Editing Offa of Mercia (section)

==Government==
The nature of [[Mercia]]n kingship is not clear from the limited surviving sources. There are two main theories regarding the ancestry of Mercian kings of this period. One is that descendants of different lines of the royal family competed for the throne. In the mid-7th century, for example, [[Penda of Mercia|Penda]] had placed royal kinsmen in control of conquered provinces.<ref name=Yorke_119>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', pp.&nbsp;119–120</ref> Alternatively, it may be that a number of kin-groups with local power-bases may have competed for the succession. The sub-kingdoms of the [[Hwicce]], the [[Tomsæte]] and the unidentified [[Gaini]] are examples of such power-bases. Marriage alliances could also have played a part. Competing magnates, those called in charters "dux" or "princeps" (that is, leaders), may have brought the kings to power. In this model, the Mercian kings are little more than leading noblemen.<ref>For all this, see Keynes, "Mercia and Wessex in the Ninth Century", pp.&nbsp;314–323, in Brown & Farr, ''Mercia''; see also Williams, "Military Institutions and Royal Power", pp.&nbsp;304–305.</ref> Offa seems to have attempted to increase the stability of Mercian kingship, both by the elimination of dynastic rivals to his son Ecgfrith, and the reduction in status of his subject kings, sometimes to the rank of [[ealdorman]].<ref name=Yorke_TAS_43-4>Yorke, ''Anglo-Saxons'', pp.&nbsp;43–44.</ref> He was ultimately unsuccessful, however; [[Ecgfrith]] only survived in power for a few months, and ninth-century [[Mercia]] continued to draw its kings from multiple dynastic lines.<ref name=BF_314>Simon Keynes, "Mercia and Wessex in the Ninth Century", in Brown & Farr, ''Mercia'', p.&nbsp;314.</ref>

There is evidence that Offa constructed a series of defensive ''[[burh]]s'', or fortified towns; the locations are not generally agreed on but may include [[Bedford]], [[Hereford]], [[Northampton]], [[Oxford]] and [[Stamford, Lincolnshire|Stamford]]. In addition to their defensive uses, these ''burhs'' are thought to have been administrative centres, serving as regional markets and indicating a transformation of the Mercian economy away from its origins as a grouping of midland peoples. The ''burhs'' are forerunners of the defensive network successfully implemented by [[Alfred the Great]] a century later to deal with the [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danish]] invasions.<ref name=Kirby_3>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;3.</ref><ref name=BF_Market_192>[[Alan Vince]], "Market Centres and Towns in the Mercian Hegemony", in Brown & Farr, ''Mercia'', p.&nbsp;192.</ref> However, Offa did not necessarily understand the economic changes that came with the ''burhs'', so it is not safe to assume he envisioned all their benefits.<ref name=Yorke_117/> In 749, [[Æthelbald of Mercia]] had issued a charter that freed [[ecclesiastical]] lands from all obligations except the requirement to build forts and bridges—obligations which lay upon everyone, as part of the [[trinoda necessitas]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=92 | title = Anglo-Saxons.net: S 92 | access-date=28 April 2007 |publisher=Sean Miller}}</ref><ref name=Campbell_100>Campbell, ''The Anglo-Saxons'', p. 100.</ref> Offa's Kentish charters show him laying these same burdens on the recipients of his grants there, and this may be a sign that the obligations were being spread outside Mercia.<ref name=Yorke_165>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p.&nbsp;165.</ref><ref name=BF_Military_297>Gareth Williams, "Military Institutions", in Brown & Farr, ''Mercia'', p.&nbsp;297.</ref> These burdens were part of Offa's response to the threat of "the pagan seaman".<ref name=BEASE_456>Richard Abels, "''Trinoda Necessitas''", in Lapidge et al., "Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England", p.&nbsp;456.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=134 | title = Anglo-Saxons.net: S 134 | access-date=18 January 2008 |publisher=Sean Miller}}</ref>

Offa issued laws in his name, but no details of them have survived. They are known only from a mention by [[Alfred the Great]], in the preface to Alfred's own law code. Alfred says that he has included in his code those laws of Offa, [[Ine of Wessex]] and [[Æthelberht of Kent]] which he found "most just".<ref name=KL_164>Keynes & Lapidge, ''Alfred the Great'', p.&nbsp;164.</ref> The laws may have been an independent lawcode, but it is also possible that Alfred is referring to the report of the legatine mission in 786, which issued statutes that the Mercians undertook to obey.<ref name=KL_305>Keynes & Lapidge, ''Alfred the Great'', pp.&nbsp;305.</ref>