Changing Faces: Offa, King of Mercia

It greatly pleases me that you are so intent on education, that the light of wisdom, which is now extinguished in many places, may shine in your kingdom. You are the glory of Britain, the trumpet of proclamation, the sword against foes, the shield against enemies.

Thus wrote the Northumbrian scholar Alcuin, in a letter written from Frankia in the late 780s or early 790s, addressed to Offa, King of Mercia. Of course the hyperbole must be taken with a pinch of salt, but there is no mistaking Alcuin's warm approval of a king whose worldly power made him a friend to be cultivated, as much as a force to be respected. Yet within months of Offa's death, on July 29th, 796, Alcuin's tone was noticeably different. He could still refer, as the need arose, to the 'good, moderate, and chaste customs which Offa of blessed memory established', but only now was he prepared to admit what he must have known before; that Offa's hands were stained with the blood of a good many rivals.