Genealogy of Offa of Essex - MS BL Add 23211

Offa was

King of Essex la, Regnum Orientalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the East Saxons , common_name = Essex , era = Heptarchy , status = , status_text = , government_type = Monarch ...

. D. H. Kirby dates his reign as 705 to 709.

Simon Keynes Simon Douglas Keynes, ( ; born 23 September 1952) is a British author who is Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon emeritus in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at Cambridge University, and a Fellow of Trinity Colleg ...

dates it c.694 to 709, when he went on a pilgrimage to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where he died as a monk, along with Cenred, King of

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ye ...

. He may have been co-king with Swæfred. He was the son of Sighere, who had died in about 690. In his ''

Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ( la, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict be ...

'', Bede described him as "a youth of most lovely age and beauty, and most earnestly desired by all his nation to be their king. He, with like devotion, quit his wife, lands, kindred and country, for

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

and for the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

, that he might receive an hundredfold in this life, and in the world to Come life everlasting. He also, when they came to the holy places at Rome, receiving the tonsure, and adopting a monastic life, attained the long wished-for sight of the blessed apostles in heaven." A

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

related to land in Warwickshire (S64) is attributed to him, although in it he is described as King of Mercia rather than Essex. This may be an inaccurate copy based on an authentic charter by

Cenred of Mercia Coenred (also spelled Cenred or Cœnred fl. 675–709) was king of Mercia from 704 to 709. Mercia was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the English Midlands. He was a son of the Mercian king Wulfhere, whose brother Æthelred succeeded to the throne in ...

. By charter S 1784 dated 704-9, which is probably authentic, Offa grants land in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...

to Waldhere,

bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. He was succeeded by

Saelred of Essex Saelred of Essex (also known as Selered) reigned as King of Essex from c. 709 to 746. His claim to the throne was due to descent from Sledd of Essex, the dynastic founder. For part of his reign he probably ruled jointly with Swaefbert, who, it is ...

Notes

External links

* East Saxon monarchs 8th-century English monarchs 8th-century English people Monarchs who abdicated {{England-bio-stub