Ecgfrith of Mercia
Deceased Person
– 0796
Who was Ecgfrith of Mercia?
Ecgfrith was king of Mercia from July to December 796. He was the son of Offa, the greatest king of Mercia, and Cynethryth. In 787, Ecgfrith had been consecrated king, the first known consecration of an English king, probably arranged by Offa in imitation of the consecration of Charlemagne's sons by the pope in 781.
Ecgfrith was succeeded by a distant relative, Cœnwulf, apparently because Offa had arranged the murder of nearer relatives in order to eliminate dynastic rivals. According to a contemporary letter from Alcuin of York, an English deacon and scholar who spent over a decade at Charlemagne's court as one of his chief advisors:
Alcuin added: "This was not a strengthening of the kingdom, but its ruin."
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