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The Archbishopric of Lichfield
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
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It must have been exceedingly galling to Offa, king of Mercia from 757 to 796, greatest of eighth-century English rulers, one comparable in terms of personal ascendancy with Charlemagne, that his midland kingdom, though politically the master, was ecclesiastically the servant of Kent. The archbishop of Canterbury, he would be well aware, kept princely state and coined his own money, and with the decline of the Kentish kings held an increasing political power. A hostile archbishop could be a serious obstacle to the overlordship of the Mercian king in Kent, and indeed Jaenbert, archbishop during the greater part of Offa’s reign, was a supporter of the Kentish king, Egbert II, a ruler distinctly shaky in the matter of loyalty to Offa. It seems to have been about 765 that Offa’s overlordship was recognised in the south-eastern kingdom, and from this time onwards he would be increasingly restive under the commanding position of the archbishop of Canterbury. It seems clear that Offa decided to reduce this power, and this could best be done by the establishment of an archbishopric for Mercia, able to rival or even outdo Canterbury. A precedent had already been set in 735, when the bishop of York, Egbert, secured the pallium, and Offa doubtless thought that his dignity deserved what the much inferior kingdom of Northumbria had obtained. So much was possibly in his mind; all he wanted was a favourable opportunity to implement his plan.
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References
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Page 146 of note 1 Simeon of Durham, Historia Regum, s.a., ed. Arnold, T., Symoneonis Monachi Opera Omnia (RS), 11, 1885 Google Scholar; Councils, 111, 443.
Page 146 of note 2 ‘Antiquam inter nos amicitiam et fidem catholicam quam sanctus Gregorius papa per beatum Augustinum docuit’: Councils, 111, 443. The joy of Offa, said the legates in their subsequent report, was due to the reverence in which the king held the see of St Peter. The report, sent to Pope Hadrian, is in Councils, 111, 447-62, and in Whitelock, D. ed., English Historical Documents 1 1955, 770-4 (hereafter referred to as E.H.D.)Google Scholar.
Page 147 of note 1 See a letter written by Leo III to Offa’s successor Coenwulf in 798: Councils, 111, 523-5; E.H.D. 1, 793-4.
Page 147 of note 2 Councils, 111, 524; E.H.D. 1, 793.
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Page 148 of note 3 William of Malmesbury says that to Lichfield were assigned the dioceses of Mercia and East Anglia, i.e. Worcester, Hereford, Leicester, Sidnacester (Lindsey), Elmham and Dunwich; and to Canterbury went London, Rochester, Winchester and Selsey: Cf.Hamilton, N.E.S.A., ed., De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum (RS), 1870, 16 Google Scholar; and Stubbs, W., ed.. De Gestis Regum Anglorum (RS), 1887, 1, 85 Google Scholar. This was probably true, though Malmesbury does not mention Sherborne, and we might have expected London to go to Lichfield.
Page 148 of note 4 C.S. 1, 254.
Page 148 of note 5 C.S. 1, 253.
Page 148 of note 6 C.S. 1, 255, 256, 257.
Page 148 of note 7 C.S. 1, 264.
Page 148 of note 8 C.S. 1, 267.
Page 148 of note 9 C.S. 1, 269; cf. 274.
Page 148 of note 10 C.S. 1, 289.
Page 148 of note 11 C.S. 1,293; E.H.D. 1, 470-1.
Page 149 of note 1 Councils, 111, 518-20; E.H.D. 1, 789-90. A letter from Alcuin to Aethelheard in the previous year, calling on him not to forsake his church, implies that Eadbert’s scheme to shake off the Mercian yoke was already being plotted before Offa’s death: Councils, 111, 495-6.
Page 149 of note 2 Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 226.
Page 149 of note 3 Simeon of Durham, ed.cit. s.a.
Page 150 of note 1 Councils, 111, 521-3; E.H.D. 1, 791-3. For Gregory’s decree see Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, 1, 29.
Page 150 of note 2 Councils, 111, 523-5; E.H.D. 1, 793-4.
Page 150 of note 3 C.S. 1, 293; E.H.D. 1, 470-1.
Page 151 of note 1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ed.cit., s.a.
Page 151 of note 2 Councils, 111, 533-4; E.H.D. 1, 794-5.
Page 151 of note 3 Councils, 111, 532-3.
Page 151 of note 4 Councils, 111, 536-7; E.H.D. 1, 798-9.
Page 151 of note 5 Councils, 111, 538-9, 540-1.
Page 151 of note 6 Councils, 111, 542-3; E.H.D. 1, 799-800; C.S. 1, 310.
Page 151 of note 7 Councils, 111, 545-7; C.S. 1, 312.
Page 152 of note 1 Register A, Cathedral Library, Canterbury. The professions have been copied into the volume in a fifteenth-century hand.
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