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(757 – 796)
(“offa” was ‘king of mercia’, a kingdom of ‘Anglo-Saxon England’, from 757 until his death in July 796)
(the son of ‘Thingfrith’ and a descendant of ‘Eowa’, ‘Offa’ came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of ‘Æthelbald’)
(‘Offa’ defeated the other claimant, ‘Beornred’)
(in the early years of Offa’s reign, it is likely that he consolidated his control of 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 ‘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 ‘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 ‘Jaenberht’, the ‘Archbishop of Canterbury’)
(‘Offa’ persuaded ‘Pope Adrian I’ to divide the archdiocese of ‘Canterbury’ in two, creating a new 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’ as king, since it is possible ‘Jaenberht’ 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 Frankish coinage)
(some of his coins carry images of his wife, ‘Cynethryth’ – the only Anglo-Saxon queen ever depicted on a coin)
(only 3 gold coins of Offa’s have survived: one is 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 ‘Northumbria’, though he gave his daughter ‘Ælfflæd’ in marriage to the Northumbrian king ‘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 a recent historian: “Offa was driven by a lust for power, not a vision of English unity; and what he left was a reputation, not a legacy”)
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(‘offa’ died in 796)
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(his son ‘ecgfrith’ succeeded him, but reigned for less than 5 months before ‘coenwulf of mercia’ became king)
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*👨🔬🕵️♀️🙇♀️*SKETCHES*🙇♂️👩🔬🕵️♂️*
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👈👈👈 ☜ *“BEORNRED”*
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*“ECGFRITH”* ☞ 👉👉👉
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥