Editing Offa of Mercia (section)

==Church==
Offa ruled as a Christian king, but despite being praised by [[Charlemagne]]'s advisor, [[Alcuin]], for his piety and efforts to "instruct [his people] in the precepts of God",<ref name="EHD 198, 783">Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 198, p.&nbsp;783.</ref> he came into conflict with [[Jænberht]], the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. Jænberht had been a supporter of [[Ecgberht II of Kent]], which may have led to conflict in the 760s when Offa is known to have intervened in Kent. Offa rescinded grants made to [[Canterbury]] by Egbert, and it is also known that Jænberht claimed the monastery of [[Cookham]], which was in Offa's possession.<ref name=Yorke_116-7>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', pp.&nbsp;116–117.</ref>

In 786 [[Pope Adrian I]] sent [[papal legate]]s to England to assess the state of the church and provide canons (ecclesiastical decrees) for the guidance of the English kings, nobles and clergy. This was the first papal mission to England since [[Augustine of Canterbury|Augustine]] had been sent by [[Pope Gregory the Great]] in 597 to convert the Anglo-Saxons.<ref name=Stenton_215-6>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;215–216.</ref> The legates were Bishop [[George of Ostia]], and Theophylact, the [[Diocese of Todi|bishop of Todi]]. They visited Canterbury first, and then were received by Offa at his court. Both Offa and [[Cynewulf]], king of the West Saxons, attended a council where the goals of the mission were discussed. George then went to Northumbria, while Theophylact visited Mercia and "parts of Britain". A report on the mission, sent by the legates to [[Pope Adrian I|Pope Adrian]], gives details of a council held by George in Northumbria, and the canons issued there, but little detail survives of Theophylact's mission. After the northern council George returned to the south and another council was held, attended by both Offa and Jænberht, at which further canons were issued.<ref name=Kirby_170>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;170.</ref>

[[File:Offa dioceses.gif|thumb|right|The dioceses of England during Offa's reign. The boundary between the archdioceses of Lichfield and Canterbury is shown in bold.]]

In 787, Offa succeeded in reducing the power of Canterbury through the establishment of a rival [[diocese of Lichfield|archdiocese at Lichfield]]. The issue must have been discussed with the papal legates in 786, although it is not mentioned in the accounts that have survived. The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' reports a "contentious synod" in 787 at [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], which approved the creation of the new archbishopric. It has been suggested that this synod was the same gathering as the second council held by the legates, but historians are divided on this issue. [[Hygeberht]], already Bishop of [[Lichfield]], became the new [[archdiocese]]'s first and only archbishop, and by the end of 788 he received the [[pallium]], a symbol of his authority, from Rome.<ref name=Stenton_217-8>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;217–218 & 218 notes 3 & 4.</ref> The new archdiocese included the sees of [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], [[Hereford]], [[Leicester]], [[Lindsey (government district)|Lindsey]], [[Dommoc]] and [[North Elmham|Elmham]]; these were essentially the midland Anglian territories. Canterbury retained the sees in the south and southeast.<ref name=Kirby_174>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;174.</ref>

The few accounts of the creation of the new archbishopric date from after the end of Offa's reign. Two versions of the events appear in the form of an exchange of letters between [[Coenwulf]], who became king of Mercia shortly after Offa's death, and [[Pope Leo III]], in 798. Coenwulf asserts in his letter that Offa wanted the new archdiocese created out of enmity for Jænberht; but Leo responds that the only reason the papacy agreed to the creation was because of the size of the kingdom of Mercia.<ref name=EHD_204-5>Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 204 & 205, pp.&nbsp;791–794.</ref> Both Coenwulf and Leo had their own reasons for representing the situation as they did: Coenwulf was entreating Leo to make London the sole southern archdiocese, while Leo was concerned to avoid the appearance of complicity with the unworthy motives Coenwulf imputed to Offa. These are therefore partisan comments. However, both the size of Offa's territory and his relationship with Jænberht and [[Kent]] are indeed likely to have been factors in Offa's request for the creation of the new archdiocese.<ref name=Kirby_169-170>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', pp.&nbsp;169–170.</ref> Coenwulf's version has independent support, with a letter from Alcuin to [[Æthelhard|Archbishop Æthelheard]] giving his opinion that Canterbury's archdiocese had been divided "not, as it seems, by reasonable consideration, but by a certain desire for power".<ref name=EHD_203>Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 203, pp.&nbsp;788–790.</ref> Æthelheard himself later said that the award of a pallium to [[Lichfield]] depended on "deception and misleading suggestion".<ref name=EHD_210>Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', 210, pp.&nbsp;799–800.</ref>

Another possible reason for the creation of an archbishopric at Lichfield relates to Offa's son, [[Ecgfrith of Mercia]]. After [[Hygeberht]] became archbishop, he consecrated Ecgfrith as king; the ceremony took place within a year of Hygeberht's elevation.<ref name=Swanton_52-4>Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', sub anno 785, pp.&nbsp;52–54.</ref> It is possible that [[Jænberht]] refused to perform the ceremony, and that Offa needed an alternative archbishop for that purpose.<ref name=Kirby_173>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;173.</ref> The ceremony itself is noteworthy for two reasons: it is the first recorded consecration of any English king, and it is unusual in that it asserted Ecgfrith's royal status while his father was still alive. Offa would have been aware that [[Charlemagne]]'s sons, [[Pepin the Hunchback|Pippin]] and [[Louis the Pious|Louis]], had been consecrated as kings by [[Pope Adrian I|Pope Adrian]],<ref name=Stenton>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;218–219.</ref> and probably wished to emulate the impressive dignity of the Frankish court.<ref name=Yorke_115>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;115.</ref> Other precedents did exist: [[Æthelred of Mercia]] is said to have nominated his son [[Coenred of Mercia|Coenred]] as king during his lifetime, and Offa may have known of Byzantine examples of royal consecration.<ref name=Kirby_173/>

Despite the creation of the new archdiocese, [[Jænberht]] retained his position as the senior cleric in the land, with Hygeberht conceding his precedence.<ref name=Stenton_218>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;218.</ref> When Jænberht died in 792, he was replaced by Æthelheard, who was consecrated by [[Hygeberht]], now senior in his turn. Subsequently, [[Æthelhard|Æthelheard]] appears as a witness on charters and presides at synods without Hygeberht, so it appears that Offa continued to respect [[Canterbury]]'s authority.<ref name=Kirby_172>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;172.</ref>

A letter from [[Pope Adrian I|Pope Adrian]] to [[Charlemagne]] survives which makes reference to Offa, but the date is uncertain; it may be as early as 784 or as late as 791. In it Adrian recounts a rumour that had reached him: Offa had reportedly proposed to Charlemagne that Adrian should be deposed, and replaced by a Frankish pope. Adrian disclaims all belief in the rumour, but it is clear it had been a concern to him.<ref name=Stenton_215>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;215.</ref> The enemies of Offa and Charlemagne, described by Adrian as the source of the rumour, are not named. It is unclear whether this letter is related to the legatine mission of 786; if it predates it, then the mission might have been partly one of reconciliation, but the letter might well have been written after the mission.<ref name=Kirby_171>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;171.</ref>

Offa was a generous patron of the church, founding several churches and monasteries, often dedicated to [[St Peter]].<ref name=Yorke_116>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;116.</ref> Among these was [[St Albans Cathedral|St Albans Abbey]], which he probably founded in the early 790s.<ref name=BEASE_340/> He also promised a yearly gift of 365 [[mancus]]es to Rome; a mancus was a term of account equivalent to thirty silver pennies, derived from [[Abbasid]] gold coins that were circulating in [[Francia]] at the time.<ref name=Stenton_223>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England, p.&nbsp;223.</ref> Control of religious houses was one way in which a ruler of the day could provide for his family, and to this end Offa ensured (by acquiring papal privileges) that many of them would remain the property of his wife or children after his death.<ref name=Yorke_116/> This policy of treating religious houses as worldly possessions represents a change from the early 8th century, when many charters showed the foundation and endowment of small minsters, rather than the assignment of those lands to laypeople. In the 770s, an abbess named Æthelburh (who may have been the same person as Offa's daughter of that name) held multiple leases on religious houses in the territory of the [[Hwicce]]; her acquisitions have been described as looking "like a speculator assembling a portfolio". Æthelburh's possession of these lands foreshadows [[Cynethryth]]'s control of religious lands, and the pattern was continued in the early 9th century by [[Cwenthryth|Cwoenthryth]], the daughter of King [[Coenwulf of Mercia|Coenwulf]].<ref name=JBlair_129>Blair, ''Church in Anglo-Saxon Society'', pp.&nbsp;129–30.</ref>

Either Offa or [[Ine of Wessex]] is traditionally supposed to have founded the [[Schola Saxonum]] in Rome, in what is today the Roman [[rione]], or district, of [[Borgo (rione of Rome)|Borgo]]. The Schola Saxonum took its name from the militias of Saxons who served in Rome, but it eventually developed into a hostelry for English visitors to the city.<ref name=KL_244>Keynes & Lapidge, ''Alfred the Great'', p.&nbsp;244.</ref>