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[[File:Matthew Paris 02.jpg|thumb|Vitae duorum Offarum]]
The ''''' Vitae duorum Offarum''''' "The lives of the two Offas" is a literary history written in the mid-thirteenth century, apparently by the [[St Albans]] monk [[Matthew Paris]];<ref>Richard Vaugh, ''Matthew Paris'' (Cambridge, 1958), pp. 42-8</ref> however, the most recent editor and translator of the work rejects this attribution and argues for an earlier date, in the late twelfth century.<ref>M. Swanton, ''The Lives of Two Offas'' (Crediton, 2006), pp. xxx-xxxi</ref> The earliest editor, William Wats, argues that the texts are older than Matthew's day but were revised by him; he bases this view on stylistic elements, such as the inclusion in the first ''Vita'' of a quotation from [[Lucan]] (''Pharsalia'' I. 92–3) which also appears repeatedly in Matthew's ''[[Chronica maiora]]''.

==Account==
The text concerns two kings, [[Offa of Angel|King Offa of the Angles]], a fourth or fifth-century ancestor figure of the Mercians, and King [[Offa of Mercia]] (r. 757-796), through whose lives the text recounts the foundation of [[St Albans Cathedral|St Alban's Abbey]]: Offa of Angel made the vow to found a monastery, while several centuries later, his namesake Offa of Mercia executed this plan on discovering the relics of the British martyr king [[St Alban]] and built St Alban's Abbey. Although some historical elements are interwoven into the story, Matthew had little reliable information to go on and much of the narrative is therefore fictitious.

Of particular interest is that it features the oldest surviving account of the "Constance" tale-type.<ref>[[Margaret Schlauch]], ''Chaucer's Constance and Accused Queens'', New York: Gordian Press 1969 p 64</ref> The king of York tries to marry his daughter; when she refuses, she is abandoned in the woods, where Offa finds her, and he marries her, but later, when he is at war, through a forged letter, she is again abandoned in the woods with her children, and she, Offa, and the children are reunited many years later.<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' pp 23-4 New York Burt Franklin,1963</ref> This tale was particularly popular in [[chivalric romance]] such as ''[[The Man of Law's Tale]]'' and ''[[Emaré]]'' in England.<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p24-5 New York Burt Franklin,1963</ref> Twenty variants are known, including those in French, Latin, German, and Spanish.<ref>Margaret Schlauch, ''Chaucer's Constance and Accused Queens'', New York: Gordian Press 1969 p 69</ref>

It has been suggested that it is related to the story of Offa and his queen in ''[[Beowulf]]'', but ''Beowulf'' does not contain sufficient information concerning her to identify her with this tale type; Drida is described as coming to him over water because of her father, but that could mean that she was sent by him, not that she fled him.<ref>Margaret Schlauch, ''Chaucer's Constance and Accused Queens'', New York: Gordian Press 1969 p 67</ref>

The story contains many [[fairy tale]] motifs: the heroine forced to flee an incestuous marriage,<ref>Margaret Schlauch, ''Chaucer's Constance and Accused Queens'', New York: Gordian Press 1969 p 36</ref> such as ''[[The She-Bear]]'', ''[[Allerleirauh]]'', ''[[Donkeyskin]]'', and ''[[The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter]]'' (tale type [[Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index|ATU]] 510B, "Peau d'Asne");<ref>Aarne, Antti; Thompson, Stith. ''The types of the folktale: a classification and bibliography''. Folklore Fellows Communications FFC no. 184. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1961. pp. 177-178.</ref> a strange woman found by the king, who marries her, but who is then forced into exile with her children [[Calumniated Wife|owing to substituted letters]],<ref>Margaret Schlauch, ''Chaucer's Constance and Accused Queens'', New York: Gordian Press 1969 p 26</ref> such as ''[[The Girl Without Hands]]'' and ''[[The Armless Maiden]]''; or a fairy tale featuring both elements, as in ''[[Penta of the Chopped-off Hands]]'' (tale type ATU 706, "The Maiden Without Hands").<ref>Aarne, Antti; Thompson, Stith. ''The types of the folktale: a classification and bibliography''. Folklore Fellows Communications FFC no. 184. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1961. pp. 240–241.</ref>

==Manuscripts==
[[Image:Matthew Paris Offa horseback.jpg|350px|thumb|Depiction of Offa (wearing Crown) from Matthew Paris's tract on St. Alban]]
The text is preserved in two manuscripts:
*The ''Liber additamentorum'', [[British Library|BL]] [[Cotton library|Cotton]] MS [[List of manuscripts in the Cotton library#Nero|Nero]] D I, where it is accompanied by miniatures made both by Matthew Paris and by a fourteenth-century hand, and
*Add MS 62777 ([[British Library]], London), a copy of the former.

Previously, [[Matthew Paris]] had written another, brief account of Offa of Mercia in his Latin copy of ''Vie de Saint Auban'' "The Life of St Alban" (verse), preserved in Trinity College Dublin, MS 177, which is also embellished with miniatures portraying selected episodes.<ref>Matthew Paris, ''La Vie de seint Auban'', ed. A.H. Harden. Anglo-Norman Text Society 19. London, 1968.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Edition and translation==
*William Wats (ed.). "Vitae duorum Offarum sive Offanorum Merciorum regum, coenobii Sancti Albani fundatorum." In idem, ''Matthaei Paris Chronica Maior''. London, 1684 (first published 1640). 961-8 (Offa of Angeln), 969-88 (Offa of Mercia).
*[[Michael Swanton]] (ed.). ''The Lives of Two Offas: Vitae Offarum Duorum, Introduced, Translated and Edited''. Crediton: The Medieval Press, 2010.

Selections may be found in:
*[[R. W. Chambers]] and C. L. Wrenn (supplement). ''Beowulf: an Introduction''. 3d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959. 36-40, 229-35, 238-43.
*[[F. J. Furnivall]] and E. Brock (eds. and trs.). ''Originals and Analogues of Some of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.'' London, Chaucer Society, 1872. Part I, pp. 73–84. ''Vita Offae Primi'', the Life of Offa of Angel (suggested as analogue to the "[[Man of Law's Tale]]").

Portions of the text, especially those dealing with Quendrida ([[Cynethryth]]), are translated in:
*Fulk, Robert D. "The Name of Offa's Queen: ''Beowulf'' 1931–2." ''[[Anglia: Zeitschrift für englische Philologie]]'' 122.4 (2004): 614–39, appendix at 631-9.

==Secondary literature==
{{refbegin}}
*Rickert, Edith. "The Old English Offa Saga". In: ''[[Modern Philology]]'' 2 (1904-5): 29-77 (part 1), 321-76 (part 2). [https://archive.org/details/modernphilology02chicuoft PDF available from Internet Archive]
*Grüner, Hans. ''Matthei Parisiensis Vitae duorum Offarum (saec. XIII med.) in ihrer Manuskript und Textgeschichte.'' Munich, 1907.
* STEFANOVIĆ., SVET. "Ein Beitrag. zur Angelsächsischen Offa-Sage" In: ''Anglia'' 35, no. Jahresband (1912): 483-525. https://doi.org/10.1515/angl.1912.1912.35.483
*Grüner, Hans. ''Die Riganus-Schlacht in den Vitae duorum Offarum des Mathaeus Parisiensis (saec. XIII): ein Beitrag zur Bibel- und Legendenkunde des Mittelalters wie zur Geschichte der altenglichen Heldensage''. Hamburg, 1914.
*Luard, Henry Richard (ed.). ''Matthei Parisiensis, monachi Sancti Albani, Chronica Majora''. Rerum britannicarum medii aevi scriptores 57. 7 vols: vol 6. London, 1872-1883. pp. 1–8.
*Vaughan, R. ''Matthew Paris''. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought 6. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958.
*Vaughan, R. ''Chronicles of Matthew Paris: Monastic Life in the Thirteenth Century''. Gloucester et al., 1986.
*[[Rigg, A. G.]] ''A History of Anglo-Latin Literature. 1066-1422.'' Cambridge, 1992. p. 198.
*Shippey, Tom. "Wicked Queens and Cousin Strategies in ''Beowulf'' and Elsewhere." ''Heroic Age'' 5 (2001). [http://www.heroicage.org/issues/5/Shippey1.html Available online]
*Hahn, C. "The Limits of Text and Image? Matthew Paris's final project, the ''Vitae duorum Offarum'', as a historical romance". In: ''Excavating the Medieval Image. Manuscripts, artists, audiences. Essays In Honor Of Sandra Hindman'', ed. David S. Areford and Nina A. Rowe. Aldershot, 2004. 37-58. {{ISBN|978-0-7546-3143-9}}.
{{refend}}

==External links==
*British Library: images from the manuscript:
**[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/r/011cotnerd00001u00002000.html f. 2r (Riganus trying to persuade King Waermund to abdicate)]
**[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/t/011cotnerd00001u00003000.html f. 3r (Preparation of Offa for battle)]
**[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/o/011cotnerd00001u00003v00.html f. 3v (Offa and his men in battle)]
**[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/t/011cotnerd00001u00004v00.html f. 4v (The burial and mourning of the dead)]
**[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/k/011cotnerd00001u00005v00.html f. 5v (King Offa succeeds King Waermund, 14th century)]
**[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/m/011cotnerd00001u00006000.html f. 6r King Offa meets his bride in the woods and marries her]
**[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/a/011cotnerd00001u00007000.html f. 7r (battle scene, 14th century)]
**[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/m/011cotnerd00001u00008000.html f. 8r]
**[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/m/011cotnerd00001u00018000.html f. 18r]
**[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/t/011cotnerd00001u00022000.html f. 22r (The shrine of St. Alban carried in procession)]
**[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/k/011cotnerd00001u00025000.html f. 25r (King Offa as founder of St Albans Abbey)]
**[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/o/011cotnerd00001u00023v00.html f. 32v (Offa directing the construction of St. Albans Abbey)]

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[[Category:History of St Albans]]
[[Category:Medieval historical texts in Latin]]
[[Category:Illuminated histories]]
[[Category:Literary illuminated manuscripts]]
[[Category:13th-century illuminated manuscripts]]
[[Category:13th-century books in Latin]]

Vitae duorum Offarum - Revision history

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