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Offa (died July 26/29, 796) was the King of Mercia from 757 until his death. Prior to the rise of Wessex in the 9th century, he was arguably the most powerful and successful of the Anglo-Saxon kings, effectively ruling much of Britain south of the River Humber during the latter part of his reign. His capital was based in Tamworth. Offa's Dyke is named after him.

Offa was the son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, the brother of King Penda, who had ruled over a hundred years before. Following the murder of his cousin King Æthelbald in 757, Offa defeated Beornrad, who fled, thus seizing the throne of Mercia. Offa took over a kingdom that had enjoyed supremacy over southern England during Æthelbald's reign, but this supremacy had been seriously weakened by Æthelbald's death and subsequent internal conflict. Offa thereafter endeavoured to reestablish Mercian power over the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

Contents 1 Background 2 Ancestry and family 3 Early reign 4 Kent and Sussex 5 East Anglia, Wessex and Northumbria 6 Wales and Offa's Dyke 7 The Church 8 European connections 9 Offa as statesman 10 Succession 11 Notes 12 References

In the first half of the eighth century, King Æthelbald of Mercia was the dominant Anglo-Saxon ruler. According to the monk Bede, writing in 731, Æthelbald was the overlord of all the provinces south of the river Humber.^[1] Æthelbald was one of a sequence of strong Mercian kings from the mid-seventh century to the early ninth, and the period is sometimes referred to as the "Mercian supremacy" as a result; it was not until the reign of Egbert of Wessex in the ninth-century that Mercian power was decisively eclipsed.^[2]

The nature of Mercian 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 had placed royal kinsmen in control of conquered provinces.^[3] 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.^[4]

Offa is regarded as the most powerful Anglo-Saxon ruler until the time of Alfred the Great, two centuries later.^[5] No contemporary biography survives of Offa,^[2] and the main literary source for the period, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, was a West Saxon production, and may not fully convey the extent of Offa's power.^[6] That power can be seen more usefully in charters dating from Offa's reign. Charters were documents which granted land to followers or to churchmen, and which were witnessed by the kings who had power to grant the land.^[7][8] A charter granting land in the territory of one of the subject kings might record the names of the king as well as the overlord on the witness list appended to the grant; such a witness list can be seen on the Ismere Diploma, for example. The titles given to the kings on these charters could also be revealing: a king might be described as a "subregulus", or subking.^[9] The monument of Offa's Dyke, most of which was probably built in his reign, demonstrates the extensive resources Offa had at his command and, more importantly, his ability to organise these,^[10] as might also the somewhat problematic document known as Tribal Hidage.^[11] A significant corpus of letters dates from the period, especially from Alcuin. These in particular reveal Offa's relations with the continent, as does his coinage, which was based on Carolingian example.

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. Offa's line comes through Pybba's son 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 second cousin.^[12] Æthelbald granted land to Eanwulf in the territory of the Hwicce, and it is possible that Offa and Æthelbald were from the same broad family grouping in the Mercian political landscape. In one charter, Offa refers to Æthelbald as his kinsman; and Headbert, Æthelbald's brother, continued to witness charters after Offa came to power.^[13][14]

Offa's wife was Cynethryth; her ancestry is unknown. They had a son, Ecgfrith, and four daughters: Æthelflæd, Eadburh, Æthelburh, and Æthelswith.^[15] Æthelburh became an abbess and it has been suggested that she was the same Æthelburh as an abbess of that name who was a kinswoman of King Ealdred of the Hwicce, but there are other prominent women named Æthelburh at that period, and the identification is only speculative.^[14]

Æthelbald, who had ruled Mercia since 716, was assassinated in 757. According to a later continuation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History, Æthelbald was "treacherously murdered at night by his own bodyguards", though the reason why is unrecorded. Æthelbald was initially succeeded by 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."^[16] 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.^[14]

The conflict over the succession suggests that Offa would have 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.^[14][17][18] Offa was probably able to exert control over the kingdom of Lindsey at an early date, as it appears that the independent dynasty of the kings of Lindsey had disappeared by this time.^[17][19]

Little is known about the history of the East Saxons during the eighth 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 without a local ruler as witness.^[20] It is likely that both London and Middlesex were quickly under Offa's control at the start of his reign.^[21]

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.^[22]

Offa appears to have been able to exploit an unstable situation in Kent after 762.^[23] Kent had long had a tradition of joint kingship, with east and west Kent under separate kings, though one king was typically dominant.^[24] Prior to 762 Kent was ruled by Æthelberht II and Eadberht I; Eadberht's son Eardwulf also is recorded as a king. Æthelbert died in 762, and Eadberht and Eardwulf are last mentioned in that same year. Charters over the next two years mention other kings of Kent, including Sigered, Eanmund and Heahberht. In 764, Offa granted land at Rochester in his own name, with Heahberht on the witness list as king of Kent. Another king of Kent, Egbert, appears on a charter in 765 along with Heahberht; the charter was subsequently confirmed by Offa.^[25] Offa's influence in Kent at this time is clear, and it has been suggested that Heahberht was installed by Offa as his client.^[23] There is less agreement among historians on whether Offa had general overlordship of Kent thereafter. Offa is known to have revoked a charter of Egbert'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 this grant of Egbert's is unknown.^[26] It may be that Offa was the effective overlord of Kent from 764 until at least 776; but there is limited evidence of his direct involvement in the kingdom after 765. There are two charters of 774 in which Offa grants land in Kent, but there are doubts about their authenticity; and so it may also be that Offa's intervention in Kent was limited to the years 764–765.^[27]

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that "the Mercians and the inhabitants of Kent fought at Otford" in 776. The outcome was not recorded; it was traditionally interpreted as a Mercian victory, but Stenton noted that there is no evidence that Offa exercised any authority over Kent during the years that immediately followed the battle, and a charter from 784 mentions only a Kentish king named Ealhmund, which may indicate that the Mercians were in fact defeated at Otford.^[28] The cause of the conflict is also unknown: if Offa ruled Kent before 776 it is likely to have been a rebellion against Mercian control.^[17] However, Ealhmund does not appear again in the historical record, and a sequence of charters by Offa from the years 785–789 make his authority clear. During these years he treated Kent "as an ordinary province of the Mercian kingdom",^[29] 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".^[30]

Mercian control lasted until 796, the year of Offa's death, when a rebellion under Eadbert Praen was temporarily successful in regaining Kentish independence.

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. Sussex, like Kent, had a tradition of joint kingship, and it has been argued that Offa's authority was recognized early in his reign by the local kings of western Sussex, but that eastern Sussex (the area around Hastings) submitted to him less readily. Simeon 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.^[31] 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 770–771. 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.^[32]

In 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 became king, and was independent long enough to issue coins of his own.^[33] 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 seems likely that Æthelberht rebelled against Offa and was beheaded as a result.^[34] Accounts of the event have survived in which Aethelbert 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 twelfth century and modern historians do not regard them with confidence.^[35]

To the south, Cynewulf, the king of Wessex, came to the throne in 757 and recovered much of the border territory that Æthelbald had conquered; the West Saxons. Offa won an important victory over the Cynewulf at the Battle of Bensington (in Oxfordshire) in 779, reconquering some of the land along the Thames.^[36] However, no indisputably authentic charters from before this date show Cynewulf in Offa's entourage,^[37] and there is no evidence that Offa ever became Cynewulf's overlord.^[36] In 786, after the murder of Cynewulf, Offa may have intervened to place Beorhtric on the West Saxon throne, possibly in opposition to a rival claimant, Egbert, who had links to the Kentish dynasty that opposed Mercian rule. Even if Offa did not assist Beorhtric's claim, it seems likely that Beorhtric to some extent recognized Offa as his overlord shortly thereafter. Beorhtric married Eadburh, a daughter of Offa, in 789,^[38] and the Chronicle records that the two kings combined to exile Egbert to Francia for three years. Egbert took the throne of Wessex after Beorhtric's death in 802, and it is thought by some (though not all) historians that the Chronicle's "three years" should read "thirteen years", which would place the likely date of exile in 789, the year of Beorhtric's and Eadburh's marriage.^[39]

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 southeast. 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 764–765, as some historians believe.^[40]

Offa's currency was used across the West Saxon kingdom, and Beorhtric had his own coins minted only after Offa's death.

Offa's marital alliances extended to Northumbria when his daughter Ælfflæd married Æthelred I of Northumbria at Catterick in 792.^[41] However, there is no evidence that Northumbria was ever under Mercian control during Offa's reign.^[17]

Like all Mercian rulers of the period, Offa was often 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 Annales Cambriae.^[42][43]

The best known relic of Offa's time is perhaps 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; he says "a certain vigorous king called Offa…had a great dyke built between Wales and Mercia from sea to sea".^[44] The dyke has not been dated by archaeological methods, but it is generally thought that Asser's attribution is correct.^[45] Early names for the dyke in both Welsh and English also support the attribution to Offa.^[46] 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, less than five miles from the coast, while in the south it stops at Rushock Hill, near Kington in Herefordshire, less than fifty miles from the Bristol Channel. The total length of this section is about sixty-four miles.^[45] 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.^[47]

The construction of the dyke suggests that it was built both to create an effective barrier and to keep a good view into Wales. This implies that the Mercians who built it were free to choose the best location for the dyke.^[45] However, there are settlements to the west of the dyke that have names that imply they were English by the eighth century, so it may be that in choosing the location of the barrier the Mercians were consciously surrendering some territory to the native Britons.^[48] Alternatively it may be that these settlements had already been retaken by the Welsh, implying a defensive role for the barrier.^[49]

The effort and expense that must have gone into building the dyke are impressive, and imply that the king who had it built (whether Offa or someone else) had considerable resources at his command. Other substantial construction projects of a similar date do exist, however, such as Wat's Dyke and the Danevirke, in what is now Denmark, 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.^[49]

Offa came into conflict with Jaenbert, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and tried to reduce the power of Canterbury through the establishment of a rival archdiocese at Lichfield, obtaining the approval of Pope Adrian I. A council at Chelsea agreed to its creation in 787, although only after some dispute. Higbert, already Bishop of Lichfield, became the new archdiocese's only archbishop.

The records of the papal legates who travelled to England to assess the case for the new archbishopric are among the few surviving documents on Mercian politics from the period. Wormald argues that they may reflect Offa's lost law codes, referred to by Alfred the Great. Following Lichfield's elevation to an archdiocese Offa was able to have his son, Ecgfrith, consecrated, in emulation of Charlemagne, who had recently had his successor anointed by the Pope.

In his relations with the most powerful European ruler of the age, the Frankish king Charlemagne, it is clear that the latter recognized Offa's power and accordingly treated him with respect. In the one surviving letter between the two men, Charlemagne refers to Offa as his "brother." It is also evident, however, that Offa wanted to be treated not merely respectfully, but as an equal of Charlemagne, and this insistence produced some discord in his relations with the Franks. Around the year 789, Charlemagne attempted to negotiate the marriage of one of his sons to one of Offa's daughters; Offa, however, made such an arrangement contingent upon the marriage of his own son, Ecgfrith, to one of Charlemagne's daughters. Charlemagne considered this demand a serious affront, and responded by temporarily closing Frankish ports to traders from England. Charlemagne also harboured a number of English refugees from Offa, most notably Egbert, who returned to rule Wessex after the deaths of Beorhtric and Offa, and was the grandfather of Alfred the Great.

In Anglo-Saxon England, Stenton argued that Offa was perhaps the greatest king of the English kingdoms, arguing that "no other Anglo-Saxon king ever regarded the world at large with so secular a mind or so acute a political sense". Proof of Offa's abilities was obscured by the lack of a historian (such as Bede a half-century earlier, or Asser a century later) to describe his achievements. However, some care is needed not to regard Offa's reign as just another step towards the formation of England. Offa is best considered in his 8th-century context.

Offa reformed the silver coinage in England, producing the first English silver pennies. Offa's currency reforms were prompted by, and in competition with, those of Charlemagne in Francia, which is reflected in their iconography: they carry a wide range of portraits inspired by Roman coinage and contemporary portrayals of the Biblical King David. Offa's queen, Cynethryth, was the first and only Anglo-Saxon queen ever named or portrayed on the coinage.

The establishment of a new coinage is important evidence for Offa's administrative control over the economy, though there are many difficulties with the chronology and structure of the coinage: a sparse, early coinage was struck at mints in Canterbury, London and somewhere in East Anglia. Two early kings of Kent, Heaberht and Egbert, also struck coins at Canterbury around this time, probably in the 760s and 770s. This early coinage merges into the very large "light coinage", which contains the celebrated portrait coins of Offa and his queen. Coins were also struck at Canterbury in the name of Archbishops Jaenbert and Aethelheard. Around the time of Jaenbert's death and replacement with Aethelheard in 792-3 the silver currency was reformed a second time: in the subsequent "heavy coinage" the weight standard and flan-size were increased, and a standardised non-portrait design was introduced at all three mints.

Along with the silver pennies, a few gold coins were produced, copied from a gold dinar of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur dated 157AH (773-4 AD). Offa Rex is centred, though the moneyer clearly had no understanding of Arabic as the Arabic text is upside down. It is likely that the coin was produced in order to trade with Islamic Spain; or as part of a yearly donation of alms to the Pope in Rome: making it all the more ironic then, that (according to Winston Churchill^[50]) the Arabic words are those of the Shahadah, or Islamic profession of faith.

Although Offa had initially used the title "rex Merciorium" (king of the Mercians), he used a multitude of titles over the course of his reign. By the end of his reign, "rex Merciorum" had been settled on as the standard. In 774 however, he is first recorded as using the title "rex Anglorum" (king of the English). Offa was the first king to use that title, and it has been seen as a sweeping statement of his power.

Offa's supposed use of this title has caused considerable debate among scholars. 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. The evidence of coins strongly suggests, however, that Offa did occasionally use the title "rex Anglorum" as an alternative to "rex Merciorum".

During the last decade of his reign, Offa exerted himself to ensure that his son Ecgfrith would succeed him. In 787, he had Ecgfrith crowned as his co-ruler. After Offa's death in July 796, however, Ecgfrith survived for only five months, dying under unclear circumstances. Offa's reign marked the apogee of Mercian power: only a quarter of a century after his death (825), the role of leading English power passed to Wessex.

v • d • e Kings of Mercia

Icel • Cnebba • Cynewald • Creoda • Pybba • Ceorl • Penda • Eowa • Peada • Oswiu of Northumbria • Wulfhere • Æthelred I • Cœnred • Ceolred • Ceolwald • Æthelbald • Beornred • Offa* • Ecgfrith • Cœnwulf* • Cynehelm • Ceolwulf I* • Beornwulf** • Ludeca • Wiglaf • Ecgberht of Wessex • Wiglaf (again) • Wigmund • Wigstan • Beorhtwulf • Burgred • Ceolwulf II • Æthelred II*** • Æthelflæd*** • Ælfwynn*** * also king of Kent and king of East Anglia ** also king of East Anglia *** deputies for Alfred the Great and Edward the Elder

v • d • e Kings of East Anglia

Wehha  • Wuffa  • Tytila  • Rædwald  • Eorpwald  • Ricberht  • Sigeberht^  • Ecgric^  • Anna  • Æthelhere  • Æthelwold  • Ealdwulf  • Ælfwald  • Hun^  • Beorna^  • Alberht^  • Æthelred***  • Æthelberht II  • Offa*  • Eadwald  • Cœnwulf*  • Ceolwulf*  • Béornwulf**  • Æthelstan  • Æthelweard  • Edmund the Martyr  • Oswald***  • Æthelred II***  • Guthrum I†  • Eohric† ^ co-kings * also king of Kent and king of Mercia ** also king of Mercia ***sub-kings †Danes