UK History Trivia

1. Which king decided to compile the record known as Domesday Book?

From Quiz The Domesday Book

Answer: William the Conqueror

Duke William of Normandy began his rule in that most famous date in English history - 1066. Apart from winning the Battle of Hastings, the second great fact that most people know about him is that he ordered and compiled the Domesday Book. William had won a huge kingdom, but he knew little about it. Immediately after the Conquest, he began to give out estates to his fellow Normans, and protect himself with the building of castles. After this urgent work was completed, he turned his attention to finding out more about the land he held. How was it populated, and how could he be sure of receiving the taxes that were due to him? William Rufus was William II, the Conqueror's son, so named because of his florid complexion. He ruled from 1087 until 1100. He was succeeded by his brother, Henry I, whose reign lasted until 1135. Edward the Confessor was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. He came to the throne in 1042.

From Quiz Deal - A Small Town in East Kent

Answer: Adellam

The Old English word 'dael' means valley and the main part of the town lies in the low-lying Lydden Valley. The incorrect answers have all been alternative names for Deal at various times. The original location of the settlement which later became Deal was situated a mile inland on a ridge where traces of Iron Age settlements have been found. The fishermen built shelters originally along what was a long, featureless and steep bank of pebbles stretching from the south northwards to the sandhills of Sandwich Bay, gradually developed into the seaside town we know today.

From Quiz Historical Snippets 3

Answer: Long locks of hair tied with bright ribbons

Frowned up by the Puritans, that is. During the early days of the reign of the Stuart monarchs in England when the Cromwellian followers were beginning to grow in strength, much mockery was make of the latest hairstyle fashion worn by the royalists followers. This style consisted of long flowing locks worn forward over the shoulders on either side - and tied with colourful ribbons. Variations on this theme were either still growing the hair long but leaving it hang free, or cutting the hair shorter on one side of the head but growing the other side longer - in order to wear a single be-ribboned lovelock hanging down over the chest. A portrait by van Dyck of "Henri II de Lorraine" features the single ribboned lovelock of the model, while the famous "Charles I in Three Positions", also by van Dyck, shows clearly that Charles, although wearing his hair free in that painting, had his hair cut shorter on one side in order to wear the single lovelock style when the whim took him. And oh, the scorn heaped on those "proud coxcombes in the fashion, wearing taffeta, and an ill-favoured lock on (their) shoulders" (Henry Peacham, 1638).

From Quiz Back to the Twelfth Century

Answer: Beauclerc

The fourth son of William I (the Conqueror) Henry was never intended to be king but took the throne when William II (Rufus) was killed in a New Forest hunting accident. Henry was present at the time, and there are theories that the accident to his brother might have been an assassination. Whether it was planned or not, Henry abandoned William's body and rode straight to Winchester to take control of the treasury and declare himself king. His nickname of Beauclerc, meaning fine scholar, related to Henry's high level of education for the times in which he lived. Ethelred was the Unready, Longshanks was Edward I and Charles II was known as the Merry Monarch.

From Quiz A Mixture of English Disasters

Answer: Pudding Lane

Pudding Lane is the small street in London widely known as the location of Thomas Farriner's bakery where the Great Fire of London started in 1666. This great fire destroyed over 70,000 homes. Most of the City was burned down except for a small area in the north-east. Westminster, which contained Charles II's Palace of Whitehall and several other major buildings, was not affected.

From Quiz From Great Britain to the United Kingdom

Answer: Jacobites

The Jacobite cause was a determined attempt by the supporters of James II to place him back on the throne of England after he had been overthrown in 1688 by his daughter, Mary, and son-in-law (and nephew), William. James had been the rightful technical heir to the throne, as he had come down in a direct line of descent from James I, who had inherited the throne upon the death of Queen Elizabeth I. James, however, was a Catholic and the country was emotionally exhausted from ongoing battles between Catholic and Protestant even since Henry VIII had broken with the Papacy. This had culminated in the not so Glorious Revolution of 1688, when, at the request of the English parliament, the protestant William of Orange and his protestant wife Mary (daughter of James II) invaded England and took the throne. This sturdy pair subsequently became joint rulers of the country. Their subsequent right to rule was cemented the following year, 1689, with parliament's passing of the Bill of Rights. Among many other initiatives, this Bill greatly limited the powers of the ruling monarchs, declared that James had abdicated when he fled the country, made William and Mary his rightful successors to the throne, and forever barred any of James' Catholic children, from his second marriage, to the throne forever. This, however, certainly didn't forever silence the indignant Jacobites by any means.

From Quiz The UK in the Second Millennium

Answer: Book of Winchester

The "Liber de Wintonia" was originally written in Latin, although the scribes also used various dialect and abbreviated words of their own. Considered one of the most important documents in the history of England, the original manuscript is now kept at the British National Archive in London.

From Quiz Back to the Fourteenth Century

Answer: William Wallace

William Wallace led several uprisings against the English, being successful in the Battle of Stirling Bridge, in 1297, while losing the Battle of Falkirk the following year. He was captured in 1305 and suffered the gruesome death reserved for those found guilty of high treason. Robert the Bruce became King of Scotland in 1306, as Robert I, and didn't die until 1329 from an unspecified illness. There are several Simon de Montfort's, with the best known of them being from the thirteenth century, as was the Welsh prince, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd.

From Quiz Back to the Thirteenth Century

Answer: Leicester

Simon de Montfort was the 6th Earl of Leicester, a title first granted in the eleventh century by William the Conqueror to one of the Normans who accompanied him in the invasion of England. Simon de Montfort was destined to become a thorn in the side of King Henry III, leading a rebellion against the monarch and even taking overall power in the country in the 1260s. He is credited with being the first democratic leader of the country. In 1265, de Montfort met his death in the Battle of Evesham, with royalist forces defeating the rebels, who they outnumbered by two to one.

From Quiz Famous Dates in English History

Answer: 991

On August 10th or 11th in 991, the Vikings won a resounding victory over Byrhtnoth's troops, causing the King, Aethelred The Unready, to pay the Viking leader, most likely Olaf Tryggvason, Danegeld in the amount of 10,000 Roman pounds of silver to stop their aggression, the first time the English made such a payment. [Danegeld is a form of capitulation, in effect bribing the Vikings to cease their fighting.] The story of the battle is related in "The Battle Of Maldon," a poetic fragment of 325 lines in Old English. The battle is also mentioned in several versions of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle."

From Quiz British History in Roman Numerals

Answer: Hadrian

The date CXXVIII corresponds to the year 128. Hadrian ordered the Wall to be built for the purpose of better garrisoning of the Roman borders. He claimed that a "divine instruction" prompted him to order its construction. After Hadrian's death, his successor, Antoninus Pius advanced further into Caledonia and ordered another Wall to be built further north. However, in 162, the Romans withdrew back to Hadrian's Wall.

From Quiz Fifteen Things You Should Know About Britain

Answer: Alfred the Great

Alfred was the first monarch in our history to be given the title "The Great". Historians dispute some of the stories of his life but most are believed to be true. His father took him to Rome when he was a small boy and he was given an audience with Pope Leo IV who pronounced him King of England. He became a fine scholar, a just and wise king, a legal innovator and an excellent administrator. He founded the first English navy and was a fierce warrior. After being defeated by the Vikings at Chippenham in 878 he hid in the Somerset Levels and (so the legend goes) was given shelter by a peasant woman who didn't know his true identity. One day, she told him to watch over her baking but his mind was so taken up with plotting a counter-attack on the Vikings that he allowed the cakes to burn for which he, the King, was severely scolded by the peasant woman. When he emerged from isolation he made Wessex his stronghold and from there, defeated the Vikings at Edington, Wiltshire. After this he united the tribes and created the Kingdom of England. Alfred died in October 899 and was buried in Winchester Abbey. However, when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries it is believed by some historians that his remains were discovered by convicts who had been put to work at building a prison on the site of the former Abbey. Not realising whose remains they had found, the bones were scattered. If this is true, it would be sad that the mortal remains of one of England's greatest ever monarchs have no known resting place.

From Quiz British History - What Happened Next?

Answer: He fought William at the Battle of Hastings and was killed

King Harold II (also known as King Harold Godwinson) fought William of Normandy for the crown of England at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066. Harold was killed during the battle, supposedly as a result of an arrow being shot through his eye, and his throne was taken by William - who is now known to history as William the Conqueror. Harold faced numerous threats to his reign in late 1066 as he had to fight King Harold Hardrada of Norway and his brother Tostig Godwinson at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire and then the Normans shortly afterwards in Sussex. The events of 1066, from Harold's coronation in January to the Battle of Hastings in October are depicted in the latter parts of the Bayeux Tapestry.

From Quiz Britain, my Britain

Answer: Prince Alastair

Prince Alastair, 9/8/1914 - 26/4/1943 was a member of the Windsor family, but denied princehood and the right to be called your Highness in 1917. He was given a courtesy to use the Title Earl of MacDuff by his maternal line and later became 2nd Duke of Connaught on the death of his grandfather. Through his father's family tree he was a great grandson, while through his mother's he was a great- great-grandson.

From Quiz English Canals

Answer: The Duke of Bridgewater

In 1759 Frances Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, obtained the permission of Parliament to build a canal from his coal mines at Worsley to Manchester. He engaged James Brindley as engineer and the canal was completed in 1761. The Bridgewater Canal, as it is known, is considered by many to be the first modern British canal. The following year he built the Manchester to Liverpool Canal, again engineered by Brindley. The Regent's Canal links the Grand Union Canal to Limehouse Basin in London. It was started in 1812 and enjoyed the patronage of the Prince Regent (later George IV). To the best of my knowledge, there has never been an Earl of Shropshire or a Lord Llangollen. The Shropshire Union is an important canal in the north-west Midlands, with a branch running to Llangollen in Wales. The 'Ladies of Llangollen' were a pair of gloriously eccentric spinsters who lived together near the town in late Georgian times.

From Quiz Snippets of English History

Answer: Offa

Very little is known about Offa but he must have been a powerful ruler to have had sufficient resources at his disposal for the construction of such a formidable earthwork. Numismatists have remarked on the outstanding artistic merit of many coins struck in his reign. Asser, a late 9th and early 10th century chronicler wrote: 'There was in Mercia, in fairly recent times, a certain vigorous king called Offa, who terrified all the neighbouring kings and provinces around him and who had a great dyke built between Wales and Mercia from sea to sea.' (From his work, 'Life of Alfred'.)

From Quiz When Adam Delved

Answer: To till the soil

The delving in this question refers to digging and therefore farming. It is also referring to the biblical beginnings when everyone supposedly was equal and social strata had not developed. Class systems appear to have existed from the beginning of time whether based on wealth or birth or who you know. Even Castro's Cuba has the upper echelon of the Cuban Communist Party and then the rest of the citizens.

From Quiz The Peasants Are Revolting!

Answer: Richard II

Henry III was king from 1216 until his death in 1272, while Henry IV was king from 1399 until 1413. Edward II was king from 1307 to 1327 and Richard II was king from 1377 to 1399. When the revolt began, King Richard II was only 14 years old and had quickly sought to appease the peasants in their demands.

From Quiz The Boudican Revolt

Answer: Catuvellauni, Trinovantes & Corieltauvi

Of these three tribes, the Catuvellauni were the only only to offer any real resistance to the Roman invasion - initially under Cassivelau during Caesar's invasion of 54 BC, then notably under Cassivelaunu's descendant, Caractacus.

From Quiz Some Queries About English History

Answer: Antonine's Wall

Antoninus Pius, Hadrian's successor, pushed northwards in 142 AD and built a wall running from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. It was only made of packed earth, not stone, and was therefore not as defensible a barrier as Hadrian's Wall. By 209 AD it was abandoned by the Emperor Severus, who determined that Hadrian's fortifications would mark the northern boundary of the Roman Empire.

From Quiz Another Millennium of British History

Answer: Verica

Judging from coins dating from his reign, Verica was the leader of the Atrebates tribe who lived in what is now Hampshire. As leader of a tribe friendly to the Roman Empire, Verica was considered rex (king) by the Empire. Circa 40 CE, Caratacus, leader of the neighbouring Catuvellauni tribe, conquered Verica's Atrebates and expelled Verica from Britain. Verica appealed to Rome for help in regaining his lost lands. The Emperor Claudius was only too happy to come to the aid of Verica as an excuse to expand the boundaries of the Roman Empire, and invaded Britain in 43CE. After the invasion, Verica disappears from the historical record, so we have no idea whether or not he was restored to power. The next leader of the Atrebates that we hear about is Cogidubnus. Since Verica would have been well up in years it is highly likely that he died shortly before, during or after the Roman invasion of Britain and was succeeded by Cogidubnus. Eppillus was Verica's older brother, whom he succeeded as king c15CE, and Cunobellinus was the father of Caratacus.

From Quiz A Millennium of British History

Answer: Stamford Bridge

Following the death of King Edward (the Confessor), his nephew, Harold Godwinson was crowned as his successor. This was disputed by Harald Hardrada of Norway and William of Normandy, who both prepared to invade, one from the north and the other from the south. Harold remained in the south, prepared to repel William, but had to move his army north quickly when York fell to Harald. The Vikings were defeated on 25 September 1066, but William had taken advantage of Harold's absence and Harold, with his army depleted, was killed on October 14th.

From Quiz 2000 Years of British History: 2

Answer: He spoke no English

When Queen Anne died childless the crown passed to her nearest living Protestant relative. The Act of Settlement of 1702 had ensured that Britain would never again have a Catholic monarch. George spoke no English and was more concerned with the affairs of Hanover than Britain. The first real opposition came in 1715 with the first Jacobite rebellion in an attempt to restore the House of Stuart.

From Quiz 2000 Years of British History: I

Answer: The Antonine Wall

Hadrian's Wall was built to defend the northern border of the Roman Empire, but they built another one even further north. This was an earthen as opposed to a stone wall and was built across the Scottish lowlands between, roughly, the Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Construction started in 142AD on the orders of Emperor Antoninus Pius in response to attacks from Caledonians. Initial manning of the wall lasted just 20 years, but in 208AD it was repaired and manned again. This lasted just a few years and the wall was abandoned and the legions were withdrawn south.

From Quiz Historic English Villages

Answer: Wars of the Roses

This is considered to be the bloodiest battle ever to occur on English soil with over 20,000 casualties. As many as 80,000 men are believed to have fought which would have been approximately 1% of the country's population. The battle led to a rout of the Lancastrian Forces.

From Quiz Festival of Britain

Answer: 1951

The Festival of Britain was both a celebration of the anniversary of the Great Exhibition of 1851, and a way to give the country a boost after Wotld War II. The main exhibition site was the South Bank in London, but various events were also held around the country from Glasgow to Bournemouth. Herbert Morrison, deputy leader of the Labour Party, was one of the prime instigators of the festival. It ran from May to September and over eight million people visited the main site during that time, and another two million visited either the travelling exhibition or one of the smaller sites around the country.

From Quiz Life in an English Workhouse

Answer: 15

The Hackney Parish Vestry rented a house from John Evans in Homerton High Street to accommodate 15 paupers. In 1741 the workhouse had to be moved to a larger property on the south side of the High Street with the capacity to hold 30 paupers.

From Quiz History of Fringe Politics in the United Kingdom

Answer: Oswald Mosley

Oswald Mosley left the Labour Party to form the "New Party" and formed the BUF in 1932. The other three are all more recent right wing politicians.

From Quiz English Church History

Answer: St Paul

The shield of St Paul can be seen on every City of London street sign. How many Londoners are aware of this is another matter.

From Quiz The Tolpuddle Martyrs

Answer: 6

They were George and James Loveless, James Brine, James Hammett, Thomas Stansfield and his son John. George Loveless was the leader and organiser of the group, all of whom were farm labourers. They were also, with the exception of James Brine, all staunch Methodists.

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