Before Unification

Anglo-Saxon England IV

Wessex

	During the later 7th Century and the early 8th Century, Wessex expanded both Southwest against the Britons and Southeast into Kent and Sussex.
	King Ine succeeded in 688 and resigned in 726. A pious Christian, Ine granted much land to the church as well as granting it important tax exemptions, and founded the See of Sherborne. Aldhelm (639-709) the first Bishop of Sherborne, was also Abbot of Malmesbury, and a renowned scholar and an accomplished poet.
	Despite opposition from Sussex and Surrey, Ine was undoubtedly the most powerful king in the South of England.

Northumbria

Northumbria was not only the most powerful kingdom in the North of England during the 7th Century, it was also the foremost cultural and intellectual center.

Egbert - a pupil of Bede - became Archbishop of York. He established the school where Alcuin (732-804) - one of the most important scholars of his day - was trained.

In 782, Alcuin became head of a school at the Frankish court of Charlemagne. There Alcuin was a major figure in the Carolingian Renaissance, helping the reform of calligraphy that led to Carolingian miniscule - the direct forerunner of modern print typeface.

	The death of Aldfrith of Northumbria in 704 and that of Oswulf in 725, both led to violent disputes about the succession to the throne.
	Bede dedicated his Ecclesiastical History to Ceolwulf (729-37) - an otherwise minor ruler. Ceolwulf's successor, Edbert (brother of Archbishop Egbert), king from 738 to 757 did something to restore Northumbrian power, but on his resignation political chaos returned.

Mercia

Mercia's power grew during the 700's in large part because it was ruled by two strong-willed and long-lived kings - Ethelbald (716-57) and Offa (757-96).

Ethelbald and Offa both insisted that the Church contribute towards public works such as road and bridge building, and help finance military ventures.

Ethelbald established supremacy over much of Wessex and Essex, and styled himself "rex Britanniae" (king of the British) in a charter of 736.

From a Letter of Boniface and other bishops to Ethelbald, c. 747

"…We have heard, also, that you vigorously suppress robbery and crime, perjury and plundering, and that you are known to be a protector of the widows and the poor: hence peace is established in your kingdom. …But if, as many say (which God forbid), you have not taken a lawful wife nor professed chastity for God's sake but have been driven by lust into the sins of fornication and adultery and have lost your good name before God and men, then we are deeply grieved. And what is much worse, those who told us add that you have committed these sins, to your greater shame, in various monasteries with holy nuns and virgins vowed to God.

We have also been informed that you have violated the privileges of churches and monasteries and filched away their revenues. If this is true, it must be regarded as a grievous sin.…It is said that your governors and earls use greater violence and oppression towards monks and priests than any other Christian kings have ever done before.…"

Ethelbald - possibly because of his tyrannical tendencies - was murdered in 757 by one of his bodyguard. Offa had to fight to establish his claim to the throne, and for some years, Mercia saw considerable disorder.

Offa not only reestablished but extended Mercian power - first asserting control over Kent, then East Anglia.

Mercia
[The striped areas changed hands during the 7th and 8th centuries]

Offa established his capital at Tamworth, and negotiated a deal with the pope whereby Lichfield became an archbishopric independent of Canterbury. (This arrangement was ended in 803, when the Pope restored Canterbury's primacy).

In official documents from as early as 774, Offa styled himself "rex Anglorum" (king of the English) and "rex totius Anglorum patriae" (king or the whole homeland of the English).

Cynewulf, king of Wessex (757-785) was defeated by Offa in 779 at the Battle of Bensington and apparently forced to acknowledge Offa's supremacy. Internal disputes within Wessex helped Offa to increase his control there after 785.

Mercia was paid tribute by the dependent kingdoms of South and central England, and to help assess how much tribute was due, an important document called the Tribal Hidage was drawn up.

Offa popularized a new system of coinage, based on the silver penny of standard weight (around 1.5 grams).

Cynethryth, wife of Offa - the first English woman to be portrayed on a coin

Offa even achieved international repute. The Emperor Charlemagne considered a marriage of his son to Offa's daughter.

A final achievement of Offa was the building of defensive earthworks and ditches along the border with Wales -- total length of earthwork over 120 miles.