English Monarchs - History of the kings and Queens of England
WEBSaxons. The Anglo-Saxon kings, included Alfred the Great, the ineffectual Ethelred the Redeless (978-1016) and his pious son, Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) who was later canonized in 1161. The Anglo-Saxon line was interrupted for two decades by Viking conquerors but was re-established by Edward the Confessor.The Confessor is said to have willed his throne to his brother-in-law, King Harold ...
The Tudor Family - Ancestors of Henry VII - English Monarchs
WEBAncestors of Henry VII. Henry VII's father, Edmund Tudor, was the half-brother of Henry VI, born of an illicit union between Queen Catherine of Valois, widow of Henry V and Owen Tudor, her Welsh Clerk of the Wardrobe.. Edmund Tudor was a direct descendant of the twelfth-century Welsh warrior Ednyfed Fychan ap Cynwrig (circa 1170 - 1246), who became seneschal of Gwynedd in North Wales, serving ...
England's first Stuart monarch, James I & VI - English Monarchs
WEB1603-1625. Early Years. England's first Stuart monarch, James I & VI, the son of that ill-matched pair, Mary, Queen of Scots and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was born at Edinburgh Castle after a difficult and protracted labour on 19th June 1566. Elizabeth I stood as godmother by proxy at his Catholic baptism when he was given the names James ...
Stirling Castle, Scotland - English Monarchs
WEBStirling Castle Interior. Mary Queen of Scots spent the early part of her childhood at the castle from 27 July 1543 to February 1548, when she was moved to Dumbarton Castle and eventually left for France. Mary's coronation took place in the Chapel Royal at Stirling in 1543. Following the death of her first husband, Francois II of France, Mary returned to her native Scotland in 1561, and ...
A history of Henry II - English Monarchs
WEBKing of England. Arguably one of the most effective Kings ever to wear the English crown and the first of the great Plantagenet dynasty, the future Henry II was born at Le Mans, Anjou on 5th March, 1133. He was the son of that ill-matched pair, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou and Matilda, (known as the Empress, from her first marriage to ...
Leeds Castle and Six Medieval Queens - English Monarchs
WEBMaidstone, Kent. Home to medieval Kings and Queens of England, Leeds Castle is situated on the River Len, 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Maidstone in Kent. Ledian or Leed, a minister of Ethelbert IV, the Anglo-Saxon King of Kent, built a wooden structure on two islands in the middle of the River Len in 857, the castle was rebuilt in stone in 1119 ...
Historic Battles of the Kings and Queens - English Monarchs
WEBThe Battle of Brunanburh - 937. The Battle of Brunanburh, fought in 937 and one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on British soil, was a great Anglo-Saxon victory for a combined Anglo-Saxon army from Mercia and Wessex led by Athelstan, King of England, (the grandson of Alfred the Great) and his brother Edmund over the allied forces of Olaf III Guthfrithson, the Norse-Gael King of Dublin ...
Edward, the Black Prince - English Monarchs
WEBEffigy of Edward, the Black Prince at Canterbury Cathedral. Edward exhibited military ability at an early age, covering himself in glory at the Battle of Crecy on 26th August 1346, during his father's campaign to acquire the throne of France. The prince commanded the right-wing of the English forces in the battle and played a major role in the defeat of the French at the age of but sixteen.
The House of Hanover - History of the Saxon kings and Queens
WEBThe House of Hanover, a cadet branch of the German House of Welf or Guelph, itself a branch of the House of Este, whose oldest traceable members resided in Lombardy in the Dark Ages, produced five of Britain's monarchs. On the death of William IV (1765-1837), the last Hanoverian king, Hanover and England ceased to share a ruler, Victoria (1837 ...
The Brandon Family - English Monarchs
WEBBrandon married Elizabeth Wingfield (d. 28 April 1497), daughter of Sir Robert Wingfield and Elizabeth Goushill, the couple had three sons and seven daughters. William's eldest son, Sir William Brandon (1456 - 22 August 1485) of Soham, married Elizabeth Bruyn, the daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Bruyn of Essex, and widow of Thomas Tyrrell ...