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For the various rulers of the kingdoms within England prior to its formal unification, during the Heptarchy, see Bretwalda. For British monarchs since the Union of England and Scotland, see List of British monarchs. For monarchs that have reigned over the various kingdoms and other states that have existed in the British Isles throughout recorded history, see List of monarchs in the British Isles.
The Royal Arms of England, as introduced by King Richard the Lionheart in 1198, and before its later quarterings with other shields, additions of supporters and other embellishments.
The first person to assume the title King of the English was apparently Offa of Mercia, though his power did not survive him. In the 9th century the kings of Wessex, who conquered Kent and Sussex from Mercia in 825, became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England. The conquest of Northumbria, East Anglia and half of Mercia by the Danes left Alfred the Great of Wessex as the only surviving English king. He successfully resisted a series of Danish invasions and brought the remaining half of Mercia under the sovereignty of Wessex. The continuous list of English monarchs traditionally begins with Egbert of Wessex in 829. The English kingdom was not permanently unified until 927, under Athelstan. The Principality of Wales was incorporated into the Kingdom of England under the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 and, in 1301, Edward invested his eldest son, Edward of Caernarfon, as Prince of Wales. Since that time, with the exception of Edward III, the eldest sons of all English monarchs have borne this title. After the death of Elizabeth I of England in 1603, the kingdoms of England and Scotland were united under James I and VI. By royal proclamation James titled himself 'King of Great Britain'. England underwent political union with Scotland in 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Since that date the title King or Queen of England is incorrect, though has remained in usage to the present day. In 1801 Great Britain incorporated the Kingdom of Ireland which had been under English rule since Henry II.
House of MerciaAccording to some sources the first ruler to assume the title King of the English is said to have been Offa in 774, who had been King of Mercia since 757, but this claim is based on charters apparently forged in the 10th century.1 However, on some of his coins Offa describes himself as Of Rx A, believed to stand for Offa Rex Anglorum.2
House of WessexThe continuous list traditionally starts with Egbert, King of Wessex from 802, the first King of Wessex to have overlordship over much of England.3 He defeated the Mercians in 825 and became Bretwalda in 829. However, permanent unity was not achieved until 927, under Athelstan.
House of DenmarkEngland came under the rule of Danish kings following the reign of Ethelred the Unready. Some, though not all, of these were also kings of Denmark.
House of Wessex (restored)After Harthacanute, there was a brief Saxon Restoration between 1042 and 1066 under Edward the Confessor and Harold II. After the Battle of Hastings, a decisive point in British history, William of Normandy became king of England.
House of NormandyIn 1066, Duke William II of Normandy conquered England. The invading Normans and their descendants replaced the Anglo-Saxons as the ruling class of England. The nobility of England were part of a single French-speaking culture and many had lands on both sides of the channel. Early Norman kings of England were, as Dukes of Normandy, vassals to the King of France. They may not have necessarily considered England to be their most important holding (although it brought the title of King - an important status symbol). King Richard I (the Lionheart) is often thought to epitomise a medieval English King, but he spoke only French and spent more time in Aquitaine or on Crusade than in England. It was only after the Norman Conquest of 1066 that monarchs took regnal numbers in the French fashion, though the earlier custom of distinguishing monarchs by nicknames did not die out immediately.
House of PlantagenetStephen came to an agreement in November 1153, with the signing of the Treaty of Wallingford where Stephen recognised Henry, son of Matilda, as his heir to the throne in lieu of his own son. The early Plantagenets ruled many territories in France, and did not regard England as their primary home until after most of their French possessions were lost by King John. This long-lived dynasty is usually divided into three houses: the Angevins, the House of Lancaster, and the House of York. Angevins
House of LancasterThis house descended from Edward III's third surviving son, John of Gaunt.
House of YorkThe House of York was descended from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the fourth surviving son of Edward III.
House of Lancaster (restored)
House of York (restored)
House of TudorThe Tudors descended matrilineally from John Beaufort, one of the illegitimate children of 14th Century English Prince John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (third surviving son of Edward III of England), by Gaunt's long-term mistress Katherine Swynford. The descendants of an illegitimate child of English Royalty would normally have no claim on the throne, but the situation was complicated when Gaunt and Swynford eventually married in 1396 (25 years after John Beaufort's birth). In view of the marriage, the church retroactively declared the Beauforts legitimate via a papal bull the same year (also enshrined in an Act of Parliament in 1397). A subsequent proclamation by John of Gaunt's legitimate son, King Henry IV, also recognized the Beauforts' legitimacy, but declared them ineligible to ever inherit the throne. Nevertheless, the Beauforts remained closely allied with Gaunt's other descendants, the Royal House of Lancaster. John Beaufort's granddaughter Lady Margaret Beaufort, a considerable heiress, was married to Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond. Tudor was the son of Welsh courtier Owain Tewdr (anglicised to "Owen Tudor") and Katherine of Valois, widowed Queen Consort of the Lancastrian King Henry V. Edmund Tudor and his siblings were either illegitimate, or the product of a secret marriage, and owed their fortunes to the goodwill of their legitimate half-brother King Henry VI. When the House of Lancaster fell from power, the Tudors followed. With Henry VIII's break from the Roman Catholic Church, the monarch became the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Elizabeth I's title became the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
House of StuartFollowing the death of Elizabeth I in 1603 without issue, the Scottish king, James VI, succeeded to the English throne as James I in what became known as the Union of the Crowns. James was descended from the Tudors through his great-grandmother, Margaret Tudor, the eldest daughter of Henry VII. In 1604 he adopted the title King of Great Britain, although the two kingdoms remained separate.
CommonwealthThere was no reigning monarch between the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. Despite this, from 1653 the following individuals held power as Lords Protector, during the period known as the Protectorate.
House of Stuart (restored)Although the monarchy was restored in 1660, no stable settlement proved possible until the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when parliament finally asserted the right to choose whomsoever it pleased as monarch.
Acts of Union
The Acts of Union were a pair of Parliamentary Acts passed during 1706 and 1707 by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland to put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on July 22, 1706, following negotiation between commissioners representing the parliaments of the two countries. The Acts joined the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland (previously separate states, with separate legislatures but with the same monarch) into a single United Kingdom of Great Britain.81 The two countries had shared a monarch for about 100 years (since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne from his aunt, Queen Elizabeth I). Although described as a Union of Crowns, until 1707 there were in fact two separate Crowns resting on the same head. There had been three attempts in 1606, 1667, and 1689 to unite the two countries by Acts of Parliament, but it was not until the early 18th century that the idea had the will of both political establishments behind them, albeit for rather different reasons. TitlesThe standard title for all monarchs from Alfred the Great until the time of King John was Rex Anglorum (King of the English). In addition, many of the pre-Norman kings assumed extra titles, as follows:
In the Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with occasional use of Rex Anglie ("King of England"). Matilda styled herself Domina Anglorum ("Lady of the English"). From the time of King John onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of Rex Anglie, or Regina Anglie ("Queen of England") if female. In 1604 James I, who had inherited the English throne the previous year, adopted the title (now usually rendered in English rather than Latin) King of Great Britain. The English and Scottish parliaments, however, did not recognise this title until the Acts of Union of 1707 under Queen Anne (who was of course Queen of Great Britain rather than king).82 Notes
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