Offa (757–96)
The first king of Mercia to strike coins, Offa is perhaps one of the most famous Anglo-Saxon kings – and at around 39 years, his reign is certainly one of the longest (Figure 4). Although he probably was not the original builder of ‘Offa’s Dyke’ and his attempts to ingratiate himself with the Frankish King Charlemagne ultimately failed – by the time of his death, he had built Mercia into Anglo-Saxon England’s powerhouse kingdom. J J North’s English Hammered Coinage (Volume I) encompasses Offa’s coinage within around 80 different types, which perhaps illustrates best the complexity of the various issues struck during his reign.
