Ecgfrith was 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= , ...

from 29 July to December 796. He was the son of Offa, one of the most powerful kings of Mercia, and

Cynethryth Cynethryth (''Cyneðryð''; died after AD 798) was a Queen of Mercia, wife of King Offa of Mercia and mother of King Ecgfrith of Mercia. Cynethryth is the only Anglo-Saxon queen consort in whose name coinage was definitely issued. Biography Ori ...

, his wife. In 787, Ecgfrith was consecrated king, the first known consecration of an English king, probably arranged by Offa in imitation of the consecration of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...

's sons by the pope in 781. Around 789, Offa seems to have intended that Ecgfrith marry the

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

king

's daughter

Bertha Bertha is a female Germanic name, from Old High German ''berhta'' meaning "bright one". It was usually a short form of Anglo Saxon names ''Beorhtgifu'' meaning "bright gift" or ''Beorhtwynn'' meaning "bright joy". The name occurs as a theonym, s ...

, but Charlemagne was outraged by the request and the proposal never went forward.Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 220. According to the Croyland Chronicle "he (Ecgfrith) was seized with a

malady A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

, and departed this life." His reign lasted 141 days.Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', p. 50. Ecgfrith was succeeded by a distant relative, Coenwulf, presumably because Offa had arranged the murder of nearer relatives in order to eliminate dynastic rivals. According to a contemporary letter from

Alcuin of York Alcuin of York (; la, Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus; 735 – 19 May 804) – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student ...

, an English deacon and scholar who spent over a decade at

's court as one of his chief advisors:Lapidge, "Alcuin of York", in Lapidge et al., "Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England", p. 24. :That most noble young man has not died for his sins, but the vengeance for the blood shed by the father has reached the son. For you know how much blood his father shed to secure the kingdom upon his son. Alcuin added: "This was not a strengthening of the kingdom, but its ruin."Letter of Alcuin to Mercian ealdorman Osbert, tr. in Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', p. 787

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* {{authority control 796 deaths Mercian monarchs 8th-century English monarchs Year of birth unknown House of Icel

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