Offa was King of Essex. D. H. Kirby dates his reign as 705 to 709. Simon Keynes dates it c.694 to 709, when he went on a pilgrimage to Rome, where he died as a monk, along with Cenred, King of Mercia. He may have been co-king with Swæfred. He was the son of Sighere, who had died in about 690.