Who Was Offa A Father

Offa’s one son, Ecgfrith of Mercia, is fundamentally very important to Offa’s reign. Historically, Ecgfrith was one of the first consecrated English kings. This is said to have been organized by Offa in order to make it known that he was the heir to his father’s throne. This is one instance in which Offa is perceived as a blood or power driven leader. He specifically had to have his son be his successor that he went to lengths so much as to have relatives be killed so that not even a thought of taking over power was in the question. “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” (Williams). …show more content…
Regardless if Offa was a blood-driven, self-centered, psychotic leader, all historians can agree that Offa had power and he definitely intended to use it. He is seen as the strongest and best Anglo-Saxon leader before the time of Alfred the Great. Alfred the Great actually took many of Offa’s plans and charters in order to be the extremely successful monarch known to man within the Anglo-Saxon period. Offa had a sense of “idealism” (Stitt 1). This sense of Idealism was adopted by Alfred the Great and once he had inhabited this central sense it made him who he is perceived to be. Alfred the Great essentially used so many ideas and knowledge from Offa which led to the significance of Alfred’s reign. This has all put Offa behind the main picture of Alfred being the great monarch he