Offa

Offa (d. 796), king of Mercia (757–96), came to the throne after a disputed succession with Beornred following the murder of King Æthelbald. He continued the expansion of Mercia from its midland base. By the end of his reign Offa had added the provinces of the Hwicce, the South Saxons, and Kent and had expelled their royal houses or reduced them to the status of ealdormen. But he also had to deal with strong opposition. Although he had gained control in Kent in 764, the Kentish men recovered their independence after the battle of Otford in 776 and retained it until 785. Cynewulf of Wessex fought Offa at Benson c.779 and although he lost some parts of northern Wessex to Offa, remained an independent ruler. Æthelbert of the East Angles presumably offered resistance as well since in 794 Offa had him beheaded. Offa's Dike still stands as testimony to the seriousness of his campaigns against the Welsh and also to his ability to exact military services from his subjects.

Offa was considered sufficiently powerful by his contemporary Charles the Great to warrant bringing into his sphere of influence by the bestowal of gifts. Offa introduced the ‘penny’ coinage circulating in Francia and copied Frankish usage in including his portrait in the style of a Roman emperor. His wooing of the pope resulted in a grant of archiepiscopal status for the Mercian see of Lichfield in 787 and the consecration there of Offa's son Ecgfrith as king of the Mercians later the same year.