THE BALLADS AND SONGS OF
YORKSHIRE.
THE DIRGE OF OFFA.
By the Rev. Mr. Ball.
This ballad is supposed to be written by Mordrid, chief of the bards, in the reign of Edwin, king of Northumberland, whose son Offa was slain in the battle of Hatfield Wood, near Doncaster, A.D. 633. It concludes with the words of the bard. Rapin says, on Hatfield Heath a bloody battle was fought between Ceadwalla, king of the Britons, and Penda, the Pagan king of Mercia, against Edwin, the first Christian king of Northumberland, in which Edwin and Offrido his eldest son were slain.
See my son, my Offa, dies!
He who could chase his father's foes!