Appendix iv

Edward the Confessor (1005-1066)

King of England (1042-1066). His nickname was Confessor because of his saintliness.

Was childless and promised the throne to both his brothers-in-law Harold and William

of Normandy.

Harold II (1022-1066)

King of England (1066).

Was killed at the battle with William of Normandy.

William I (1028-1087)

King of England (1066-1087) known as the Conqueror.

Built 78 castles, including the Tower of London and appointed Normans to powerful

positions, giving them large estates taken from Anglo-Saxon aristocracy. Had three

sons:

Robert (captured in future by his younger brother Henry and imprisoned for life)

William (died in a hunting accident) and

Henry (becoming English king Henry I)

William II (1057-1100)

King of England (1087-1100)

William II was a strong, capable king, who tamed the Welsh princes and controlled the

Scots in the north.

William died while out hunting in the New Forest, mysteriously shot by an arrow.

Henry I (1068-1135)

King of England (1100-1131)

Most important aim was to pass on both Normandy and England to his successor.

After the tragic death of his only son William married his daughter Matilda to great

noble in France Jeoffrey Plantagenet. Henry made his nobles swear allegiance to his

daughter Matilda, as their future queen, but after the kings death they reneged.

Stephen

King of England (1135-1154).

After the death of Henry I Stephen usurped the throne for himself. In 1139 Matilda and

her supporters invaded England and civil war began.

When Stephen died in 1154 Matilda’s son Henry was accepted as his heir and

succeeded him as King Henry II.

117

Henry II (1133-1189)

King of England 1154-1189.

Henry II established strong royal rule over his empire and empire and reformed the

operation of the law with the new jury system among another legal procedures.

Henry was opposed by church and his own sons Richard and John. They rebelled

against him with the support of their mother Eleanor.

Henry II died a broken man, disappointed and defeated by his sons and by the French

king.

Richard I (The Lionheart) (1157-1199)

King of England (1189-1199)

Richard I, who succeeded his father in 1189, has a glorious reputation as a warrior

king, and as the crusader savior of Christendom. He had spent no more than four or

five years in the country of which he was king.

Richard I was killed in France in 1199.

John (1167-1216)

King of England (1199-1216)

Angered the English Church by refusing the pope’s choice for Archbishop of

Canterbury, infuriated his barons by refusing their rights as royal advisers. He was

forced to sign Magna Carta in 1215 which, set out their rights and privileges. Died of a

fever in 1216 during the subsequent civil war.

Henry III (1207-1272)

King of England (1216-1272).

Son of King John. He assumed his power as king in 1227. Henry immediately

quarreled with his nobles over his refusal to accept their rights to act as his advisers.

Henry was captured and imprisoned by Simon de Montfort in Civil war of 1264-1265.

Edward I (1239-1307).

King of England (1272-1307).

Son of Henry III. Edward was the first strong king of England after over 80 years of

weak or ineffectual royal rule.

He conquered Wales in 1283 and in 1298 established English influence in Scotland

whose king became his vassal.

Edward I recognized Parliament as a necessary adjunct to his rule, and worked with its

members in his tax and legislative reforms.

118

Edward II (1284-1327)

King of England (1307-1327).

Son of Edward I.

The first English king of Wales. Edward II was uninterested in matters of government.

Edward enraged his barons by ruling through favorites. Edward II was forced to

abdicate in favour of his son who became Edward III.

Edward II was imprisoned in Berkeley Castle where he was murdered in 1327.

Edward III (1312-1377)

King of England (1327-1377).

Son of Edward II. He took positive steps to include barons in the processes of

government through Parliament.

The strong and well-organized royal systems were able to retain control in England

despite the catastrophe of the Black Death (1348-1350).

In 1346 he claimed the French throne and precipitated the Hundred Years’ war.

Edward, the Black Prince (1330-1376)

Prince of Wales (1343).

Son of Edward III. The Black Prince was called so because of the black armour he

wore – earned his military reputation at different battles. He was afterwards regarded

as a great chivalric hero.

In 1362 his father made him Prince of Acquataine, but he was a careless ruler,

incompetent with finance and returned Aquitaine to the king’s control in 1372. The

Black Prince died before his father in 1376.

Richard II (1367-1400)

King of England (1377-1399).

Son of Edward, the Black Prince. He had made himself extremely unpopular by his

choice of advisers and quarrels with nobles. In 1399 when Richard was busy trying to

establish royal authority again in Ireland Henry of Lancaster forced Richard to abdicate

and afterwards took his throne as King Henry IV.

Richard was imprisoned where he died from starvation in 1400.

Henry IV (1367-1413)

King of England (1399-1413).

Spent all his life establishing his royal authority. He suppressed numerous revolts and

plots with considerable force and cruelty. He was a sick man, suffering from leprosy.

119

He died at age of 45.

Henry V (1387-1422)

King of England (1413-1422).

Henry V was one of England’s great warrior monarchs. He invaded France in 1415.

Henry VI (1422-1471)

King of England (1422-1471).

Son of Henry V. He was only nine months old when he became king.

He was crowned both in London and Paris but never ruled in France.

Henry’s gentle character coupled with his mild, unwarlike, susceptible nature,

complete lack of interest in government and mental illness were the crucial factors to

rival claims to the English throne. Henry was exiled, twice deposed and twice

imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was eventually murdered there by Yorkist

agents in 1471.

Edward IV (1442-1483)

King of England (1461-1470; 1471-1483).

Son of Richard, Duke of York.

First king from the Plantagenet House of York. His resign was troubled by threats from

the deposed Lancasterian king Henry VI.

Suddenly died in 1483.

Richard III (1452-1489)

King of England (1483-1489).

Youngest son of Richard, Duke of York. In 1483 Richard III unsurped the throne from

his young nephew Edward V (king of England 1483) and afterwards murdered both

him and his brother. Richard made many powerful enemies. They combined with

Henry Tudor to defeat and kill the usurper in 1485.

TUDOR DYNASTY

Henry VII (1457-1509)

King of England (1485-1509).

He created a royal fortune which enabled him to do without parliament for much of his

reign. He avoided expensive wars, encouraged overseas trade and exploration and

exploited crown lands to the full. He had eight children.

Henry used his children to cement alliances with other countries. Henry VII

120

bequeathed a richer, more powerful throne than any England had known before to his

successor Henry VIII.

Henry VIII (1491-1547)

King of England (1509-1547).

Second son of Henry VII.

Became heir to the throne on the premature death of his brother Prince Arthur. He

married Arthur’s widow Catherine of Aragon in 1509. All his children by Catherine

except for a daughter, Mary, had been still-born or died in infancy. Henry divorced

Catherine and then was married five times.

Henry removed the church in England from the Pope’s jurisdiction. As his reign

progressed Henry grew more and more tyrannical and became the terror of his

ministers and his family.

Edward VI (1537-1553)

King of England (1547-1553).

Only son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour. He became king at the age of nine. During

his brief reign steps were taken to reform Church of England along Protestant lines.

Tragically, Edward contracted tuberculosis and died at the age of 15.

Mary I (1516-1558)

Queen of England (1553-1558).

Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.

On becoming queen Mary set above re-establishing England and Catholic country and

the persecution of the Protestants during her reign caused her to be dubbed “Bloody

Mary”.

Mary’s marriage to the Catholic Phillip of Spain was unpopular and caused violent

public demonstration.

Mary died in 1558. The day of her death was kept as a public celebration for many

years.

Elizabeth I (1533-1603)

Queen of England (1558-1603).

Daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn.

The last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. Elizabeth I has become one of the most famous

English monarchs. Under her the country saw a new flourishing of art and literature,

increasing of trade, defeating Spanish Armada in 1588.

She never married and after her death she bequeathed the throne to the Scottish James

VI.

121

James I of England and VI of Scotland (1567-1625)

King of Scotland (1567-1625) and England (1603-1625)

The only child of Mary Queen of Scots. He became king of Scotland as an infant and

took power personally in 1586. James followed the politics of friendship with England,

moderate government in Scotland.

Charles I (1600-1649)

King of England and Scotland (1625-1649).

Second son of King James I.

Charles’s disagreements with Parliament led to his ruling for 11 years without it. In

1649 Charles was tried for treason and executed and the country became a

commonwealth. Until Charles’s son was restored to the throne in 1660.

Interregnum (1649-1660)

meaning “between the reigns”. Term used to describe the years of the English Republic

created by the Parliament, between the abolition of the monarchy in England in 1649

and the restoration to the throne the king Charles II in 1680.

Charles II (1630-1683)

King of England (1660-1683).

Son of Charles I.

Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660. He was a great patron of the arts and his

reign was marked by the new Renaissance architecture and a revival of theatre, art and

literature.

But this was also a time of great social disasters, the plague and the Great fire of

London among them. On his death the throne passes to the brother, James II.

James II of England and VII of Scotland (1633-1701)

King of England and Scotland (1685-1688).

Second son of James I and IV.

He was determined to return his realm.

He was deposed and forced into exile with his wife and son. James died in France in

1701.

William III (1650-1707)

Joint monarch of England with his wife Queen Mary II (1689-1702).

He was invited by seven English peers to invade England. He was offered the throne

122

joining his wife Mary. (daughter of James II). They became England’s only dual

monarchy as William III and Mary II. Mary died in 1649. With the agreement of

Princess Anne, Mary’s sister, William remained king until his death in 1702.

Anne (1665-1714)

Queen of England (1702-1714)

Inherited the throne after the death of the joint monarchs Mary II and William III. The

most notable event of her reign was the Act of Union, which saw England and Scotland

united politically. After the premature death of her last surviving child in 1701 the

throne passed to electors of Hanover.

HANOVERIAN DYNASTY

George I (1660-1721)

King of England (1714-1727)

The first monarch of the Hanoverian dynasty.

He was not popular among his subjects.

George II (1683-1760)

King of England (1727-1760)

Son of George I. Britain’s importance vastly increased during George’s long reign and

by the time he died in 1760, he was ruler of an appreciable overseas empire. He was

succeeded by his son George III.

George III (1738-1820)

King of England (1760-1820)

The first Hanoverian monarch to be born and educated in England. He was very

religious and moral, interested in botany and farming. After the year 1810 he became

blind and mad and spend the rest of his life as a prisoner in Windsor Castle. The

country was ruled by his son, Prince of Wales.

George IV (1762-1830)

King of England (1821-1830)

Son of George III.

He was uninterested in his royal duties and preferred the pleasure of high society social

life. He was succeeded by his brother William IV.

123

William IV (1765-1837)

King of England (1830-1837)

William was delighted to become a king on the death of his brother George IV. In his

youth William had served in the Royal Navy and commanded ships. His two daughters

died in childhood and William’s heir was his niece Victoria.

Victoria (1819-1901)

Queen of England (1837-1901).

Married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Cotha whom she adored and was shattered by

his early death at the age of 42.

They had 9 children. They all married foreigners, what explained her nick-name

“Grandmother of Europe”. During her reign Britain made substantial social progress

with acts of control working hours and conditions in factories and mines, establish

education for all children, improve the position of women. Britain became the

dominant world power with India the “jewel of the crown”.

SAXE-COBURG GOTHA

Edward VII (1841-1910)

King of England (1901-1910).

Son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

He became a king after death of his mother and a royal ambassador for England able to

converse easily with other monarchs and their ministers.

VINSDOR

George V (1865-1936)

King of England (1911-1936).

Second son of Edward VII.

George V and his wife Mary became very popular and highly respected. George V was

the first English monarch to be crowned Emperor of India in Delhi, in 1911.

King George was a model royal leader of the nation during the World War I.

Edward VIII (1894-1972)

King of England (1936).

Eldest Son of George V and Queen Mary.

124

Edward rejected the elitist royal social life. He wanted to marry Mrs. Wallis Simpson

who was twice divorced and made her his queen. This move was strongly opposed by

the British and Commonwealth governments, the church and his family. Rather than

give her up, Edward abdicted in 1936. His brother took his place as George VI.

George VI (1855-1952)

King of England (1936-1952).

The King and Queen became the social leaders of Britain at World War II and

remained in London where Buckingham Palace was bombed several times in air raids.

George VI died suddenly in 1952 and his daughter Elizabeth II succeeded him.

Elizabeth II (1926 - )

Queen of England (1952 - ).

The half-century in which she ruled has been one of the enormous change for the

monarchy, but Elizabeth has remained a dutiful and well-informed queen. Elizabeth

married Lieutenant Phillip Mounthatten, a distant cousin in 1947. They have four

children.

125