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Offa of Mercia

Offa of Mercia (730-29 July 796) was King of Mercia from 758 to 796, succeeding Aethelbald and preceding Ecgfrith.

Biography[]

Offa was born in 730, a relative of King Aethelbald of Mercia. On Aethelbald's murder in 758, Offa defeated the rival claimant Beornred and claimed the Mercian throne for himself, and he then expanded into the Midlands by conquering Hwicce and Herefordshire. He went on to establish himself as overlord of Kent and then of Sussex in 771, and he allied with King Beorhtric of Wessex to assert Mercian hegemony over southern England. In 794, he consolidated his rule in East Anglia by having King Aethelberht II of East Anglia beheaded for rebelling against him. Offa also reduced the power of the Archbishopric of Canterbury by persuading the Catholic Church to establish a new archbishopric at Lichfield. He died in 796.

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