Order of Anglo-Saxon Kings of England Quiz

Egbert (827-839) was the first of the kings to establish stable rule over all of the Anglo-Saxon area of England. At that time in history, the country was still divided into areas ruled by the Anglo-Saxons, and those ruled by the Danes. His rule began with his control over all of England south of the Humber, and by the time he passed away, he had added - through assorted battles - Northumberland, North Wales and Cornwall to his tally.

Aethelwulf (839-858) ruled for a comparatively long time, given the brevity of rule for the times. He was the son of Egbert, and, before his son, the great Alfred, eventually took the throne, three of his other sons were monarchs.

These were Aethelbald (858-860), an ingrate who forced his father to abdicate - and who then married his stepmother until the church forced an annulment; Aethelbert (860-866) who spent his entire reign fighting against invading Danes who were beginning to take over more and more of the country; and Aethelred I (866-871), who also spent his reign in bloody battles with the Danes, while trying to regain York and other areas, but who died in battle at Hampshire. At Kent, this ruler, in a battle with the Vikings, engaged in the first recorded naval battle in English history.

Alfred the Great (871-899) was the son of Aethelwulf, but had to wait for the throne while three of his brothers ruled before him. A strong and wise ruler, he managed to secure an uneasy truce with those pesky Danes for five years before they attacked viciously again in 877 and he was forced to flee to a small island in Somerset. From there he engineered a brilliant comeback, managing to take back, and over, most of England.

He formed England's permanent army and a small navy.

Edward the Elder (899-924) was the son of Alfred the Great. He retook the Midlands from the Danes, and then, after the death of his sister Aethelflaed (who had ruled Mercia), he united the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia into one. He died fighting against the Welsh, at Chester, and then, like his grandfather before him, three of his sons would go on to rule the country.

Aethelstan (924-939) was the first of Edward the Elder's three sons to rule. He was a ferocious fighter, and, described as the bloodiest battle ever fought in England, he took on a combined force of Scots, Celts, Danes and Vikings at the Battle of Brunanburh, becoming the first to be named the King of all England.

His brother Edmund I (939-946) became king at the young age of 18, but before he could make his mark on history, he was stabbed to death by a robber in his residence at Puckelchurch. He was followed by his brother Aedred (946-955), who, although he expelled the last Scandinavian king from York, died in his thirties from a stomach ailment without wife or heir.

Eadwig (955-959) was the eldest son of Edmund I and grandson of Edward the Elder. This lusty ruler was only 16 when he took the throne - after the Bishop of Dunstan had to force him out of bed with his mistress and the mother of his mistress in order to attend his coronation.

It's just as well he died young, four years later, without any particular achievements recorded against his name - apart from exiling the Bishop to France.

Edgar (959-975) was the youngest son of Edmund I and grandson of Edward the Elder. He immediately recalled the unfortunate Bishop of Dunstan from France and made him Archbishop of Canterbury. Following his coronation, he marched his army to Chester where six other leading rulers from the British Isles pledged their allegiance to him.

Poor little Edward (975-978) was only 12 when he was crowned, and although he had the full support of the church under Dunstan, his stepmother organised supporters of his younger half brother, Aethelred the Unready, against him, and the poor boy, Edward, was murdered by them at Corfe Castle just two and a half years later.

Aethelred the Unready (978-1016 but with a hiccup in between), so named because he was very badly advised, and consequently unready for the role as king, was the younger half-brother of the murdered Edward the Martyr. Crowned when he was only 10 years old, he initially maintained an uneasy truce with the Danes for the major part of it by paying tributes to the Danish king.

However, he fled to Normandy in 1013, when the king of the Danes, Sweyn Forkbeard, invaded England, seeking revenge for the massacre of Danish residents there on Saint Brice's Day. Sweyn took the English throne, but died five weeks later.

When Aethelread returned to reclaim it in 1014, he spent the rest of his reign doing battle with Sweyn's son, Canute.

Edmund II (1016) was the son of Aethelred the Unready. He continued the resistance to Canute's invasion but didn't get very far, even though he was the chosen king by the people of London. The Witan, however, comprised of members of an English King's council, elected Canute instead. Edmund then made a deal with Canute, dividing England between them, and giving all of England except Wessex to the Danish invader. What a lousy deal.

This ridiculous bargain agreed to be by Edmund the idiot also stated that should either Edmund or Canute die first, the other would then take over as ruler of all England. Edmund was promptly assassinated later that same year - although of course, this was never fully proven.

In spite of being an usurper of the rightly line of English kings, Canute (1016-1035) proved to be fairly popular with his bewildered British subjects. He ruled wisely, and in an excellent public relations move, send most of the Danish army back to Denmark.

In 1017, he married Emma of Normandy - who was the widow of Aethelrd the Unready - and then divided England into four earldoms of Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria. Nothing like the divide and conquer rule, it would seem - not to mention a step backwards from a previously united England.

Known as Harold Harefoot (because he was a skilled and rapid hunter), Harold (1035-1040) was Canute's illegitimate son, and, while the legitimate son, Harthacanute, was over in Denmark fighting to protect his kingdom there, Harold coolly took the English throne. Fortunately for him, he died three years later - just as the furious Harthacanute was preparing to invade English - and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Harthacanute wasn't having any of that, though, had Harold dug up, beheaded, and his remains tossed into the Thames.

Harthacanute (1040-1042), the rightful son of Canute and Emma of Normandy, had no trouble taking the throne of England back when he arrived into the country again. Just to keep in good with Emma, who had had a child with the unready Aethelred before he died, Harthacanute invited that half brother, Edward, who should have been the rightful ruler anyhow, back to England.

A short time later, Harthacanute died at the age of 24, while attending a wedding. Was there something rotten in the state of Denmark?

Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) was a deeply religious man. After restoring the House of Wessex to the throne, he went about rebuilding Westminster Abbey, and unfortunately, so busy praying was he, that he left the running of the kingdom to Earl Godwin and his son - Harold. Oh dear.

In 1066, just a few days after work on the restored Abbey was complete, Edward died - without an heir. Oh, oh.

Oh my goodness, all hell then broke loose. Harold Godwinson (1066 1066), without a drop of royal blood in his veins, was elected king by the Witan. And who was sitting over in Normandy, totally enraged by this? William the Bastard (as he was known), who claimed loud and long that Edward the Confessor had promised the throne of England to him several years prior to his death. So while Harold was busy fighting an invading Norwegian army at Stamford Ridge in Yorkshire, William invaded in Sussex. Harod and his men marched all the way down to face William and his forces, and in spite of fighting bravely, so very bravely, he was killed in battle, William the Conqueror then became the first of the Norman kings of England, and the Anglo-Saxon rule was over.