What is Offa of Mercia?
{{Infobox Monarch | name =Offa | image =Offa head.gif | caption =Depiction of Offa in a thirteenth-century manuscript | title =King of Mercia | reign =757 – July 29, 796 | predecessor =[[Beornred of Mercia|Beornred]] | successor =[[Ecgfrith of Mercia|Ecgfrith]] | queen =[[Cynethryth]] | issue =Ælfflæd<br />[[Eadburh]]<br />Æthelburh<br />Æthelswith | father =Thingfrith | birth_date =c. 730 <br/> Kingdom of Mercia | death_date =July 29, 796 <br/> Bedford | burial_place = [[Bedford]] }} '''Offa''' was the [[List of monarchs of Mercia|King of Mercia]] from 757 until his death in July 796. Many historians regard Offa as the most powerful [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] king before [[Alfred the Great]]. Offa died in 796 and was succeeded by his son, [[Ecgfrith of Mercia|Ecgfrith]], who reigned for less than five months before [[Coenwulf of Mercia]] became king. == King of Mercia == Offa was the son of Thingfrith, a [[:wikt:descendant|descendant]] of Eowa of Mercia.<ref name=Ashley257>Mike Ashley, ''The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens'' (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999), p. 257</ref> Eowa was a king of [[Mercia]] who ruled along with his more famous brother [[Penda of Mercia]].<ref name=Ashley257/> In 757 the king of Mercia,[[Athelbald of Mercia|Athelbald]], was murdered. There was a short [[civil war]] between others claiming the [[throne]].<ref>Peter Hunter Blair, ''Roman Britain and Early England 55 B.C.–A.D. 871'' (New York; London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1966), p. 216</ref> An [[ealdorman]] named Beornred took the throne of Mercia but Offa drove him out of Mercia and became king himself that same year.<ref name=Ashley257/> The [[alliance]]s Athelbald had formed fell apart when Offa came to power. Offa had very little power outside of Mercia for the first several years of his reign.<ref name=Stenton206>Frank Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'' (Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 206</ref> == Bretwalda (overlord) ==