overlordship of midland peoples into a powerful and aggressive kingdom.<ref name=BEASE_340/><ref name=Yorke_114>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;114.</ref>

==Death and succession==
Offa died on 29 July 796,<ref name=Kirby_177>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;177.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=day&id=07290796 | title=July 29, 796: Death of King Offa of Mercia | publisher=anglo-saxons.net | work=Anglo-Saxons | access-date=12 April 2012| author=Miller, Sean}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11215c.htm | title=Offa | publisher=newadvent.org | encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopaedia | year=2009 | access-date=12 April 2012 | author=Knight, Kevin}}</ref><ref name=BROWN_310>Brown & Farr, ''Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon Kingdom In Europe'', p. 310</ref> and may be buried in [[Bedford]], though it is not clear that the "Bedeford" named in that charter was actually modern Bedford.<ref name=EHD_468>Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 79, pp.&nbsp;468–470.</ref><ref name=BEASE_133>Simon Keynes, "Cynethryth", in Lapidge, ''Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;133.</ref> In 1837 a Saxon coffin was unearthed in the graveyard of  [[St Mary's Church, Hemel Hempstead]]  which bore an inscription that it held the "ashes of King Offa of the Mercians".<ref>British Library Newspaper Archive , published in the Bucks Herald on the 20th August 1836.</ref>

He was succeeded by his son, [[Ecgfrith of Mercia]], but according to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' Ecgfrith died after a reign of only 141 days.<ref name="Swanton_50">Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', p.&nbsp;50.</ref> A letter written by [[Alcuin]] in 797 to a Mercian ealdorman named Osbert makes it apparent that Offa had gone to great lengths to ensure that his son Ecgfrith would succeed him. Alcuin's opinion is that Ecgfrith "has no died for his own sins; but the vengeance for the blood his father shed to secure the kingdom has reached the son. For you know very well how much blood his father shed to secure the kingdom on his son."<ref name="EHD_786">Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 202, pp.&nbsp;786–788.</ref> It is apparent that in addition to Ecgfrith's consecration in 787, Offa had eliminated dynastic rivals. This seems to have backfired, from the dynastic point of view, as no close male relatives of Offa or Ecgfrith are recorded, and [[Coenwulf]], Ecgfrith's successor, was only distantly related to Offa's line.<ref name="Yorke_118">Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;118.</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[Offacolus]]''
* ''[[Vitae duorum Offarum]]''

==References==
<references/>

==Sources==
;Primary sources
* {{cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/annalescambriae.html |title=Medieval Sourcebook: The Annales Cambriae (Annals of Wales) |access-date=17 December 2007 |work=Annales Cambriae |publisher=[[College of Staten Island]], [[City University of New York]] |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Keynes |first1=Simon |last2=Lapidge |first2=Michael |title=Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources |year=2004 |publisher=Penguin Classics |isbn=0-14-044409-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/alfredgreatasser0000asse |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Bede |author-link=Bede |title=Ecclesiastical History of the English People |translator=[[Leo Sherley-Price]] |others=Revised by [[R.E. Latham]] |editor=D.H. Farmer |location=London |publisher=Penguin |year=1991 |isbn=0-14-044565-X |title-link=Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum |ref=none}}
* {{cite web |url={{PASE|305|bare=1}}|title=Offa 7|access-date=6 April 2007 |work=Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England|publisher=[[King's College London]] |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Swanton |first=Michael |title=The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle |year=1996 |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-92129-5 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Swanton |first=Michael |title=The Lives of Two Offas, Vitae Offarum Duorum |year=2010 |location=Crediton |publisher=The Medieval Press |isbn=978-0-9557636-8-7 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Whitelock |first=Dorothy |title=English Historical Documents v. 1 c. 500–1042 |year=1968 |location=London |publisher=Eyre & Spottiswoode |ref=none}}

;Secondary sources
* Abels, Richard, "''Trinoda Necessitas''", in {{cite book |last=Lapidge |first=Michael |title=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |year=1999 |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |isbn=0-631-22492-0 |ref=none}}
* Blackburn, Mark & Grierson, Philip, ''Medieval European Coinage.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, reprinted with corrections 2006. {{ISBN|0-521-03177-X}}
* {{cite book |last=Blair |first=John |title=The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society |year=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-921117-5 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Michelle P. |last2=Farr |first2=Carole A. |title=Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Europe |year=2001 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=0-8264-7765-8 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Campbell |first=James |title=The Anglo-Saxon State |year=2000 |publisher=Hambledon and London |isbn=1-85285-176-7 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=John |last2=John |first2=Eric |last3=Wormald |first3=Patrick |title=The Anglo-Saxons |year=1991 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0-14-014395-5 |ref=none}}
* Featherstone, Peter, "The Tribal Hidage and the Ealdormen of Mercia", in {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Michelle P. |last2=Farr |first2=Carole A. |title=Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Europe |year=2001 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=0-8264-7765-8 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Fletcher |first=Richard |title=Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England |year=1989 |publisher=Shepheard-Walwyn |isbn=0-85683-089-5 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gannon |first=Anna |title=The Iconography of Early Anglo-Saxon Coinage: Sixth to Eighth Centuries |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2003 |isbn=0-19-925465-6 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hunter Blair |first=Peter |title=An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1977 |edition=2nd |isbn=0-521-29219-0 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Hunter Blair |first=Peter |title=Roman Britain and Early England: 55 B.C.&nbsp;– A.D. 871 |year=1966 |location=New York |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=0-393-00361-2 |ref=none}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |last=Kelly |first=S. E. |publisher=Oxford University Press |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |title=Offa (d. 796), king of the Mercians |year=2007 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/20567 |ref=none}} {{ODNBsub}}
* Keynes, Simon, "Cynethryth", in {{cite book |last=Lapidge |first=Michael |title=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |year=1999 |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |isbn=0-631-22492-0 |ref=none}}
* idem, "Mercia", in {{cite book |last=Lapidge |first=Michael |title=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |year=1999 |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |isbn=0-631-22492-0 |ref=none}}
* idem, "Offa", in {{cite book |last=Lapidge |first=Michael |title=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |year=1999 |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |isbn=0-631-22492-0 |ref=none}}
* idem, "Mercia and Wessex in the Ninth Century", in {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Michelle P. |last2=Farr |first2=Carole A. |title=Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Europe |year=2001 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=0-8264-7765-8 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Keynes |first1=Simon |last2=Lapidge |first2=Michael |title=Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources |year=2004 |publisher=Penguin Classics |isbn=0-14-044409-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/alfredgreatasser0000asse |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Kirby |first=D.P. |title=The Earliest English Kings |year=1992 |location=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-09086-5 |ref=none}}
* Lapidge, Michael, "Alcuin of York", in {{cite book |last=Lapidge |first=Michael |title=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |year=1999 |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |isbn=0-631-22492-0 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Lapidge |first=Michael |title=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |year=1999 |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |isbn=0-631-22492-0 |ref=none}}
* Nelson, Janet, "Carolingian Contacts", in {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Michelle P. |last2=Farr |first2=Carole A. |title=Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Europe |year=2001 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=0-8264-7765-8 |ref=none}}
* Stafford, Pauline, "Political Women in Mercia, Eighth to Early Tenth Centuries", in {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Michelle P. |last2=Farr |first2=Carole A. |title=Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Europe |year=2001 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=0-8264-7765-8 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Stenton |first=Frank M. |author-link=Frank Stenton |title=Anglo-Saxon England |url=https://archive.org/details/anglosaxonenglan0000sten |url-access=registration |year=1971 |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=0-19-821716-1 |ref=none}}
* Williams, Gareth, "Mercian Coinage and Authority", in {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Michelle P. |last2=Farr |first2=Carole A. |title=Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Europe |year=2001 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=0-8264-7765-8 |ref=none}}
* idem, "Military Institutions and Royal Power", in {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Michelle P. |last2=Farr |first2=Carole A. |title=Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Europe |year=2001 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=0-8264-7765-8 |ref=none}}
* Wormald, Patrick, "The Age of Offa and Alcuin", in {{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=John |last2=John |first2=Eric |last3=Wormald |first3=Patrick |title=The Anglo-Saxons |year=1991 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0-14-014395-5 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Wormald |first1=Patrick |last2=Bullough |first2=D. |last3=Collins |first3=R. |title=Ideal and Reality in Frankish and Anglo-Saxon Society |year=1983 |location=Oxford |isbn=0-631-12661-9 |publisher=B. Blackwell |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Yorke |first=Barbara |title=Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England |year=1990 |url=https://archive.org/details/KingsAndKingdomsOfEarlyAngloSaxonEngland/page/n1/mode/2up |location=London |publisher=Seaby |isbn=1-85264-027-8 |ref=none}}
* Worthington, Margaret, "Offa's Dyke", in {{cite book |last=Lapidge|first=Michael|title=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England|year=1999|location=Oxford|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|isbn=0-631-22492-0 |ref=none}}
* eadem, "Wat's Dyke", in {{cite book |last=Lapidge |first=Michael |title=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |year=1999 |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |isbn=0-631-22492-0 |ref=none}}

==External links==
* {{PASE|5052|Offa 7}}

{{Bretwalda}}
{{Kings of Mercia}}
{{Kings of East Anglia}}
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