79-644: The Pale of Calais was a territory in northern France ruled by the monarchs of England from 1347 to 1558. The area, which centred on Calais , was taken following the Battle of Crécy in 1346 and the subsequent Siege of Calais , and was confirmed at the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360, in the reign of Edward III of England . It became an important economic centre for England in Europe's textile trade centered in Flanders . The Pale, which
158-523: A coup d'etat had himself crowned instead of Matilda. The period which followed is known as The Anarchy , as parties supporting each side fought in open warfare both in Britain and on the continent for the better part of two decades. Matilda was declared heir presumptive by her father, Henry I, after the death of her brother on the White Ship , and acknowledged as such by the barons. Upon Henry I's death,
237-478: A descendant of Edward III's second son, Lionel of Antwerp ). The House of York claimed the right to the throne through Edward III's second surviving son, Lionel of Antwerp , but it inherited its name from Edward's fourth surviving son, Edmund of Langley , first Duke of York . The Wars of the Roses (1455–1485) saw the throne pass back and forth between the rival houses of Lancaster and York. The Tudors descended in
316-608: A detachment from the Frankish central authority on Charlemagne's death. The new emperor Louis the Pious reacted by removing him from his capacity, which stirred the Basques into rebellion. The king in turn sent his troops to the territory, obtaining their submission in two campaigns and killing the duke, while his family crossed the Pyrenees and continued to foment risings against Frankish power. In 824,
395-577: A distraught Mary, lying on her death bed, graphically confided to her family her feelings: "When I am dead and opened, you shall find 'Calais' lying in my heart". Subsequently, the English wool market adjusted and the English textile trade moved to the Habsburg Netherlands . During English governance, the weavers of the Pale maintained their output, which industry was a distinctive mark of Flemish culture. At
474-420: A few different kings thought to have controlled enough Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to be deemed the first king of England. For example, Offa of Mercia and Egbert of Wessex are sometimes described as kings of England by popular writers, but it is no longer the majority view of historians that their wide dominions are part of a process leading to a unified England. Historian Simon Keynes states, for example, that "Offa
553-521: A monarch for more than a hundred years, since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland inherited the English and Irish thrones from his first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I . The standard title for all monarchs from Æthelstan 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
632-487: A month, "King Louis" controlled more than half of the country and enjoyed the support of two-thirds of the barons. However, he suffered military defeat at the hands of the English fleet. By signing the Treaty of Lambeth in September 1217, Louis gained 10,000 marks and agreed he had never been the legitimate king of England. "King Louis" remains one of the least known kings to have ruled over a substantial part of England. It
711-592: A more general geographical feature. Under Augustus ' Roman rule, from 27 BCE the province of Aquitania was further stretched to the north to the river Loire , thus including proper Gaul tribes along with old Aquitani south of the Garonne (cf. Novempopulania and Gascony ) within the same region. In 392, the Roman imperial provinces were restructured as Aquitania Prima (north-east), Aquitania Secunda (centre) and Aquitania Tertia , better known as Novempopulania in
790-777: A not preponderant but clearly significant Basque presence in the former too. Recorded evidence points to their deployment across Aquitaine in a military capacity as a mainstay of the Duke's forces. 'Romans' are cited as living in the cities of Aquitaine, as opposed to the Franks (mid 8th century). After the 843 Treaty of Verdun , the defeat of Pepin II and the death of Charles the Bald , the Kingdom of Aquitaine (subsumed in West Francia ) ceased to have any relevance and
869-489: 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 Treaty of Union agreed on 22 July 1706. The acts joined the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland (previously separate sovereign states , with separate legislatures but with the same monarch ) into the Kingdom of Great Britain . England, Scotland, and Ireland had shared
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#1732848519369948-537: Is a historical region of Southwestern France and a former administrative region . Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine . It is situated in the southwest corner of metropolitan France , along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain ; for most of its written history Bordeaux has been a vital port and administrative centre. It
1027-577: Is composed of the five departments of Dordogne , Lot-et-Garonne , Pyrénées-Atlantiques , Landes and Gironde . Gallia Aquitania was established by the Romans in ancient times and in the Middle Ages , Aquitaine was a kingdom and a duchy, whose boundaries fluctuated considerably. There are traces of human settlement by prehistoric peoples, especially in the Périgord , but the earliest attested inhabitants in
1106-543: Is from the time of Henry III, after the loss of most of the family's continental possessions, that the Plantagenet kings became more English in nature. The Houses of Lancaster and York are cadet branches of the House of Plantagenet. This house descended from Edward III's third surviving son, John of Gaunt . Henry IV seized power from Richard II (and also displaced the next in line to the throne, Edmund Mortimer (then aged 7),
1185-632: Is that when Edward died, Ælfweard was declared king in Wessex and Æthelstan in Mercia. England came under the control of Sweyn Forkbeard , a Danish king , after an invasion in 1013, during which Æthelred abandoned the throne and went into exile in Normandy . Following the death of Sweyn Forkbeard, Æthelred the Unready returned from exile and was again proclaimed king. His son succeeded him after being chosen king by
1264-573: The 2nd Battle of Roncevaux took place, in which counts Aeblus and Aznar , Frankish vassals from the Duchy of Vasconia sent by the new King of Aquitaine, Pepin, were captured by the joint forces of Iñigo Arista and the Banu Qasi . Before Pepin's death, emperor Louis had appointed a new king in 832, his son Charles the Bald , while the Aquitanian lords elected Pepin II as king. This struggle for control of
1343-772: The Calais constituency . During the reign of Mary I of England , the Pale was unexpectedly retaken by the French following a siege in 1558 during their campaigns against the Spaniards (whose king was also married to queen Mary) in the County of Flanders . Subsequently, the English textile trade abandoned Calais and moved to the Habsburg Netherlands . The pale is a "jurisdiction, area" (see 'pale' , English: Etymology 2.6. on Wiktionary). English "Cales" (now supplanted by French Calais ) derives from Caleti , an ancient Celtic people who lived along
1422-550: The Isle of Thanet , off the north Kent coast, on 21 May 1216, and marched more or less unopposed to London, where the streets were lined with cheering crowds. At a grand ceremony in St. Paul's Cathedral, on 2 June 1216, in the presence of numerous English clergy and nobles, the Mayor of London and Alexander II of Scotland, Prince Louis was proclaimed King Louis of England (though not crowned). In less than
1501-645: The Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great , who initially ruled Wessex , one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself king of the Anglo-Saxons from about 886, and while he was not the first king to claim to rule all of the English , his rule represents the start of the first unbroken line of kings to rule the whole of England, the House of Wessex . Arguments are made for
1580-619: The Norman conquest of England . After the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, William the Conqueror made permanent the recent removal of the capital from Winchester to London . Following the death of Harold Godwinson at Hastings, the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot elected as king Edgar Ætheling , the son of Edward the Exile and grandson of Edmund Ironside. The young monarch was unable to resist
1659-401: The Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with occasional use of Rex Angliae ("King of England"). The Empress 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 or Regina Angliae . In 1604 James I , who had inherited the English throne the previous year, adopted
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#17328485193691738-677: The Poitevin-Saintongeais dialect of French. In 2005, 78,000 children were learning Occitan as a second language in state schools and 2,000 were enrolled in Occitan-medium private schools. Basque speakers number about 73,000, concentrated in the far south of the region: Bordeaux is the largest city in Aquitaine. It is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department . It is
1817-451: The Strait of Dover afforded convenient garrison and supply by sea. However, the lack of natural inland defences necessitated the construction and maintenance of military fortifications, at some expense. A critical factor in the stability of English government there over the centuries was the rivalry of France and Burgundy , both of which coveted the strategic position of the city; each left it to
1896-543: The 13th century until the French Revolution , Aquitaine was usually known as Guyenne . Aquitaine consists of 3,150,890 inhabitants, equivalent to 6% of the total French population. The region of Aquitaine forms the 6th most populated region in France. French is the official language of the region. Many residents also have some knowledge of Basque , of a variety of Occitan ( Gascon , Limousin , or Languedocien ), or of
1975-720: The English rather than to concede it to each other. Eventually, political strategies shifted at the division of Burgundian territory in the Low Countries between France and Spain and, when Henry VIII suffered setbacks in the Sieges of Boulogne , the approach to Calais opened to the south. Then in 1550, the Crown, in a crisis of royal succession, withdrew from Boulogne . The Pale of Calais remained part of England until unexpectedly lost by Mary I to France in 1558. After secret preparations, 30,000 French troops, led by Francis, Duke of Guise , took
2054-639: The Frankish Charles Martel in exchange for help against the advancing Arab forces. Basque-Aquitanian self-rule temporarily came to a halt, definitely in 768 after the assassination of Waifer . In 781, Charlemagne decided to proclaim his son Louis King of Aquitaine within the Carolingian Empire , ruling over a realm comprising the Duchy of Aquitaine and the Duchy of Vasconia . He suppressed various Basque ( Gascon ) uprisings, even venturing into
2133-555: The French were continually retaking small pieces of the territory, particularly land in the southwest. The Pale of Calais is roughly within the modern French communes of Andres , Ardres , Balinghem , Bonningues-lès-Calais , Calais , Campagne-lès-Guines , Coquelles , Coulogne , Fréthun , Guemps , Guînes , Les Attaques , Hames-Boucres , Hervelinghen , Marck , Nielles-lès-Calais , Nouvelle-Église , Offekerque , Oye-Plage , Peuplingues , Pihen-lès-Guînes , Sangatte , Saint-Pierre , Saint-Tricat , and Vieille-Église . Calais
2212-413: The Garonne. A united Basque-Aquitanian realm reached its heyday under Odo the Great 's rule. In 721, the Aquitanian duke fended Umayyad troops ( Sarracens ) off at Toulouse , but in 732 (or 733, according to Roger Collins ), an Umayyad expedition commanded by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi defeated Odo next to Bordeaux, and went on to loot its way up to Poitiers . Odo was required to pledge allegiance to
2291-710: The House of Lancaster fell from power, the Tudors followed. By the late 15th century, the Tudors were the last hope for the Lancaster supporters. Edmund Tudor's son became king as Henry VII after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, winning the Wars of the Roses. King Henry VII married Elizabeth of York , daughter of Edward IV, thereby uniting the Lancastrian and York lineages. (See family tree .) Edward VI named Lady Jane Grey as his heir in his will, overruling
2370-524: The House of Plantagenet, which was the name given to the dynasty after the loss of most of their continental possessions, while cadet branches of this line became known as the House of Lancaster and the House of York during the War of the Roses . The Angevins formulated England's royal coat of arms , which usually showed other kingdoms held or claimed by them or their successors, although without representation of Ireland for quite some time. Dieu et mon droit
2449-466: The Pyrenees. As of 660, the foundations for an independent Aquitaine/Vasconia polity were established by the duke Felix of Aquitaine , a magnate ( potente(m) ) from Toulouse, probably of Gallo-Roman stock. Despite its nominal submission to the Merovingians, the ethnic make-up of the new Aquitanian realm was not Frankish, but Gallo-Roman north of the Garonne and in main towns and Basque, especially south of
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2528-488: The Romans, and which are currently easily readable as Basque. Whether this Aquitanian language ( Proto-Basque ) was a remnant of a Vasconic language group that once extended much farther, or it was generally limited to the Aquitaine/Basque region, is not known. One reason the language of Aquitaine is important is because Basque is the last surviving non-Indo-European language in western Europe and it has had some effect on
2607-623: The Royal House of Lancaster . John Beaufort's granddaughter Lady Margaret Beaufort was married to Edmund Tudor . Tudor was the son of Welsh courtier Owain Tudur (anglicised to Owen Tudor ) and Catherine of Valois , the widow 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
2686-450: The Tudors through his great-grandmother, Margaret Tudor , the eldest daughter of Henry VII and wife of James IV of Scotland . In 1604, he adopted the title King of Great Britain . However, the two parliaments remained separate until the Acts of Union 1707 . No monarch reigned after the 1649 execution of Charles I . Between 1649 and 1653, there was no single English head of state , as England
2765-450: The capital of Aquitaine, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department. Bordeaux is famous for its wine industry. Apart from Bordeaux, there are also other important cities in Aquitaine. The region is home to many successful sports teams. In particular worth mentioning are: Football Rugby union is particularly popular in the region. Clubs include: Basketball Bull-fighting
2844-570: The citizens of London and a part of the Witan , despite ongoing Danish efforts to wrest the crown from the West Saxons . Following the decisive Battle of Assandun on 18 October 1016, King Edmund signed a treaty with Cnut (Canute) under which all of England except for Wessex would be controlled by Cnut. Upon Edmund's death just over a month later on 30 November, Cnut ruled the whole kingdom as its sole king for nineteen years. After Harthacnut , there
2923-458: The city , which quickly capitulated under the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559). In England, blame was attached to the Queen, entrenching Protestant resolve against her. Although the loss of the Pale of Calais was a lesser blow to the English economy than was feared, the retreat of English power was a permanent blot to her reign. Indeed, the chronicler Raphael Holinshead records that a few months later
3002-503: The coast of the English Channel . The area of the Pale of Calais is difficult to delineate because boundaries frequently changed and often included ill-defined marsh and waterways. Over those wetlands, the territory was roughly divided in low hills on the west and the lower coastlands to the east. The Pale roughly encompassed the land between Gravelines and Wissant , which was about 20 square miles (52 km). Throughout its history,
3081-551: The death of Edward the Confessor ), Harald Hardrada (King of Norway who claimed to be the rightful heir of Harthacnut) and Duke William II of Normandy (vassal to the King of France, and first cousin once-removed of Edward the Confessor). Harald and William both invaded separately in 1066. Godwinson successfully repelled the invasion by Hardrada, but ultimately lost the throne of England in
3160-614: The dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Its king, Alfred the Great, was overlord of western Mercia and used the title King of the Angles and Saxons , but he never ruled eastern and northern England, which was then known as the Danelaw , having earlier been conquered by the Danes from southern Scandinavia. His son Edward the Elder conquered the eastern Danelaw, but Edward's son Æthelstan became the first king to rule
3239-431: The female line from John Beaufort , one of the illegitimate children of John of Gaunt (third surviving son of Edward III), by Gaunt's long-term mistress Katherine Swynford . Those descended from English monarchs only through an illegitimate child 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
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3318-536: The first to call himself "King of England". In the Norman period "King of the English" remained standard, with occasional use of "King of England" or Rex Anglie . From John's reign onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of "King" or "Queen of England". The Principality of Wales was incorporated into the Kingdom of England under the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, and in 1301 King Edward I invested his eldest son,
3397-588: The fringes of Septimania), Toulouse, and Provence and Lower Rhone (the last two not in Aquitaine). After the death of the king Dagobert I , the Merovingian tenure south of the Loire became largely nominal, with the actual power being in the hands of autonomous regional leaders and counts. The Franks may have become largely assimilated to the preponderant Gallo-Roman culture by the 8th century, but their names were well in use by
3476-510: The future King Edward II , as Prince of Wales . Since that time, the eldest sons of all English monarchs, except for King Edward III , have borne this title. After the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, her cousin King James VI of Scotland inherited the English crown as James I of England, joining the crowns of England and Scotland in personal union . By royal proclamation, James styled himself "King of Great Britain", but no such kingdom
3555-917: The invaders and was never crowned. William was crowned King William I of England on Christmas Day 1066, in Westminster Abbey , and is today known as William the Conqueror, William the Bastard or William I. Henry I left no legitimate male heirs, his son William Adelin having died in the White Ship disaster of 1120. This ended the direct Norman line of kings in England. Henry named his eldest daughter, Matilda (Countess of Anjou by her second marriage to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou , as well as widow of her first husband, Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor ), as his heir. Before naming Matilda as heir, he had been in negotiations to name his nephew Stephen of Blois as his heir. When Henry died, Stephen travelled to England, and in
3634-527: The kingdom led to a constant period of war between Charles, loyal to his father and the Carolingian power, and Pepin II, who relied more on the support of Basque and Aquitanian lords. Despite the early conquest of southern Gaul by the Franks after the Battle of Vouillé in 507, the Frankish element was feeble south of the Loire, where Gothic and Gallo-Roman Law prevailed and a small Frankish settlement took place. However scarce, some Frankish population and nobles settled down in regions like Albigeois, Carcassonne (on
3713-461: The lands of Pamplona past the Pyrenees after ravaging Gascony , with a view to imposing his authority also in the Vasconia to south of Pyrenees. According to his biography, he achieved everything he wanted and after staying overnight in Pamplona, on his way back his army was attacked in Roncevaux in 812 , but narrowly escaped an engagement at the Pyrenean passes. Seguin (Sihiminus), count of Bordeaux and Duke of Vasconia , seemed to have attempted
3792-417: The languages around it, including Spanish and, to a lesser extent, French. The original Aquitania (named after the inhabitants) at the time of Caesar's conquest of Gaul included the area bounded by the river Garonne , the Pyrenees and the Atlantic Ocean. The name may stem from Latin 'aqua', maybe derived from the town "Aquae Augustae", "Aquae Tarbellicae" or just "Aquis" (Dax, Akize in modern Basque ) or as
3871-414: The marriage, the church retroactively declared the Beauforts legitimate via a papal bull the same year. Parliament did the same in an Act in 1397. A subsequent proclamation by John of Gaunt's legitimate son, King Henry IV , also recognised the Beauforts' legitimacy, but declared them ineligible ever to inherit the throne. Nevertheless, the Beauforts remained closely allied with Gaunt's other descendants,
3950-402: The order of succession laid down by Parliament in the Third Succession Act . Four days after his death on 6 July 1553, Jane was proclaimed queen—the first of three Tudor women to be proclaimed queen regnant. Nine days after the proclamation, on 19 July, the Privy Council switched allegiance and proclaimed Edward VI's Catholic half-sister Mary queen. Jane was later executed for treason. Under
4029-440: The ruling class, like Odo. Still, in the Battle of Toulouse , the Aquitanian duke Odo was said to be leading an army of Aquitanians and Franks. On the other hand, the Franks did not mix with the Basques, keeping separate paths. In the periods before and after the Muslim thrust, the Basques are often cited in several accounts stirring against Frankish attempts to subdue Aquitaine (stretching up to Toulouse) and Vasconia, pointing to
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#17328485193694108-556: The same time, the Pale performed as an integral part of England in election of its members to Parliament, and as English citizens the Pale sent and received people to and from various parts of the British Isles. The hardships endured during the prolonged siege of 1346–1347 are the subject of Auguste Rodin 's poignant sculpture of 1889, The Burghers of Calais . 50°56′53″N 1°51′23″E / 50.94806°N 1.85639°E / 50.94806; 1.85639 Monarchs of England This list of kings and reigning queens of
4187-414: The signing of the Treaty of Wallingford , in which Stephen recognised Henry , son of Matilda and her second husband Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou , as the designated heir. The royal house descended from Matilda and Geoffrey is widely known by two names, the House of Anjou (after Geoffrey's title as Count of Anjou) or the House of Plantagenet , after his sobriquet . Some historians prefer to group
4266-470: The south-west were the Aquitani , who were not considered Celtic people, but more akin to the Iberians (see Gallia Aquitania ). Although a number of different languages and dialects were in use in the area during ancient times, it is most likely that the prevailing language of Aquitaine during the late pre-historic to Roman period was an early form of the Basque language . This has been demonstrated by various Aquitanian names and words that were recorded by
4345-406: The south-west. Accounts of Aquitania during the Early Middle Ages are imprecise, but there was much unrest. The Visigoths were called into Gaul as foederati , legalizing their status within the Empire. Eventually they established themselves as the de facto rulers in south-west Gaul as central Roman rule collapsed. Visigoths established their capital in Toulouse , but their tenure on Aquitaine
4424-532: The subsequent kings into two groups, before and after the loss of the bulk of their French possessions, although they are not different royal houses. The Angevins (from the French term meaning "from Anjou") ruled over the Angevin Empire during the 12th and 13th centuries, an area stretching from the Pyrenees to Ireland. They did not regard England as their primary home until most of their continental domains were lost by King John . The direct, eldest male line from Henry II includes monarchs commonly grouped together as
4503-417: The terms of the marriage treaty between Philip I of Naples (later Philip II of Spain from 15 January 1556) and Queen Mary I, Philip was to enjoy Mary's titles and honours for as long as their marriage should last. All official documents, including Acts of Parliament , were to be dated with both their names, and Parliament was to be called under the joint authority of the couple. An Act of Parliament gave him
4582-417: The throne (as was the custom in France, but not in England). The Pope and the Church would not agree to this, and Eustace was not crowned. Eustace died the next year aged 23, during his father's lifetime, and so never became king in his own right. The House of Plantagenet takes its name from Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou , husband of Empress Matilda and father of Henry II. The name Plantagenet itself
4661-433: The throne was seized by Matilda's cousin, Stephen of Blois . During the ensuing Anarchy , Matilda controlled England for a few months in 1141. She was the first woman to do so, but was never crowned and is rarely listed as a monarch of England. Count Eustace IV of Boulogne (c. 1130 – 17 August 1153) was appointed co-king of England by his father, King Stephen , on 6 April 1152, in order to guarantee his succession to
4740-428: The throne, all Catholics (such as James II's son and grandson, James Francis Edward and Charles respectively) were barred from the throne by the Act of Settlement 1701 , enacted by Anne , another of James's Protestant daughters. With the Acts of Union 1707 , England as a sovereign state ceased to exist, replaced by the new Kingdom of Great Britain ; see List of British monarchs . The Acts of Union 1707 were
4819-476: The throne. The Monarchy was restored under the rule of Charles II . James II was ousted by Parliament less than four years after ascending to the throne, beginning the century's second interregnum. To settle the question of who should replace the deposed monarch, a Convention Parliament elected James' daughter Mary II and her husband (also his nephew) William III co-regents , in the Glorious Revolution . While James and his descendants continued to claim
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#17328485193694898-425: The title Lord Protector . It was within the power of the Lord Protector to choose his heir and Oliver Cromwell chose his eldest son, Richard Cromwell, to succeed him. Richard Cromwell was forcibly removed by the English Committee of Safety in May 1659. England again lacked any single head of state. After almost a year of anarchy, the monarchy was formally restored when Charles II returned from France to accept
4977-602: 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 Queen of Great Britain rather than king). Aquitaine Aquitaine ( UK : / ˌ æ k w ɪ ˈ t eɪ n / , US : / ˈ æ k w ɪ t eɪ n / ; French: [akitɛn] ; Occitan : Aquitània [akiˈtanjɔ] ; Basque : Akitania ; Poitevin-Saintongeais : Aguiéne ), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( Occitan : Guiana ),
5056-401: The title of King of Aquitaine took on a nominal value. In 1058, the Duchy of Vasconia (Gascony) and Aquitaine merged under the rule of William VIII, Duke of Aquitaine . The title "Duke of Aquitaine" was held by the counts of Poitiers from the 10th to the 12th century. Aquitaine passed to France in 1137 when the duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine married Louis VII of France , but their marriage
5135-409: The title of king and stated that he "shall aid her Highness ... in the happy administration of her Grace's realms and dominions" (although elsewhere the Act stated that Mary was to be "sole queen"). Nonetheless, Philip was to co-reign with his wife. Elizabeth's cousin, King James VI of Scotland , succeeded to the English throne as James I in the Union of the Crowns . James was descended from
5214-400: The whole of England when he conquered Northumbria in 927, and he is regarded by some modern historians as the first true king of England. The title "King of the English" or Rex Anglorum in Latin, was first used to describe Æthelstan in one of his charters in 928. The standard title for monarchs from Æthelstan until John was "King of the English". In 1016 Cnut the Great , a Dane, was
5293-412: Was a Saxon Restoration between 1042 and 1066. After King Harold was killed at the Battle of Hastings , the Witan elected Edgar Ætheling as king, but by then the Normans controlled the country and Edgar never ruled. He submitted to King William the Conqueror. In 1066, several rival claimants to the English throne emerged. Among them were Harold Godwinson (recognised as king by the Witenagemot after
5372-432: Was a prize of war won in the Battle of Crécy of 1346 by Edward III of England after a long siege . Its capture gave England not only a key stronghold in the world’s textile trade centred in Flanders, but provided a strategic, defensible military outpost for England to regroup in future wars on the continent; the city's position on the English Channel could be reinforced over the short distance by sea. English sovereignty
5451-431: Was actually created until 1707, when England and Scotland united during the reign of Queen Anne to form the new Kingdom of Great Britain , with a single British parliament sitting at Westminster . This marked the end of the Kingdom of England as a sovereign state. There is some evidence that Ælfweard of Wessex may have been king in 924, between his father Edward the Elder and his half brother Æthelstan, although he
5530-586: Was annulled in 1152. When Eleanor's new husband became King Henry II of England in 1154, the area became an English possession, and a cornerstone of the Angevin Empire . Aquitaine remained English until the end of the Hundred Years' War in 1453, when it was annexed by France. During the three hundred years that the region was ruled by the Kings of England , links between Aquitaine and England strengthened, with large quantities of wine produced in southwestern France being exported to London, Southampton , and other English ports. In fact, so much wine and other produce
5609-451: Was being exported to London and sold that by the start of the Hundred Years' War the profits from Aquitaine were the principal source of the English King's income per annum. The region served as a stronghold for the Protestant Huguenots during the 16th and 17th centuries, who suffered persecution at the hands of the French Catholics. The Huguenots called upon the English crown for assistance against forces led by Cardinal Richelieu . From
5688-560: Was confirmed under the Treaty of Brétigny , signed on 8 May 1360, when Edward renounced the throne of France in return for substantial lands, namely Aquitaine and the territory around Calais. By 1453, at the end of the Hundred Years' War , the Pale was the last part of mainland France in English hands. It served successfully as a base for English expeditions such as the Siege of Boulogne , launched by Henry VII in 1492. The short trip across
5767-447: Was driven by a lust for power, not a vision of English unity; and what he left was a reputation, not a legacy." This refers to a period in the late 8th century when Offa achieved a dominance over many of the kingdoms of southern England, but this did not survive his death in 796. Likewise, in 829 Egbert of Wessex conquered Mercia , but he soon lost control of it. It was not until the late 9th century that one kingdom, Wessex, had become
5846-615: Was feeble. In 507, they were expelled south to Hispania after their defeat in the Battle of Vouillé by the Franks, who became the new rulers in the area to the south of the Loire . The Roman Aquitania Tertia remained in place as Novempopulania , where a duke was appointed to hold a grip over the Basques ( Vascones/Wascones , rendered Gascons in English). These dukes were quite detached from central Frankish overlordship, sometimes governing as independent rulers with strong ties to their kinsmen south of
5925-509: Was first used as a battle cry by Richard I in 1198 at the Battle of Gisors , when he defeated the forces of Philip II of France . It has generally been used as the motto of English monarchs since being adopted by Edward III . The future Louis VIII of France briefly won two-thirds of England over to his side from May 1216 to September 1217 at the conclusion of the First Barons' War against King John . The then-Prince Louis landed on
6004-472: Was historically part of Flanders , also provided England with a permanent strategic, defensible outpost from which it could plan and launch military action on the continent. Its position on the English Channel meant it could be reinforced, garrisoned and supplied over the Straits of Dover . The territory was bilingual with English and Flemish commonly spoken. It was represented in the Parliament of England by
6083-465: Was not crowned. A 12th-century list of kings gives him a reign length of four weeks, though one manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says he died only 16 days after his father. However, the fact that he ruled is not accepted by all historians. Also, it is unclear whether—if Ælfweard was declared king—it was over the whole kingdom or of Wessex only. One interpretation of the ambiguous evidence
6162-637: Was ruled directly by the Rump Parliament with the English Council of State acting as executive power during a period known as the Commonwealth of England . After a coup d'etat in 1653, Oliver Cromwell forcibly took control of England from Parliament. He dissolved the Rump Parliament at the head of a military force and England entered The Protectorate period, under Cromwell's direct control with
6241-601: Was unknown as a family name per se until Richard of York adopted it as his family name in the 15th century. It has since been retroactively applied to English monarchs from Henry II onward. It is common among modern historians to refer to Henry II and his sons as the "Angevins" due to their vast continental empire, and most of the Angevin kings before John spent more time in their continental possessions than in England. King Stephen came to an agreement with Matilda in November 1153 with
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