Æthelheard's tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury was anything but stable. He fled his see in 796 following a Mercian-backed revolt that drove him from Kent entirely, returning only after Offa of Mercia's death and the subsequent political realignment under Coenwulf. This third issue falls within that turbulent window — struck either just before the flight or during the fragile restoration period, making its precise dating a matter of ongoing scholarly debate rather than settled chronology.
Æthelheard's tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury was anything but stable. He fled his see in 796 following a Mercian-backed revolt that drove him from Kent entirely, returning only after Offa of Mercia's death and the subsequent political realignment under Coenwulf. This third issue falls within that turbulent window — struck either just before the flight or during the fragile restoration period, making its precise dating a matter of ongoing scholarly debate rather than settled chronology.