OFFA (Figure 1) was the king ofMercia (Figure 2) from 757 to 796

AD. His coins are remarkable for sev-eral reasons but most obviously for theimaginative designs that appear on theobverse and reverse of many of them. Thedesigns are complicated but are based onthe shape of a cross. We can assume thatit was a Christian cross because by thistime the Anglo-Saxons in England hadbeen converted to Christianity. Throughhis coins Offa promoted the idea that hewas a Christian king and that Merciawas a Christian kingdom. Of course wedo not know if his Christian faith wasgenuine or just part of his political strat-egy. One way of determining this wouldbe to assess what he actually did as rulerof Mercia because, after all, actions speaklouder than words (or coins). The coins of Alfred, who was king of

Wessex from 871 to 899 AD, are ratherplain in appearance and usually haveonly a tiny cross on them (Figure 3), but

we know from his actions that he livedhis life according to his Christian faith.He worked to revive Christianity andlearning. He translated several Chris-tian books, including Pope Gregory’sPastoral Care, which was a handbookfor bishops and contained the pope’s ad-vice about the need for education. Butmost of all he demonstrated his faith byforgiving his Viking enemy, Guthrum,after he defeated him at the Battle ofEdington in 878 AD. So what did Offa do when he was king

of Mercia? Like all the Anglo-Saxon kingshe was a warrior. He came to powerafter a period of civil war and went on todominate Kent, Sussex and East Anglia.To protect his territory from the Celtsin Wales he built the earthen barrierknown today as Offa’s Dyke. (Figure 4)It was a tremendous effort and it ex-tended for many miles close to what isstill the border between England andWales. (Figure 5) He introduced a new

style of coinage: larger silver coins (pen-nies) with his name and title prominenton the obverse and the name of the mon-eyer on the reverse. Some of the coinshave a portrait of his wife, Cynethryth,on them. (Figure 6) She was the onlyAnglo-Saxon queen ever depicted on acoin, which suggests that Offa had arespectful attitude to women. He wantedhis kingdom of Mercia to have its own

View to the west from Offa’s Dyke near Knill in Herefordshire. (Wikimedia Commons: attribution Raymond Perry)

Figure 2 – Map of the kingdoms of Britainduring Offa’s reign. Anglo-Saxon in red, Celticin grey, and the Picts in green. (WikimediaCommons: author Sakurambo)

Figure 1 – Silver penny of Offa by the moneyer Pendred minted at London or Canterbury. Diam-eter 17 mms. (Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions Inc., Jan. 2012 Auction, Lot 24272)

archbishop and he persuaded the popeto appoint an archbishop at Lichfield,which greatly reduced the power of theArchbishop of Canterbury in Kent. When we consider Offa’s actions there

is nothing particularly Christian aboutthem. Jesus, of course, respected women,as many of the stories in the Gospelstestify, but respecting women was amoral quality that many pre-Christianand non-Christian men had. Offa’s desireto have his own archbishop in Lichfieldprobably came from his wanting morepower, not from a well-spring of Christianpiety. Actually, when historians considerthe life of Offa they do not see a piousChristian king like Alfred but a veryworldly ruler who was at times quiteruthless. According to the English his-torian Simon Keynes, “Offa was drivenby a lust for power, not a vision of Englishunity, and what he left was a reputation,not a legacy.” So why all the crosses and

cross designs on the coins? Was Offaeven a Christian?Offa craved power, and this included

spiritual power. With all the Christiansymbolism on his coins he is saying thathe has that power and you had betternot mess with him. Being successful inwar showed that the power was withhim. Just as primitive people under-stood that spiritual power existed allaround them, in trees, mountains, etc.,Offa realized that this power could beharnessed for his own purposes. HisChristian coins tap into this way ofthinking. To understand what being a Christian

meant in the Middle Ages, and especiallyin the time of King Offa, one needs toknow something of the prevailing world-view. The earth was flat, and there wasa divine realm above (heaven) and ahorrible place below (hell). On earth therewas spiritual activity all around. To a

large extent the Church exerted itspower over people by its ability to influ-ence the spiritual realm and especiallyby fear of hell. Secular rulers co-optedthis power to control the people. With a few exceptions such as King

Alfred, rulers and clergy had a very lim-ited understanding of Christianity. TheBible was in Latin which only the well-educated could read. It would not betranslated into English till the 14th cen-tury, and even if you could read Latinthere were very few Bibles for you toread. You would find them only in mon-asteries and castles where the educatednobility dwelt. It was very expensive to

Figure 3 – Silver penny of King Alfred by the moneyer Dudig. Diameter 20 mms. (Author’s Collection)

Figure 4 – Offa’s Dyke near Clun in south Shropshire. (Wikimedia Commons: photo by Chris Heaton)

Figure 5 – Map showing Offa’s Dyke andWat’s Dyke. Although little is known aboutWat’s Dyke it was probably built in about 820.(Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 6 – Silver penny of Offa by the moneyerEoba. There is a bust of Cynethryth on the ob-verse and her name +C.FNEd.RF.d.REGINA onthe reverse. (Image: Triton V, Lot 2431)

produce a Bible: it took a scribe manymonths to carefully copy the letters in anexisting Bible onto pages of parchment,and the parchment was made from calfskin through a long process. The ordinary people learnt about

Christianity from what they were toldby the clergy and by seeing the picturespainted on the walls of churches. Onesuspects that there was little emphasison Jesus’s teaching about love and for-giveness. When Jesus spoke about love,which in Greek is αγαπη (agape), he meanta self-giving concern for others. It seemsthat for Offa his guiding principle wasconcern for self at the expense of others.Ultimately gaining power was his goal. It could be argued that the cross on

Offa’s coins was all that anyone neededto know because it was a simple symbolthat represented the crucifixion andresurrection of Jesus Christ, which is theessential core of the Christian faith.Actually, having a simple faith in theessentials is all that matters. OtherwiseChristianity would be only for the well-educated. With this in mind one shouldnot judge the ordinary people of Offa’stime or even Offa himself. But one needsto realize that Christianity was differ-ent in many ways from what it is today.One major difference is the idea of spirit-ual power. In the Middle Ages relics weregreatly revered, and large numbers ofpilgrims travelled great distances to visit

Figure 7 – The coin in Figure 1 with colour added.

Figure 8 – The coin in Figure 6 with colour added.

Figure 10 – The coin in Figure 9 with colour added.

Figure 9 – Silver penny of Offa by the moneyer Ealmund. Mint: London. Diameter 17 mms. (Image courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group, Auction 90, Lot 2370)

Figure 11 – Silver penny of Offa by the mon-eyer Egchun. Mint in East Anglia. 18 mms.(Image courtesy of Classical NumismaticGroup, Auction 97, Lot 974)

the shrines of saints to see and prefer-ably touch something belonging to themin order to get some of their spiritualpower. Today it is generally recognizedthat most of the relics were fakes, buteven as late as the 15th century therewas an obsession with relics. JohannGutenberg, before he invented printingwith movable type in 1450, made littlemirrors that pilgrims could hold up abovethe crowds when relics were displayedand thus capture the light from the relicand its spiritual power. In the Middle Ages people were very

superstitious and aware of spiritual

forces in their lives. Offa’s coins withtheir crosses and sometimes weird des-igns might have been perceived as havingspiritual power in themselves, much likerelics. Let’s see if we can increase thespiritual impact of Offa’s coins by addingcolour. If colour is added to the coin inFigure 1 the dragon above the king’shead becomes more fierce, a frighteningbeast indeed. (Figure 7) On the reverseof the coin colour enhances the beautyof the angelic beings flying out from thedominant cross in the centre. If colour isadded to the coin in Figure 6 the qualityof Cynethryth’s dress is emphasized

showing that she is truly a queen. (Fig-ure 8) In the centre of the reverse thereis the letter M for Merciorum (of theMercians), but it looks like a face withlarge eyes peering out at the viewer.Could it be a spiritual being watchingyou? Offa issued many non-portrait coins

and on some of them colour brings outthe designs strongly. On the obverse ofa coin minted by the moneyer Ealmundthere is a flower-like design at theends of the arms of the cross, and thesame design appears on the reverse.(Figures 9 and 10) On a coin of themoneyer Egchun there is a similarfloriate cross with a Christian cross be-tween OFFA and REX on the obverse,and a pretty crossed-triangles design onthe reverse. (Figures 11 and 12). On acoin of the moneyer Wihtraed the armsof the cross look like axes (Figures 13and 14) but it must be admitted thatthe original meaning of all these sym-bols is unknown today. Perhaps the mostpious Christians of all were the men whoactually designed these remarkable coins,because on some of them they do conveythe idea of the power of the Cross in avisual way. They must have been inspiredto create these designs. So it seems thatdespite all the ignorance the Christianfaith was alive in England during thereign of King Offa.

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Figure 12 – The coin in Figure 11 with colour added.

Figure 13 – Silver penny of Offa by the moneyer Wihtraed. Mint in East Anglia.Diameter 19 mms. (Author’s Collection)

Figure 14 – The coin in Figure 13 with colour added.

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