Offa : King of the Mercians.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Naismith, Rory.

Series:

The English Monarchs Series

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (379 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2026.

Summary:

An authoritative biography of Offa of Mercia, revealing his importance as the king who stood at the turning point of Anglo-Saxon history Offa ruled the Mercian heartland of the west midlands from 757 to 796.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title Page

Title Page

Copyright page

Contents

NOTE ON DATES AND NAMES

PREFACE

1 A Name to Conjure with: Offa, 'King and Adornment of Britain'

A Great and Marvellous King

Offa and the Mercian Supremacy

Offa's Kingdom

Offa in Britain and Europe

How Do We Know? Sources for Offa's Reign

Historical Narratives

Alcuin's Letters

Charters

Coins and Other Material Sources

This Volume

2 The Furtherance of His Journey: Offa and His Family

Offa's Early Life and Ancestry

Offa's Earthly Family

Cynethryth

Ecgfrith

Ælfflæd, Æthelburh and Eadburh

Conclusion

3 The Riven Sandstone: Mercia, Land of the Borderers

Kings of the Mercians before Offa

The Mercians and Their Lands

Names and Origins

The Internal Structure of Mercia

Mercia and the Tribal Hidage

Conclusion: Offa and Greater Mercia

4 The Crypt of Roots: Mercia's English Neighbours

Kent

East Anglia

Sussex

London and Its Region

Wessex

Northumbria

5 Curfew Time for Our Warband: Running Offa's Kingdom

Terminology of Kingship

The Geography of Power

All the King's Men

Royal Demands and Military Impositions

Trinoda necessitas

Fortifications in the Landscape

Warfare and the Mercian Supremacy

Offa and the Minsters

6 Cushioned on a Legend: Constructing Images of Offa

'A Spear-Keen Man': Offa and Old English Poetry

The Worcester Bible

Coining Kingship

7 Exemplary Metal: Wealth and Power in Offa's Kingdom

Minster Culture in Offa's Kingdom

London and Other Trading Towns in Offa's Kingdom

The Coinage of Offa

Phases of Offa's Coinage

Offa and Charlemagne

The Structure and Geography of Minting in Offa's Kingdom

Circulation of Coins and Other Goods in Offa's England

Conclusion.

8 From Sea to Sea: Offa and the Welsh

The Welsh Kingdoms in the Eighth Century

The English and the Welsh in the Age of Offa

Offa's Dyke

9 Groaners in Sweetness: Offa, Charlemagne and Rome

Francia

The Frankish Kingdom at the Dawn of the Carolingian Age

Offa, Charlemagne and the Letter of 796

Shared Projects

Rome

Rome in the Age of Offa

The Anglo-Saxons and Rome in the Age of Offa

The Archbishopric of Lichfield

10 Traces of Red Mud: The End of Offa's Reign

Offa's Death and Burial

Ecgfrith and the Aftermath of Offa's Death

Alcuin and the Sins of the Father

The First Viking Raids

11 'Sing It Again': The Legacy of Offa

Memories of Offa in the Ninth to Twelfth Centuries

Legends of Offa at Medieval St Albans

Offa in the Early Modern and Modern Periods

Conclusion: Offa in the Twenty-First Century

12 Conclusion: The Last Dream of Offa the King

Offa the Man and Offa the King

A Structure for the Reign

Offa's Reign in Perspective

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

FURTHER READING

INDEX.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-300-29237-6

0-300-29239-2

9780300292374

OCLC:

1584464927