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

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About this book

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.

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About the author

Henry Mackenzie

Henry Mackenzie FRSE was a Scottish lawyer, novelist and writer sometimes seen as the Addison of the North. While remembered mostly as an author, his main income came from legal roles, which led in 1804–1831 to a lucrative post as Comptroller of Taxes for Scotland, whose possession allowing him to follow his interest in writing.