Offa, king of Essex

• Offa King of Essex

died 0709 (probably) Rome

father:

• Sigehere King of Essex

died about 0683

mother:

• St. Osyth of Mercia

siblings:

unknown

spouse:

• Koneswitha of Mercia

children:

• Elfrid of Essex

biographical and/or anecdotal:

notes or source:

ancestry.com

Offa of Essex

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Offa was King of Essex until 709, when he abdicated in order that he may take up life in a monastery in Rome along with Cenred, King of Mercia. He was the son of Sigeheard of Essex, and according to some sources St. Osyth (though Bede, a contemporary, makes no mention of her).

In his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, 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 and for the Gospel, 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." [1]

A charter related to land in Warwickshire (S64) is attributed to him, although in it he is described as King of Mercia rather than Essex[2]. This may be an inaccurate copy based on an authentic charter by Cenred of Mercia[3]. There is a (probably authentic) lost charter (S1784) in which Offa grants land in Hemel Hempstead to the bishop of London.

He was succeeded by Saelred of Essex.

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•Offa - son of Sigehere. Saint. Ruled from an unknown date until 709 jointly with Sigeheard and Swæ fred. Although he signed some charters with the title of King he should probably be seen as a sub-king. He granted land in Hemel Hempstead as King and also gave land as sub-king in the Kingdom of the Hwicce. He abdicated (or he may have been deposed) in 709 and journeyed to Rome in the company of King Coenred of Mercia, who may also have been deposed. He is the last East Saxon king to be mentioned by Bede. His name is only one of three which doesn't begin with an 'S'. His pedigree is preserved in a West Saxon manuscript. He is nothing to do with the Offa who built the Dyke on the Welsh border - that was Offa of Mercia who died in 796