The possession of London, now a Mercian city, gave Offa an interest in continental affairs; and the growth of trade is marked by the fact that when a quarrel arose between them, they formally closed the ports of their respective kingdoms against each other's subjects.
Nevertheless, English kingship still remained a mere military office, and consolidation, in our modern sense, was clearly impossible.

Local jealousies divided all the little kingdoms and their component principalities; and any real subordination was impracticable amongst a purely agricultural and warlike people, with no regular army, and governed only by their own anarchic desires.

Like the Afghans of the present time, the early English were incapable of union, except in a temporary way under the strong hand of a single warlike leader against a common foe.

As soon as that was removed, they fell asunder at once into their original separateness.

Hence the chaotic nature of our early annals, in which it is impossible to discover any real order underlying the perpetual flux of states and princes.
A single story from the Chronicle will sufficiently illustrate the type of men whose actions make up the history of these predatory times.