Had not the genius of Offa led the way by subjecting so large a portion of England to his control, it is scarcely probable that Egbert would have succeeded so early as within a few years from his decease in uniting the divided kingdoms under his government. Nor should it be forgotten that the future monarch of all England took his early lessons in the rude chivalry of the times at the court of Offa, by whom he was protected from the persecution of Brithric:[20] thence passing in safety by the connivance of his friend to the dominions of Charlemagne, he was entertained by that illustrious emperor till the death of Brithric left the kingdom of Wessex open to his claims. And on his return to his native land, he showed plainly that the ambitious designs of his early protector yet lived in his bosom, and but a transient period intervened ere the divided House of the Octarchy owned him as their common Lord.
[20] V. Holinshed, b. 6.
To Offa then, as the preserver, and to a certain extent the instructor, of the first sole monarch of England, the present age must look back with gratitude as the founder of the limited monarchy of the land; but as he is said by one of his historians[21] to have been a man in whom virtue and vice were so mingled, as to render it difficult to say whether of the twain were predominant—so in the legacy of spiritual slavery which he bequeathed to his kingdom, it is a question whether the advantages arising from unity in political government were not more than counterbalanced.
[21] “Offa was a man of great mind, and who would endeavour to bring to effect what he had preconceived. He reigned thirty-nine years. When I consider the deeds of this man I am doubtful whether I should commend or censure. At one time, in the same character, vices were so palliated by virtues, and at another virtues came in such quick succession upon vices, that it is difficult to determine how to characterize the changing Proteus.”—William of Malmsbury.
It must be remembered, however, that William of Malmsbury was an interested party; and therefore his testimony as to Offa’s character must be regarded as coming from a source somewhat prejudiced against him.—V. note [23].
Not only did Offa, by his application to the Pope for permission to transfer the province of Canterbury to Lichfield, recognize the principle of interference in the ecclesiastical government of this country on the part of the bishop of Rome, but he is expressly stated to have made his whole realm tributary to that See. And it is certain that in paying Romescot[22] he followed the example of Ina, who in the year 697 “was the first that caused the monie called Peter Pence to be paid unto the bishop of Rome, which was for everie houshold within his dominion a penie.”
[22] The alms of “Romescot,” “Heord (hearth) penny,” or “Peter-pence,” “arose by degrees and parcels: for first Ina, the Saxon king, granted a penny out of every house in his kingdom. After, Offa granted it out of every dwelling house that had ground thereto, occupied to the yearly value of thirty pence, excepting the lands which he had purposed for the monastery of St. Albans. This Offa had a much larger dominion than Ina, and was king over three and twenty shires. After whom Æthelwolf passed a new grant thereof out of his whole kingdom, which was well nigh all that part which was called Saxony, with this proviso, nevertheless, that where a man had divers dwelling houses he was only to pay for that house wherein he dwelt at the time of payment. Afterwards Edward the Confessor confirmed that donation out of such tenements as had thirty pence, ‘vivæ pecuniæ.’”—Bacon, chap. 11th. V. also Holinshed, b. 6. ch. 1.
The particulars of Offa’s visit to Rome, at which city the arrangements alluded to in the text took place, are recorded by the monk of St. Albans as follows, viz.:—Matth. Paris, Vita Offæ Secundi, 18.
Offa igitur rex piissimus, suorum magnatum sano adquiescens consilio, divino ductus spiritu, transalpinum valdè laboriosum et sumptuosum iter arripit, sine moræ dispendio. Nec eum cura rei familiaris, vel regni custodiendi necessitas, vel comminantis senii gravitas, nec laboris immanitas, vel pecuniæ inæstimabiliter effusio ipsum poterant retardare, stabilem retinens in proposito cordis intentionem, ut sicut beatus Albanus protomartyr refulsit Angligenis, ita et monasterium ejus omnibus regni Cænobiis, possessionibus similiter et libertatibus, necnon et privilegiis, præfulgeat et præponatur.
Præparatis igitur edicto regio navibus, cum navium armamentis, rex puppes ascendit, et sinuatis velis, prospero cursu in quodam portu maris in Flandria applicuit, desiderato. Veniensq. ad quoddam oppidum, ubi quoddam erat monasteriolum, hospitandi gratia illuc divertit. Ubi jumentis suis pabula non inveniens, miratur valdè, quum locus ille pratorum copia conspicitur abundare. Quærit ergo rex, cujus sint prata illa? Responsum accipit, quod Dominos plures haberent qui jubentur omnes, ante regem comparere. Convenit igitur eos, de venditione pratorum illorum. At ipsi responderunt, dicentes, se nolle prata sua vendere, cum auro et argento satis abundassent, nec habebant propter egestatem necesse, alicui, præcipuè transeunti, sua vel prata vel rura vendere. Quos cum audisset rex divitiis omnimodis abundare, ait rex magnificus et munificus: “Credo quòd non sic abundetis, quin non possitis ampliùs abundare. Nos prata vestra comparabimus, non secundum eorum æstimationem, sed juxta vestram. Nec erit ulla difficultas de pretio, licèt nulla sit propriatio in contrahendo.” Ipsi verò considerantes regis licèt piissimi potentiam, et quòd si vellet, parvo nutu posset eos obruisse, responderunt, se velle voluntati suæ obsecundare, si tot nùllia ipsis vellet numerare. Et nominaverunt tot millia, quot credebant regem nùllo modo, licèt prodigalissimus esset et inæstimabiliter abundaret, illis velle numerare, quia prata sua vendere non curabant.