"Ælfthryth, wife of Edgar Ælfthryth ( – 1000 or 1001, also Alfrida, Elfrida or Elfthryth) was an English queen, the second or third wife of King Edgar of England. Ælfthryth was the first king's wife known to have been crowned and anointed as Queen of the Kingdom of England. Mother of King Æthelred the Unready, she was a powerful political figure. She was possibly linked to the murder of her stepson King Edward the Martyr and appeared as a stereotypical bad queen and evil stepmother in many medieval histories. Ælfthryth was the daughter of Ealdorman Ordgar. Her mother was a"
"the depositions of kings Sigeberht of Wessex and Alhred of Northumbria respectively. The witan's powers are illustrated by the following event. In the year 1013 King Æthelred II (aka Athelred the Unready) fled the country from Sweyn Forkbeard, who then had the witan proclaim him king. Within a few weeks, however, Sweyn died and Æthelred was called back to England by the witan. According to the ""Anglo-Saxon Chronicle"", the witan would only receive him back under the condition that he promise to rule better than he had. Æthelred did so, and was reinstated as King of England. His nickname of"
"earlier kings of England Eadwig, Edgar the Peaceful and Edward the Martyr had all come to the throne at a similar age, while Æthelred the Unready had been significantly younger at his accession. However, the avaricious ambitions that had been aroused across north-western Europe by the Confessor's lack of an heir prior to 1057, and by the king's failure thereafter to prepare the way for Edgar to succeed him, removed any prospect of a peaceful hereditary succession. War was clearly inevitable and Edgar was in no position to fight it, while he was without powerful adult relatives to champion his"
"Alfred Aetheling Ælfred Æþeling (English: ""Alfred the Noble"") ( 1005–1036) was one of the eight sons of the English king Æthelred the Unready. He and his brother Edward the Confessor were sons of Æthelred's second wife Emma of Normandy. King Canute became their stepfather when he married Æthelred's widow. Alfred and his brother were caught up in the power struggles at the start and end of Canute's reign. In 1013, during the siege of London by the Danes, Æthelred and his family took refuge in Normandy. Æthelred regained the throne in 1014 and died in 1016. England was conquered by"
"William II of England William II (Old Norman: ""Williame""; – 2 August 1100), the third son of William the Conqueror, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales. William is commonly known as William Rufus (""Rufus"" being Latin for ""the Red""), perhaps because of his ruddy appearance or, more likely, due to having red hair as a child that grew out in later life. William was a figure of complex temperament, capable of both bellicosity and flamboyance. He did not marry, nor did"
"the 'Unræd' or 'Unready' means ill-advised, indicating that contemporaries regarded those who sat in the witan as in part responsible for the failure of his reign. Though in general the witan were recognized as the king's closest advisors and policy-makers, various witan also operated in other capacities; there are mentions of ""þeodwitan"", 'people's witan', ""Angolcynnes witan"", 'England's witan', and an Anglo-Saxon and Archbishop of York, Wulfstan II, wrote that ""it is incumbent on bishops, that venerable witan always travel with them, and dwell with them, at least of the priesthood; and that they may consult with them .. and who"
"Prince Alfred, of whom nine out of ten were killed. Alfred Aetheling Ælfred Æþeling (English: ""Alfred the Noble"") ( 1005–1036) was one of the eight sons of the English king Æthelred the Unready. He and his brother Edward the Confessor were sons of Æthelred's second wife Emma of Normandy. King Canute became their stepfather when he married Æthelred's widow. Alfred and his brother were caught up in the power struggles at the start and end of Canute's reign. In 1013, during the siege of London by the Danes, Æthelred and his family took refuge in Normandy. Æthelred regained the throne"
"Ivar the Boneless Ivar the Boneless (; ) (also known as Ivar Ragnarsson) was a Viking leader and a commander who invaded what is now England. According to The ""Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok"", he was the son of Ragnar Loðbrok and Aslaug. His brothers included Björn Ironside, Halfdan Ragnarsson, Hvitserk, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye and Ubba. The origin of the nickname is not certain. Several of the sagas describe him as lacking bones, while a passage in Ragnarssona þáttr (Also known as the tale of Ragnar's sons) suggest it refers to male impotence with Ivar's ""Bonelessness"" being merely figurative. According to the"
"as the king's chief legal draftsman on into the reign of the Danish king Cnut the Great. It is both remarkable and puzzling that Wulfstan was able to play so central a role in politics under both Æthelred's and Cnut's reigns, especially as it was under Æthelred's reign that Wulfstan, in his ""Sermo Lupi"", so vehemently decried the depredations of the Danish and Norwegian Vikings. King Æthelred II — nicknamed Æthelred 'The Unready' - ruled England from 978-1016. For virtually his entire reign, England was the object of successive Viking raids. Between the period of 980-1016, few areas of southern"
"of the name ""unlikely"". Attribution: Edward the Black Prince Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and thus the heir to the English throne. He died before his father and so never became king. His son, Richard II, would succeed to the throne instead. Edward nevertheless still earned distinction as one of the most successful English commanders during the Hundred Years' War, being regarded by his contemporaries as a model of chivalry and one of the greatest knights of his"
"Eadwig Eadwig, also spelled Edwy (died 1 October 959), sometimes called the All-Fair, was King of England from 955 until his premature death. The elder son of King Edmund I and his Queen Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, Eadwig became King in 955 aged 15 following the death of his uncle Eadred. Eadwig's short reign was tarnished by disputes with nobles and men of the church, including Archbishops Dunstan and Oda. He died in 959, having ruled less than four years. He was buried in the capital Winchester. His brother Edgar the Peaceful succeeded him. According to the earliest life of St"
"his stay under William's protection it is claimed, by the Normans, that Harold swore ""a solemn oath"" of loyalty to William. Harald Hardrada (""The Ruthless"") of Norway also had a claim on England, through Cnut and his successors. He had a further claim based on a pact between Harthacnut, King of Denmark (Cnut's son) and Magnus, King of Norway. Tostig, Harold's estranged brother, was the first to move; according to the medieval historian Orderic Vitalis, he travelled to Normandy to enlist the help of William, Duke of Normandy, later to be known as William the Conqueror. William was not ready"
"made upon which Ivar's body was] burned... Thereupon, [Vilhjalm proceeded with the landing invasion and achieved] the victory."" Ivar the Boneless Ivar the Boneless (; ) (also known as Ivar Ragnarsson) was a Viking leader and a commander who invaded what is now England. According to The ""Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok"", he was the son of Ragnar Loðbrok and Aslaug. His brothers included Björn Ironside, Halfdan Ragnarsson, Hvitserk, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye and Ubba. The origin of the nickname is not certain. Several of the sagas describe him as lacking bones, while a passage in Ragnarssona þáttr (Also known as the tale"
"1070 Edward the Exile's daughter, Margaret, became Queen consort to Malcolm III of Scotland. Through her and her descendants, Edmund is the direct ancestor of almost every subsequent Scottish monarch, every English monarch from Henry II onward, and every monarch of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom, down to the present day. Edmund Ironside Edmund Ironside (c.990 – 30 November 1016; , ; sometimes also known as Edmund II) was King of England from 23 April to 30 November 1016. He was the son of King Æthelred the Unready and his first wife, Ælfgifu of York. Edmund's reign was"
"off and of which, as the Prime Minister might say, we know nothing. [Interruption.] The noble Lady says that that very harmless allusion is—"" and is cut off after Viscountess Astor screams ""Rude"". Churchill retorts, saying, ""She must very recently have been receiving her finishing course in manners. King Ethelred the Unready – by Shakespeare Uses the metaphor of the old English King who was the successor to the prolific King Alfred; his inability to live up to his predecessor represents how the Allies did not succeed the victors of the Great War well and made terrible decisions. The passage:"
"Edward VI of England Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, and England's first monarch to be raised as a Protestant. During his reign, the realm was governed by a regency council because he never reached his majority. The council was first led by his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1547–1549), and then by John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick (1550–1553), from"
"surviving sources; Æthelstan had no biographer, and the ""Chronicle"" for his reign is scanty. In his own day he was 'the roof-tree of the honour of the western world'"". Æthelstan Æthelstan or Athelstan (; or ""Æðelstān""; meaning ""noble stone""; 894 – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to 939 when he died. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Modern historians regard him as the first King of England and one of the greatest Anglo-Saxon kings. He never married and"
"Æthelstan Æthelstan or Athelstan (; or ""Æðelstān""; meaning ""noble stone""; 894 – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to 939 when he died. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Modern historians regard him as the first King of England and one of the greatest Anglo-Saxon kings. He never married and had no children. He was succeeded by his half-brother, Edmund. When Edward died in July 924, Æthelstan was accepted by the Mercians as king. His half-brother Ælfweard may have"
"Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry assumed the throne when he was only nine in the middle of the First Barons' War. Cardinal Guala declared the war against the rebel barons to be a religious crusade and Henry's forces, led by William Marshal, defeated the rebels at the battles of Lincoln and Sandwich in 1217. Henry promised to abide by the"
"contexts the term ""Anglo-Scandinavian"" is often used for Scandinavian culture in England. Two years after his coronation, Edgar died while still only in his early thirties. Some magnates supported the succession of his younger son, Æthelred, but his elder half-brother, Edward was elected, aged about twelve. His reign was marked by disorder, and three years later, in 978, he was assassinated by some of his half-brother's retainers. Æthelred succeeded, and although he reigned for thirty-eight years, one of the longest reigns in English history, he earned the name ""Æthelred the Unready"", as he proved to be one of England's most"
"marriage. The fact that he never accepted any of these proposals nor had any relations with women may show that he either had no desire for women, or he may have taken a vow of chastity or celibacy. The idea of his having taken a religious vow, however, is severely handicapped by his evident disdain for the Church. William II of England William II (Old Norman: ""Williame""; – 2 August 1100), the third son of William the Conqueror, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending"
"English monarch to also have been crowned King of France (as Henry II), in 1431. His early reign, when several people were ruling for him, saw the pinnacle of English power in France, but subsequent military, diplomatic, and economic problems had seriously endangered the English cause by the time Henry was declared fit to rule in 1437. He found his realm in a difficult position, faced with setbacks in France and divisions among the nobility at home. Unlike his father, Henry is described as timid, shy, passive, well-intentioned, and averse to warfare and violence; he was also at times mentally"
"Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England from 1509 until his death. Henry was the second Tudor monarch, succeeding his father, Henry VII. Henry is best known for his six marriages, in particular his efforts to have his first marriage, to Catherine of Aragon, annulled. His disagreement with the Pope on the question of such an annulment led Henry to initiate the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority. He appointed himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England and dissolved convents and monasteries, for which"
"Henry VII of England Henry VII (; 28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 to his death on 21 April 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry attained the throne when his forces defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. He was the last king of England to win his throne on the field of battle. He cemented his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York,"
"in the royal palace. Entering Parliament with his sword borne upright before him, he made for the empty throne and placed his hand upon it, as if to occupy it. He may have expected the assembled peers to acclaim him as king, as they had acclaimed Henry Bolingbroke in 1399. Instead, there was silence. Thomas Bourchier, the Archbishop of Canterbury, asked whether he wished to see the king. York replied, ""I know of no person in this realm the which oweth not to wait on me, rather than I of him."" This high-handed reply did not impress the Lords. The"
"Henry V of England Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his early death in 1422. He was the second English monarch of the House of Lancaster. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against France, most notably in his famous victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, made England one of the strongest military powers in Europe. Immortalised in the plays of Shakespeare, Henry is known and celebrated as one of the great warrior kings of medieval"
"Edgar the Peaceful Edgar (, ; 8 July 975), known as the Peaceful or the Peaceable, was King of England from 959 until his death. He was the younger son of Edmund I and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, and came to the throne as a teenager, following the death of his older brother Eadwig. As king, Edgar further consolidated the political unity achieved by his predecessors, with his reign being noted for its relative stability. His most trusted advisor was Dunstan, whom he recalled from exile and made Archbishop of Canterbury. The pinnacle of Edgar's reign was his coronation at Bath"
"Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January 1936 until his abdication on 11 December the same year, after which he became the Duke of Windsor. Edward was the eldest son of King George V and Queen Mary. He was named Prince of Wales on his sixteenth birthday, nine weeks after his father succeeded as king. As a young man, he served in the British Army during the First World"
"Stephen, King of England Stephen ( – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 1135 to his death, as well as Count of Boulogne from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 until 1144. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda. He was succeeded by Matilda's son, Henry II, the first of the Angevin kings. Stephen was born in the County of Blois in central France; his father, Count Stephen-Henry, died while Stephen was still young, and he was"
"and makes it probable that the Guy-legend, as we have it, has passed through monastic hands. Tradition seems to be at fault in putting Guy's adventures anachronistically in the reign of Athelstan; the Anlaf of the story is probably Olaf Tryggvason, who, with Sweyn I of Denmark, harried the southern counties of England in 993 and pitched his winter quarters in Southampton; this means the King of England at the time was Æthelred ""Unready"" II. Winchester was saved, however, not by the valour of an English champion, but by the payment of money. This Olaf was not unnaturally confused with"
"Henry I of England Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. Henry was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in 1087, Henry's elder brothers Robert Curthose and William Rufus inherited Normandy and England, respectively, but Henry was left landless. Henry purchased the County of Cotentin in western Normandy from Robert, but William and Robert deposed him in 1091. Henry gradually rebuilt his power base in the Cotentin and allied himself"
"Edward III of England Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death; he is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after the disastrous and unorthodox reign of his father, Edward II. Edward III transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. His long reign of 50 years was the second longest in medieval England (after that of his great-grandfather Henry III) and saw vital developments in legislation and government, in particular the evolution of"
"Henry the Young King Henry the Young King (28 February 1155 – 11 June 1183), was the eldest surviving son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Beginning in 1170, he was titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine. Henry the Young King was the only King of England since the Norman Conquest to be crowned during his father's reign, but spent his reign frustrated by his father's refusal to grant him meaningful autonomous power. He died aged 28, six years before his father, leaving his brother Richard to become the next king."