Essay on the Life and Institutions of Offa, King of Mercia

Essay on the Life and Institutions of Offa, King of Mercia is a historical study by Henry Mackenzie (1745-1831), the Scottish writer and senior figure of late Georgian Edinburgh literary society. Although Mackenzie is now remembered chiefly for his novel The Man of Feeling, he produced essays, plays, and historical writings across more than fifty years. This essay reconstructs the life and reign of Offa, the eighth-century king of Mercia whose Offa’s Dyke and coinage marked the height of Mercian power before the rise of Wessex. Mackenzie surveys the surviving Anglo-Saxon and Frankish sources, the diplomatic correspondence with Charlemagne, the ecclesiastical politics of Lichfield, and the legal codes attributed to Offa. The piece is an example of the antiquarian historical writing of the Scottish Enlightenment tradition. Free PDF download available on BDeBooks.