This list of English monarchs begins with Æthelstan and ends with Anne. For monarchs after Queen Anne see List of British monarchs.
Wessex was the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the ninth century, and Alfred the Great adopted the title King of the Anglo-Saxons. By the early tenth century his son Edward the Elder controlled southern England, but Northumbria was independent until it was conquered by Æthelstan in 927, and he is regarded by modern historians as the first king of England.
The Principality of Wales was incorporated into the Kingdom of England under the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, and in 1301 Edward I invested his eldest son, the future Edward II, 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 without issue, in 1603, the crowns of England and Scotland were joined in personal union under James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England. By royal proclamation James titled himself "King of Great Britain", but no such kingdom was created until 1707, when England underwent legislative union with Scotland to form the new United Kingdom of Great Britain, during the reign of Queen Anne.
Read more about List Of English Monarchs: House of Wessex, House of Knýtlinga, House of Wessex (restored, First Time), House of Knýtlinga (restored), House of Wessex (restored, Second Time), House of Normandy, House of Blois, House of Plantagenet, House of Tudor, House of Stuart, Acts of Union, Timeline of English Monarchs, Titles
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, english and/or monarchs:
“A mans interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“Sheathey call him Scholar Jack
Went down the list of the dead.
Officers, seamen, gunners, marines,
The crews of the gig and yawl,
The bearded man and the lad in his teens,
Carpenters, coal-passersall.”
—Joseph I. C. Clarke (18461925)
“French rhetorical models are too narrow for the English tradition. Most pernicious of French imports is the notion that there is no person behind a text. Is there anything more affected, aggressive, and relentlessly concrete than a Parisan intellectual behind his/her turgid text? The Parisian is a provincial when he pretends to speak for the universe.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention!
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!”
—William Shakespeare (15641616)