Henri, roi d'Angleterre Quiz | Royalty & Monarchs

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1. Henry I was the youngest son of William I (aka The Conqueror). Although he had a large number of illegitimate children by many mistresses, he had only two surviving legitimate children, a son and a daughter, by his wife, Queen Matilda. What was the name of his son and heir?

Answer: William

Henry I's son was named William after his grandfather, William I, but also carried the name Adelin, the Germanic form of the Anglo-Saxon word �theling, which had been used to designate princes in line for the throne. William Adelin was the embodiment of Henry I's plan to unite the Norman and Anglo-Saxon elements of English society, as through his mother he was descended from the Anglo-Saxon House of Wessex.

However, in 1120, William was returning with his father from France when the ship he was travelling on, the White Ship, ran aground and sank, killing William and leaving no apparent heir to Henry's throne.

2. Henry II came to the throne in 1154 following the end of the civil war known as "The Anarchy". His claim to the throne of England came through his mother, while his father was the ruler of which French region?

Answer: Anjou

Henry II was the son of Count Geoffrey V of Anjou and Empress Matilda, the surviving legitimate daughter of King Henry I of England. Following the death of her brother, William Adelin, Matilda's father had made efforts to ensure her succession as Queen.

However, following his death, Stephen of Blois, Henry's nephew, had claimed the throne instead, leading to civil war. This only ended upon the death of King Stephen's son, Eustace, after which he recognised Matilda's eldest son Henry as his heir.

3. Henry III came to the throne aged nine in 1216, and reigned for 56 years, one of the longest in British history. Much of the second half of his reign saw the rebuilding of which major religious building?

Answer: Westminster Abbey

Henry III commissioned the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey starting in 1245, with the intention of creating an appropriate burial place, which would take the place of the traditional resting place of the Counts of Anjou, Fontevraud Abbey. The Abbey was eventually consecrated in 1269, when Henry and his sons personally carried the body of King Edward the Confessor to its new tomb.

Henry III was initially buried in Edward the Confessor's previous tomb on his death in 1272, before being reburied in a new tomb by his son, Edward I, in 1290.

4. Henry IV came to the throne through the usurpation of his predecessor, Richard II. He was the first monarch of which royal house?

Answer: Lancaster

Henry IV was the eldest son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and thus the first cousin of Richard II. In 1397, Henry was exiled by King Richard following a dispute with another nobleman, Thomas Mowbray. During his exile, his father died, and the King seized his uncle's lands for himself.

As a consequence, Henry returned to England from exile, ostensibly to recover his inheritance. Instead, he engineered the overthrow of Richard II and had himself installed as King Henry IV in 1399.

5. Although the great warrior king, Henry V, is most famous for winning the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, he had fought in many battles prior to this as both Prince of Wales and as king. In which battle was he shot in the face by an arrow?

Answer: Shrewsbury

The Battle of Shrewsbury, in 1403, was the final act of the uprising by the Percy family, led by the Earl of Northumberland, against King Henry IV. During the fighting, the then Prince Henry was struck in the face by an arrow. This might have proven fatal without the work of John Bradmore, the royal physician who, having treated the wound with honey as an antiseptic, used a special tool to extract the shaft of the arrow from Henry's head, before cleaning the wound with alcohol, saving the life of the 16-year old prince.

6. Henry VI came to the throne in 1422. A very different man from his predecessor, the warrior king Henry V, Henry grew to be a man for whom religion was the major part of his life. As a monument to this, he had constructed the chapel of which great public school?

Answer: Eton

Henry VI founded Eton College in 1460 as a free school that would provide education to boys intended to subsequently attend King's College, Cambridge (also founded by him). As part of his endowment of the school, he intended the college chapel to be a major site of religious pilgrimage, with a number of relics housed there after its foundation. But, as a result of Henry VI's overthrow, the chapel was never finished to the original plan - the building as it exists is approximately half the originally planned length.

7. Henry VII gained the throne following his victory at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, in which he defeated Richard III. Following this, as part of his policy to unite the country following the Wars of the Roses, he married the daughter of the former Yorkist king, Edward IV. What was her name?

Answer: Elizabeth

Following Richard III's usurpation of his nephew Edward V, Edward's mother Elizabeth Woodville made contact with the mother of Henry Tudor, Lady Margaret Beaufort, with the proposal that Henry, the last remaining Lancastrian claimant to the throne, marry Elizabeth of York after having claimed the throne. Following the Battle of Bosworth, Henry was crowned in October 1485, following which he and Elizabeth were married in January 1486.

8. In 1520, Henry VIII took part in the Field of Cloth of Gold, a massive, month-long summit conference/trade fair/tournament organised by Thomas Wolsey, who was Henry's Lord Chancellor, as well as being the Papal Legate in England. Who did Henry meet with at the conference?

Answer: Francis I, King of France

The Field of Cloth of Gold was planned by Thomas Wolsey at a time when England was being courted as an ally by the two major powers in Europe, France and the Hapsburg Empire. The event featured a great many feasts, jousting and games but, despite the apparent success of the event, any opportunity of either peace or alliance with France ended when Henry chose to side with Charles V in war with France in 1521.

9. Of the eight kings named Henry, which reigned the longest?

Answer: Henry III

Henry III's reign of 56 years and 20 days is the longest of any monarch of England, and, in terms of British monarchs, is surpassed by the reigns of James VI of Scotland, George III, Victoria and Elizabeth II.

10. Of the eight kings named Henry, which one was the youngest to come to the throne?

Answer: Henry VI

Henry VI was aged just nine-months when he succeeded his father, Henry V, who died prematurely of dysentery in 1422 having never seen his son. Henry reigned for a total of 39 years over two spells, first between 1422 and 1461, and then from 1470 to 1471.

Source: Author Red_John

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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Henri, roi d'Angleterre Trivia Quiz

Since 1066, eight English monarchs have carried the name Henry. Can you answer these questions about them?

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