Penny - Coenwulf Groups III, London

Coenwulf came to power in 796 after the brief, violent reign of Ecgfrith — Offa's son, dead within five months — and spent much of his rule fighting to reassert Mercian dominance over Kent, East Anglia, and Northumbria. The London mint, operating under his authority, produced Group III pennies during a period when Mercian kings were also locked in a bitter dispute with Archbishop Wulfred of Canterbury over control of monastic lands and ecclesiastical appointments, a quarrel that dragged on unresolved until after Coenwulf's death in 821.

Coenwulf was the last king to use the title *Rex M* in full on coinage before Mercian power began its terminal decline under his successors.