Oswiu and Offa: Early Bretwalda
Let’s take a closer look at two of the bretwalda or ‘over-kings’ not yet described in our narrative. They are Oswiu of Northumbria and Offa of Mercia. Both exemplify the way in which warriors expanded their authority in the 7th century.
Oswiu (613-670) was the son of Æthelfrith, king of the two countries in northern England and Scotland called Bernicia and Deira. These areas later became part of what was called Northumbria and were valuable property as they provided power to their rulers over the island’s northeast coast. Æthelfrith died in battle fighting Eadwine, the son of the Ælle of Sussex. Eadwine had found support at the court of Rædwald in East Anglia. Rædwald, Eadwine’s protector, was regarded as the future of southern Britain according to Bede, even during the supremacy of Æthelberht, the incredibly wealthy king of Kent.
After Æthelfrith’s death, Oswiu and his half-brother fled to Iona on the west coast of Scotland. After much changing of hands and violent battles to gain control, Bernicia and Deira were divided again and Oswiu gained control of Bernicia. Although king of Bernicia, he was subordinate to king Penda of Mercia until 655 when Penda invaded Bernicia and was killed by Oswiu’s forces in the Battle of the Winwaed near Leeds in modern West Yorkshire. Oswiu then reunited Northumbria and became overlord of southern England.
Oswiu was a staunch Christian who had been raised in the Celtic tradition, but his wife, Eanfled, had been educated in the traditions of the Roman church. In 663/664 Oswiu helped reconcile differences in modes of worship between the Celtic churches and the Roman Catholic church at the Synod of Whitby. He also founded a number of monasteries. Upon his death he was succeeded by his son Ecgfrith. Oswiu ruled from 655 to 670 and his reign of power exemplified three important themes of kingships at that time: surviving exile to rule, marrying to gain support of other leaders, and using religion to gain dominance.
Like Oswiu, Offa (?-796) was both a strong and enduring king, as well as being renowned for his overwhelming lust for power. A member of an ancient Mercian ruling family, Offa seized power in the civil war that followed the murder of his cousin, king Aethelbald (reigned 716–757). By brutely suppressing resistance from several small kingdoms in and around Mercia, he created a single state covering most of England south of modern Yorkshire. The lesser kings of this region paid him homage, and he married his daughters to the rulers of Wessex and Northumbria.
As ruler of Mercia from 757 to 796, Offa brought southern England to the highest level of political unification it had yet achieved in the Anglo-Saxon period. He also formed ties with rulers on the European continent. Charlemagne, king of the Franks, quarreled with Offa, but the two rulers concluded a commercial treaty in 796. In addition, Offa maintained a friendly relationship with Pope Adrian I, who was allowed to increase his control over the English church, while acceding to Offa’s request for the creation of an archbishopric of Lichfield. This remarkable, if temporary, change in church organization freed the Mercian church from the authority of the archbishop of Canterbury, who was seated among Offa’s enemies in the kingdom of Kent. An impressive memorial to Offa’s power survives in the great earthwork known as Offa’s Dyke, which he had constructed between Mercia and the Welsh settlements to the west. He built this formidable 26 foot high, 80-plus mile earth dyke to defend those who lived in England from those who lived in Wales.
The historian Ben Johnson tells us that Offa is not only remembered for his great dyke, but also as the ‘father-in-law from Hell’! According to legend, in 794 AD, Offa promised his daughter Ælfthryth in marriage to Æthelberht II who was then king of East Anglia. Æthelberht and Ælfthryth met, fell in love, and became engaged to be married. Ælfthryth’s mother, Queen Cynethryth, became so jealous of her daughter’s happiness that she persuaded Offa to murder Æthelberht before the wedding could take place. The legend tells us that when Æthelberht started his journey to Offa’s palace at Sutton Walls near Marden, the sun became dark and the earth shook, and before arriving at the palace, he had a dream in which he saw his bridal bed destroyed, while his mother watched, weeping tears of blood. Æthelberht arrived at Offa’s palace on the eve of his wedding and was shown into the hall where the king was waiting. He stepped into the hall and the doors were immediately locked behind him. One of Offa’s nobles, Winebert, stepped forward at Offa’s command, and struck-off Æthelberht’s head with his sword. Whether this story is true or not, it is an excellent example of the common practice at this time of overlords using violence to solve their problems.
Perhaps the most enduring achievement of Offa’s reign was the establishment of a new form of coinage bearing the king’s name and title and the name of the moneyer responsible for the quality of the coins. At the time of his death in 796 AD, the penny had written on it: Offa “Rex Anglorum”(King of the English). The principles governing his coinage were employed in Britain for centuries afterward.
