Offa of Angel

Offa was a legendary king of the Angles.

Versions of his heroic act reported by the Danish historians Saxo Grammaticus and Sven Aagesen, by an English biography of a monk of St. Albans ( Vitae duorum Offarum to 1200) and in the Old English poem Widsith.

In the Danish Sage Offa is mute until his 30th birthday. In response to the unlawful claim to the throne of the Saxon King against his aging and blind father Offa acquired the language again, kills alone with the magic sword Skræp son and a warrior of the challenger on an island in the Eider and so saves the Danish independence.

The English version is called Offa 's son Wermunds, King of the West fishing in Warwick, UK. Offa is blind until the age of seven years, dumb healed until the age of 30 by a miracle, he defends the rule against two usurpers.

The Widsith (v. 35-44 ) mentioned as erinnerswerte prowess of the young ruler Offa Angel in its competition with the Dane Alewih he had against the Myrgingas alone with the sword a great kingdom on Fifeldor ( traditionally identified with the Eider ) fought for and so the boundary line between fishing and Suevi ( Swaefe ) set.

After an Anglo-Saxon ( Mercian ) Chronicle he was regarded as the ancestor of King Offa of Mercia. Offa - - Angeltheow - There is a genealogy Waermund Eomer listed.

In an unclear context a Offa is also in the Anglo-Saxon epic of Beowulf mentioned (v. 1944-1962 ); it is not quite sure whether this same mythical figure was meant.

Later reception

In the wake of growing nationalism from the middle of the 19th century Offa was called in Danish Uffe out Spage hyped up to a kind of Danish national hero who had saved his country against an overpowering enemy from the south (namely Germany ).

The Danish school in Tonning founded in 1935, is named after the legendary king's son Uffe - Skolen.