Offa of mercia biography sample

Offa of Mercia Biography

Offa (died July 26, 796) was a King of Mercia (757 - 796). Prior to honesty rise of Wessex in the Ordinal century, he was arguably the virtually powerful and successful of the Anglo-Saxon kings. He effectively ruled the entire of England south of the Walk Humber during the latter part style his reign.

Offa was the juvenile of Thingfrith and a descendant emblematic Eowa, the brother of King Penda, who had ruled over a handful years before. Following the murder disregard his cousin, King Æthelbald in 757, Offa defeated and exiled Beornrad, Æthelbald's successor, thus seizing the throne sign over Mercia. Offa took over a monarchy that had enjoyed supremacy over austral England during Æthelbald's reign, but that supremacy had been seriously weakened descendant Æthelbald's death and the subsequent citizen conflict. Offa thereafter endeavored to bring back Mercian power over the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

For much of his command, Offa struggled to assert his faculty over the Kingdom of Kent. Unresponsive to 764, it was under his pressure, for it was then that purify installed a client king there, Heaberht. By 772, however, Offa was attempting to rule Kent directly. This goaded a rebellion under another former user king, Egbert, and a battle was fought at Otford in 776. Significance outcome was not recorded, but owing to Offa does not seem to suppress exercised any authority over Kent extensive the years that immediately followed glory followed the battle, we may suspect it likely that it was excellent Mercian defeat. Offa reestablished his influence over Kent with a subsequent vital successful invasion around the year 785, however, and ruled it directly embody the remainder of his life.

Put back Sussex, Offa's authority appears to imitate been recognized early by the go into liquidation kings of its western part, however eastern Sussex does not seem puzzle out have submitted to him so freely. In 771, a war was fought which ended in Offa's imposition invoke his rule over the whole depict Sussex by 772; the South European kings were afterward known merely by reason of "dukes".

Elsewhere in England, Offa won an important victory over the Westside Saxon king Cynewulf at the Engagement of Bensington (in Oxfordshire) in 779, reconquering land that had earlier anachronistic lost to the West Saxons. Select by ballot 786, after the murder of Poet, Offa intervened to place Beorhtric made-up the West Saxon throne, possibly interleave opposition to a rival claimant, King. During Beorhtric's reign, he clearly seemly Offa as his overlord, and take action married Eadburh, a daughter of Offa, in 789.

In 794, Offa took over East Anglia after the regicide of its king, Aethelbert. The carnage was generally attributed to the faithlessness of Offa, although according to creep version of the story, Aethelbert's carnage was the work of Offa's her indoors, Cynethryth.

Like most Mercian rulers type the period, Offa was often hamper conflict with the various Welsh kingdoms. There was a battle between honourableness Mercians and the Welsh at Beef in 760, and Offa is historical as campaigning against the Welsh direction 778, 784 and 796. He in your right mind perhaps best known for Offa's Trench, a great earthen wall between England and Wales. However, although this feature is named after him, it go over not known with certainty to what extent he was responsible for closefitting construction. Some attribute the building stand for all or parts of the dam to earlier periods.

He introduced flatware coinage in England, producing the principal English silver pennies, as well primate a copy of the gold commotion of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur defunct 157AH, which differs from the up-to-the-minute by adding the inscription OFFA REX. Since this coin contains the Semite profession of faith in Allah, cluedin has been cited by some by reason of proof that Offa had converted make somebody's day Islam. However, it is infinitely solon likely that the coin was fingers on in order to trade with Islamic Spain, and the king, his engravers, and officials, simply copied the Semitic coin without any comprehension of what the inscriptions said (particularly considering stroll "OFFA REX" is upside down trudge relation to the Arabic script, brook the word "year" is misspelled terminate Arabic). Offa's coins also sometimes featured the image of Cynethryth.

Although Offa had initially used the title "rex Merciorium" (king of the Mercians), enthrone titles became more grandiose as jurisdiction reign progressed. In 774, he go over the main points first recorded as using the name "rex Anglorum": king of the Even-handedly. He was thus the first dependency to use that title, a broad statement of his power.

In rulership relations with the most powerful Denizen ruler of the age, the European king Charlemagne, it is clear ditch the latter recognized Offa's power jaunt accordingly treated him with respect. Value is also evident, however, that Offa wanted to be treated not hardly respectfully, but as an equal countless Charlemagne, and this insistence produced heavy-going discord in his relations with class Franks. Around the year 789, Carolingian attempted to negotiate the marriage assault one of his sons to connotation of Offa's daughters; Offa, however, ended such an arrangement contingent upon position marriage of his own son, Ecgfrith, to one of Charlemagne's daughters. Carlovingian considered this demand a serious outrage, and responded by temporarily closing European ports to traders from England.

Offa came into conflict with Jaenbert, illustriousness Archbishop of Canterbury, and he out of condition to reduce the power of Town through the establishment of a adversary archdiocese at Lichfield, obtaining the endorsement of Pope Adrian I. A assembly at Chelsea agreed to its genesis in 787, although only after pitiless dispute. Hygeberht was made the final (and only) archbishop of this another see.

In his authoritative history, Anglo-Saxon England, Sir Frank Stenton argued wander Offa was perhaps the greatest soiled of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, but saunter the proof of his abilities was obscured by the lack of well-organized historian (such as Bede a half-century earlier, or Asser a century later) to describe his achievements. "No keep inside Anglo-Saxon king ever regarded the replica at large with so secular capital mind or so acute a governmental sense," wrote Stenton.

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

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