Coenwulf of Mercia - Mercia and Southern England at Ecgfrith's Death

Mercia and Southern England At Ecgfrith's Death

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ecgfrith only reigned for 141 days. Offa is known to have died in 796, on either 26 July or 29 July, so Ecgfrith's date of death is either 14 December or 17 December of the same year. Coenwulf succeeded Ecgfrith as king. Coenwulf's father's name was Cuthberht, who may have been the same person as an ealdorman of that name who witnessed charters during the reign of Offa. Coenwulf is also recorded as witnessing charters during Offa's reign. According to the genealogy of Mercian kings preserved in the Anglian collection Coenwulf was descended from a brother of Penda's named Cenwealh of whom there is no other record. It is possible that this refers to Cenwealh of Wessex, who was married to (and later repudiated) a sister of Penda's.

Coenwulf's kin may have been connected to the royal family of the Hwicce, a subkingdom of Mercia around the lower river Severn. It appears that Coenwulf's family were powerful, but they were not of recent Mercian royal lineage. A letter of Alcuin's to the people of Kent in 797 laments that "scarcely anyone is found now of the old stock of kings". Eardwulf of Northumbria had, like Coenwulf, gained his throne in 796: Alcuin's meaning is not clear, but it may be that he intended it as a slur on Eardwulf or Coenwulf or on both. Alcuin certainly held negative views of Coenwulf, regarding him as a tyrant, and criticizing him for putting aside one wife and taking another. Alcuin wrote to a Mercian nobleman to ask him to greet Coenwulf peaceably "if it is possible to do so", implying uncertainty about Coenwulf's policy towards the Carolingians.

Coenwulf's early reign was marked by a breakdown in Mercian control in southern England. In East Anglia, King Eadwald minted coins at about this time, implying that he was no longer subject to Mercia. A charter of 799 seems to show that Wessex and Mercia were estranged for some time before that date, though the charter is not regarded as undoubtedly genuine. In Kent, an uprising began, probably starting after Ecgfrith's death, though it has been suggested that it began much earlier in the year, before Offa's death. The uprising was led by Eadberht Præn, who had been an exile at Charlemagne's court: Eadberht's cause almost certainly had Carolingian support. Eadberht became king of Kent, and Æthelheard, the archbishop of Canterbury at that time, fled his see; it is likely that Christ Church, Canterbury was sacked.