Coenwulf of Mercia

Coenwulf of Mercia.
Coenwulf was King of Mercia, in Anglo-Saxon England, from December 796 until his death in 821. He ascended the throne five months after the death of Offa, one of the most powerful kings of early medieval England, when Offa's son, Ecgfrith, died after a brief reign. In the early years of Coenwulf's reign he had to deal with a revolt in Kent, which had been under Offa's control. After Eadberht Præn returned from exile in Francia to claim the Kentish throne, Coenwulf invaded and retook the kingdom. He probably lost control of the kingdom of East Anglia during the early part of his reign, as evidenced by an independent coinage appearing under King Eadwald, but Coenwulf's coinage reappeared in 805. Coenwulf was the last king of Mercia to exercise substantial dominance over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms; within a decade of his death, the rise of Wessex had begun under King Ecgberht, and Mercia never recovered its former position of power.