Æthelbald and Offa Two Eighth-Century Kings of Mercia Papers from a Conference held in Manchester in 2000 Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies Edited by David Hill Margaret Worthington BAR British Series 383 2005 This title published by Archaeopress Publishers of British Archaeological Reports Gordon House 276 Banbury Road Oxford 0X2 7ED England [email protected] www.archaeopress.com BAR 383 /Ethelbald and Offa: Two Eighth-Century Kings of Mercia. Papers from a Conference held in Manchester in 2000. Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies © the individual authors 2005 ISBN 1 84171 687 1 Printed in England by The Basingstoke Press All BAR titles are available from: Hadrian Books Ltd 122 Banbury Road Oxford 0X2 7BP England [email protected] The current BAR catalogue with details of all titles in print, prices and means of payment is available free from Hadrian Books or may be downloaded from www.archaeopress.com Editor’s Note The Conference, held under the auspices of the Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies at the University of Manchester, was open to all those interested and papers were given by a wide range of scholars including mature students. All those who wished to have their papers published are included in this work. I am grateful to the academics whose work appears here, most particularly to Professor Keynes for his thorough and magisterial article; I must apologise to him and everyone else for the delay in publication, the result of pressure of too many commitments aggravated by family illness. For the Conference, thanks are due to Professor Donald Scragg and the Committee of MANCASS for advice and encouragement; to Janet Wallwork of the John Rylands University Library for help with displays; to Sophie Cabot and Christina Lee for assistance with the bookstalls; and to Margaret Worthington for the smooth running of the whole operation. In the papers the spelling of personal names varies, as contributors take them from their various sources - manuscripts, coins and inscriptions. Modem place-names are almost always used and where such expressions as London burh and London wie have been used, it is in their technical sense. Saxon Southampton has always been substituted for the anomalous Hamwic. Thanks to Mary Syner and Jamie Wood for editorial assistance. John Blair’s contribution, on the relationship between minsters and royal residences in the time of Æthelbald and Offa, is not included here since the substance of it will appear in his forthcoming book, The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society (Oxford University Press, January, 2005). David Hill Contributors Marion Archibald, formerly curator of early medieval coins in the Department of Coins and Medals, British Museum. Mark Atherton, Lecturer, Regent’s Park College, Oxford. Derek Chick, coin enthusiast, retired. Dr Anna Gannon, art historian and numismatist, works at the British Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum, and for the University of Cambridge. Dr Nicholas Higham, F.S.A., is Reader in History in the School for Arts, Histories and Cultures, University of Manchester, and an associate director of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies. David Hill, Honorary Research Fellow, Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies, University of Manchester. Simon Keynes, Ellington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Richard Martin, member of Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies. Stephen Matthews is a retired civil servant. Audrey Meaney lives in retirement from academic life near Cambridge. Sheila Sharp has an MA in Anglo-Saxon Studies (1991) from the University of Manchester. Damian Tyler, Ph.D., is a Medieval History Tutor in the Centre for Continuing Education at the University of Manchester. Gareth Williams, Curator at the British Museum; his research covers various aspects of power and authority in the early Middle Ages, including coinage, land assessment and military organisation. Alex Woolf is a Lecturer in Early Scottish History at the University of St Andrews. Margaret Worthington, Director of Porth y waen Study Centre, independent archaeologist. Barbara Yorke is Professor of Early Medieval History at University College, Winchester, and author of Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon Royal Houses (2003). CONTENTS Page 1. The Kingdom of the Mercians in the Eighth Century Simon Keynes 1 -26 2. Orchestrated Violence and the ‘Supremacy of the Mercian Kings9 Damian J. Tyler 27-34 3. Onuist son of Uurguist: tyrannus carnifex or a David for the Piets? Alex Woolf 35-42 4. Æthelbald, Offa and the Patronage of Nunneries Barbara Yorke 43-48 5. The Lives of the Offas: the Posthumous Reputation of Offa, King of the Mercians Richard Martin 49-54 6. Legends of Offa: the Journey to Rome Stephen Matthews 55-58 7. Æthelbert, King and Martyr: the Development of a Legend Sheila Sharp 59-64 8. Mentions of Offa in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Beowulf and Widsith Mark Atherton 65-74 9. Felix’s Life of Guthlac: History or Hagiography? Audrey Meaney 75-84 10. Guthlac’s Vita, Mercia and East Anglia in the first half of the Eighth Century N. J. Higham 85-90 11. Offa’s Dyke Margaret Worthington 91-96 12. The Eighth-century Urban Landscape David Hill 97-102 13. Military Obligations and Mercian Supremacy in the Eighth Century Gareth Williams 103-110 14. The Coinage of Offa in the light of Recent Discoveries Derek Chick 111-122 15. Beonna and Alberht: Coinage and Historical Context Marion M. Archibald 123-132 16. Riches in Heaven and on Earth: Some Thoughts on the Iconography of Coinage at the time of Æthelbald Anna Gannon 133-138 FIGURES AND MAPS Page The Kingdom of the Mercians in the Eighth Century 1 OFFA SETTING OUT ON EXPEDITION (by permission of The Board of Trinity College Dublin), from Trinity College Dublin MS 177, fol. 55v. 4 2 OFFA’S VICTORY (by permission of The Board of Trinity College Dublin), from Trinity College Dublin MS 177, fol. 56r. 5 3 SOUTHERN ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTH CENTURY (drawn by Reginald Piggott). 9 Offa’s Dyke 1 OFFA’S DYKE. 92 The Eighth-century Urban Landscape 1 DATE RANGE OF EARLY MEDIEVAL SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHERN EUROPE. 98 2 COMPARATIVE AREAS OF ALL KNOWN AND DEFINED WICS. 99 3 GRAPHS SHOWING THE NUMBER OF EUROPEAN TOWNS AD 400-1000. 101 The Coinage of Offa in the light of Recent Discoveries 1 SINGLE FINDS KNOWN AT THE TIME OF C. BLUNT’S PAPER, ‘THE COINAGE OF OFFA’, IN 1961. 113 2 SINGLE FINDS KNOWN AT END 1999. 114 3 DENSITY OF ALL SINGLE FINDS. 115 4 DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS - COINS STRUCK AT LONDON. 116 5 DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS - COINS STRUCK AT CANTERBURY. 117 6 DISTRIBUTIONS PATTERNS - COINS STRUCK IN EAST ANGLIA. 118 Beonna and Alberht: Coinage and Historical Context 1 FINDSPOTS INDICATING COINS OF WERFERTH AND EFE. 126 2 FINDSPOTS INDICATING COINS OF WILRED AND INTERLACE TYPE. 126 Riches in Heaven and on Earth: Some Thoughts on the Iconography of Coinage at the time of Æthelbald 1 Series K, Type 32a, obv. 134 2. Series K, Type 20, obv. 134 iv