From Heptarchy to Commonwealth Quiz

Answer: Wessex

The term "heptarchy" refers to the seven small kingdoms established in the decades after the Anglo-Saxon invasions of the fifth century. The actual number of kingdoms fluctuated over the years. From time to time, one of the kings would gain an unofficial status of bretwalda, or "wide-ruler". In the early ninth century, Egbert of Wessex (802-839) would gain this status. His grandson,

Alfred the Great (871-899) would halt the Danish invasions of the ninth century and begin the slow process of recon quest of the "Danelaw". Alfred's grandson, Aethelstan (924-939), would be the first generally considered "King of the English". One legacy of Wessex is the importance of Winchester, capital of Wessex, for centuries, alongside of London.

Answer: Sweden

At different times, Canute ruled England (1016-1035), Denmark (1018-1035) and Norway (1028-1035). During this time Olof Skotkonung (995-1022) and Annud Jacob (1022-1050) ruled Sweden. Canute also briefly exercised some authority in Scotland. Canute's father, Sweyn, had successfully conquered and ruled England briefly (1013-1014) during the long, troubled reign of Ethelred the Unready (Ill-Advised) (979-1016). Canute was able to complete the conquest shortly after Ethelred's death.

Canute was generally considered a successful ruler by both historians and contemporaries. Though two of Canute's sons, Harold Harefoot (1035-1040) and Harthacanute (1040-1042) each briefly ruled after Canute's death, their deaths in their 20s opened the door for Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), son of Ethelred, to reclaim the throne. Had Canute's dynasty a few more years to become established, some historians argue that England would have become much more a part of Scandinavia.. The Isle of Man is one territory that would be ruled by Viking leaders for centuries before eventually coming under the control of the British crown.

Answer: Normandy

William the Conqueror (1066-1087) was Duke of Normandy from 1035 until his death. Normandy had been granted to Rollo, leader of a group of Norsemen, in the early tenth century. As the reign of Edward the Confessor proceeded, it became increasingly likely that the king would have no child to succeed him. Two of the leading contenders to succeed him were William and Harold Godwinson, Edward's brother in law.

William later claimed that Edward promised the throne to him and Harold promised to support his claim. Since at least Harold's promise was given while he was William's guest in Normandy, there is a question of whether Harold's promise was coerced (and therefore non-binding) or not. When Harold was crowned after Edward's death, William led his army to England to take what he had said he was promised. William's conquest would begin several centuries of tense interaction between England and France. For over a century, Kings of England were also Dukes of Normandy and, therefore, vassals of the Kings of France. This would reach its peak in the reign of William's great-grandson, Henry II (1154-1189), who directly ruled far more of France (Normandy, Maine, Anjou, Aquitane, and Brittany) than King Louis VII of France (1137-1180). The remaining part of Normandy still under control of the British crown is the Channel Islands.

Answer: Adrian IV

Pope Adrian IV (1154-1159) was born Nicholas Breakspear and was the first Englishman to ever be elected Pope. In 1158, Adrian is said to have issued a Papal Bull called "Laudabiliter". The Bull was said to have authorized Henry to invade and rule Ireland, in order to enforce the Gregorian reforms of Catholic Christianity. There is uncertainty, however, among historians as to whether this Bull actually existed.

Henry II would later claim the title Lord of Ireland and sponsor an invasion of Ireland, but over a decade after the Bull was said to have been issued. This was the beginning of centuries of interaction between England and Ireland. In the 1540s, the English Parliament would pass a law creating a Kingdom of Ireland, also under the control of King Henry VIII (1509-1547)

Answer: Edward III

Edward III of England (1327-1377) was the son of Isabella, daughter of Philip IV of France (1285-1314). After Philip's death, his sons, Louis X (1314-1316), Philip V (1316-1322), and Charles IV (1322-1328) each ruled in turn. Since Louis was the only one who had a son (the titular King John I who ruled or a few days in 1316 before his own death), the death of Charles led to the Valois dynasty coming to power in France.

Supporters of Edward III claimed that, as a grandson of Philip IV, he had a better claim to the French throne than the members of the Valois dynasty, who were cousins. In England, where it was legal for a daughter to become Queen Regnant, this was possible. In France, where it was not legal, this was not possible. The Hundred Years War would actually be fought, on and off, for 116 years (1337-1453). English forces reached their height when the infant King Henry VI (1422-1471) was crowned King of France. By the 1450s, the war was concluded, however, with the English having lost all of their possessions except for the city of Calais. (Amazingly, English and British rulers would continue to officially claim the French throne until 1801.)

Answer: John Cabot

John Cabot would undertake two voyages of exploration to the Americas on behalf of the English crown, less than a decade after Columbus's first voyage. Though his intention had been to find a route to China, he instead probably reached what is now Newfoundland and perhaps other parts of Eastern Canada. The other three explorers were active in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Though the immediate response to Cabot's voyages was limited, in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, England would found a series of colonies throughout the Americas. In the 1770s and 1780s, 13 of them would successfully gain independence and become the United States of America. Though England/Grear Britain would remain a significant colonial power in the Caribbean, the addition of new colonies would mostly occur elsewhere.

Answer: James

Two of the children of Henry VII (1485-1509) were the future Henry VIII (1509-1547) and Margarey, who married James IV (1488-1513). Henry VIII would famously marry six times, producing three children (all of whom died without any offspring). That would leave Margaret's great-grandson, James VI of Scotland to (1567-1625) to become King of England in 1603.

James and his successors would rule England and Scotland as separate countries for the next century, before Parliament passed the act of Union in 1707. Under this, Anne, great-granddaughter of James, became the first monarch to rule Grear Britain. Great Britain also included Wales, which had been tied to England by Parliamentary statute in the 1500s. In 1801, Great Britain and Ireland would unite as the United Kingdom.

Answer: India

The second empire which Great Britain/the United Kingdom would gather in the later 1800s and early 1900s was part of a worldwide trend towards imperialism. It was said that the sun never set on the British Empire and in the early 1900s, the British had territory on every continent except for Antarctica (and the British would eventually make unrecognized claims there).

India, which had come under increasing British influence during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, was seen as the "jewel" in the British crown. British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli suggested Queen Victoria (1837-1901) be named Empress of India, which she accepted in 1876. After her death, the next four British Kings (Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII and George VI) were each Emperor of India in turn. When India and Pakistan became independent in 1947, George VI was briefly King of those countries before each became a republic.

Answer: India

The 1931 Statute of Westminster ended the the ability of the British Parliament to legislate for certain British dominions, essentially giving them independence. These included Canada, Newfoundland (not yet part of Canada), the Irish Free State (most of the island of Ireland having gained independence in 1922), South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. In World War One (1914-1918), the British Parliament decided Canada would participate. In World War Two (1939-1945), the Canadian Parliament decided Canada would participate.

The Indian subcontinent would remain under British control until after World War Two. The process towards decolonization had begun, however. World War Two would bring additional pressure on Britain to grant independence to their empire.

Answer: 1960s

Of the 63 nations that gained independence from the United Kingdom, 25 did so in the 1960s. Of the other choices, four did so in the 1950s, 14 in the 1970s, and five in the 1980s. (This includes Rhodesia which made a claim of independence in 1964 that was mostly unrecognized by other nations before it gained independence in 1980 as Zimbabwe.) A number of nations had gained independence before the 1950s and a few have done so since.

In the period after World War Two, many former British colonies chose to join the voluntary organization of the British Commonwealth. In several of these countries, the British monarch continues to be the official Head of State. The countries of the Commonwealth represent a significant part of the world, both in terms of size and population.