Match the Monarch Trivia Quiz

Answer: William I

When the Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Confessor died without an heir on January 5, 1066 there was no shortage of claimants to the English throne. The crown eventually went to Harold Godwinson, the Earl of Essex. He defeated one rival, Harald Hardrada, the King of Norway, at the Battle of Stamford Bridge on September 25, 1066. Less than three weeks later, however, Harold was forced to face another claimant in the form of William, Duke of Normandy. William claimed that Edward had named him his heir. On October 14, 1066 Harold and William faced off at the famous Battle of Hastings. Harold was killed and the invading Normans won the battle. William was crowned king on Christmas Day, 1066.

His regnal name was William I, but he is better known to history as William the Conqueror.

Answer: King John

King John of England was the youngest son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He is usually reckoned as a very bad king. He was unpopular with the common people and nobles alike. After an unsuccessful military campaign in France in 1214, the nobles rose in revolt, and on June 10, 1215 King John was forced to sign a document known today as the "Magna Carta Libertatum," or "Great Charter of Liberties." Most of the document deals with the rights of the nobility and the Church, but there are some rights guaranteed to the common people as well. The Magna Carta was important because it was one of the first documents that placed some limits upon the powers of a king.

Please do NOT send corrections saying that the document was sealed, not signed. Though this is true, it is common usage in English to talk about signing Magna Carta.

Answer: Edward II

When King Alexander III of Scotland died in 1286, and his only heir, a granddaughter, died four years later, many people came forward to claim the Scottish throne. King Edward I of England took advantage of the succession crisis to invade Scotland. He conquered much of the country, and made his chosen candidate swear fealty to him as Scotland's overlord.

This did not sit well with the Scots, and after Edward I died in 1307, they rose in revolt. Robert the Bruce, the Earl of Carrick, emerged as the leader of the Scots. Edward I's son, Edward II, led an English army north in 1314 to reconquer Scotland, but was defeated at the Battle of Bannockburn.

The battle was an unmitigated disaster for the English, who lost over half their army as well as a great deal of treasure. Edward was forced to sign a humiliating treaty which recognized Scotland's independence, and Robert the Bruce as its rightful king.

Answer: Edward III

The Norman invaders who conquered England in 1066 spoke French, and that language became the language of government and the law. The common people, however, continued to speak English, and over the course of several hundred years it regained its prominence, even among the ruling classes.

By the latter half of the 14th century, very few people spoke or understood French, and could not comprehend what was being said to them in a court of law. This led to the passage of the Statute of Pleading in 1362, during the reign of Edward III.

This law provided that "All Pleas which shall be pleaded in [any] Courts whatsoever, before any of his Justices whatsoever, or in his other Places, or before any of His other Ministers whatsoever, or in the Courts and Places of any other Lords whatsoever within the Realm, shall be pleaded, shewed, defended, answered, debated, and judged in the English Tongue." Court documents, however, continued to be written in Latin, a practice that would continue for several more centuries.

Answer: Henry VIII

Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church was not popular with many of his subjects, particularly in the northern part England. This led to a series of rebellions, which are collectively known as "the Pilgrimage of Grace."
The first, known as the Lincolnshire Rising, began in October, 1536 and was quickly put down. It was followed by a much more serious rebellion in Yorkshire, and smaller revolts in Cumberland and Westmorland in 1537. These rebellions were suppressed with great difficulty, and several hundred people were executed for their involvement.

Answer: Elizabeth I

King Philip II of Spain had been married to Elizabeth I's older sister, Mary I. Philip regarded Elizabeth as illegitimate, and having no right to the English throne. After the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1587, Philip decided to invade England and restore the Roman Catholic religion in the country.

He assembled a great fleet, known as the Spanish Armada, and an army of 30,000 men to carry out the invasion. The English defeated the Spanish in a series of engagements, and then bad weather forced the Spanish to retire. Forced to sail north of Scotland in order to return home, over a third of the Spanish ships were lost, along with the lives of thousands of soldiers and sailors.

The defeat of the Spanish Armada was one of the most significant events in English history.

Answer: Charles I

What is known as "the English Civil War" was actually a series of conflicts lasting from 1642 through 1651. Charles I was one of the worst kings in English history, which is saying quite a lot. He was a stubborn, extravagant little man who believed that he ruled by "divine right." In opposition to the king was Parliament, which alone had the power to approve taxes and raise money. Charles was suspected of having pro-Catholic tendencies, and had married a Catholic wife, which did not sit well with many Protestant members of Parliament. Charles attempted to rule without Parliament, but was forced to call it into session in 1640 after an ill-advised attempt to force Scotland to conform to the practices of the Anglican Church. Scotland rose in rebellion, and Charles lacked the money to raise an army to crush the rebellion.

Parliament refused raise money for King Charles unless he made major concessions to its authority. Charles foolishly attempted to arrest five members of Parliament on charges of treason. War broke out between Royalist forces and Parliament in 1642. Defeated in battle, Charles attempted to flee to Scotland, but his unpopularity there led to the Scots turning him over to Parliamentarian forces.

Charles might have survived, albeit with his powers considerably diminished, but he began scheming with the Scots, offering concessions to them if they would invade England and restore him to power. When the Scottish invasion was defeated, and other Royalist uprisings were put down, Parliament indicted Charles on charges of treason, and he was beheaded on January 30, 1649. Charles' son, Charles II, tried to rally supporters in Ireland and Scotland, but by 1651 his forces had been defeated, and he was forced to flee to the continent.

Answer: Mary I

During much of the Middle Ages, the English controlled more territory in what is now known as France than the French king. In the 15th century the English, under Henry V, had actually conquered France and forced Charles VI to name Henry his heir. The death of Henry V in 1522, followed by the weak rule of his son, Henry VI, and the subsequent War of the Roses, enabled the French to eventually take back control of their country.

By the middle of the 16th century, the only English possession in continental France was the strategic port city of Calais.

It was captured by French forces under the command of the Duke of Guise on January 7, 1558. The loss of Calais was a severe blow to English pride and prestige. On her deathbed, Queen Mary I is reported to have said, "When I am dead and opened, you will find Calais written on my heart."

Answer: George III

The Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1803 through 1815. They produced two of the most well known British heroes, the Duke of Wellington and Admiral Horatio Nelson. King George III was the monarch throughout these wars. He became king at the young age of 22, and ruled for almost 60 years. Towards the end of his life, he became subject to periodic bouts of insanity.

In 1811 he was declared unfit to manage the affairs of government, and his eldest son, the future George IV, was declared Prince Regent.

At the time of his death on January 29, 1820 George III was blind and unable to walk.

Answer: Richard II

Richard II was another bad king. He was the grandson of Edward III, and the son of Edward, the Black Prince. Richard surrounded himself with favorites and neglected the affairs of the kingdom. In 1381, when Richard was only 14, the peasants in Kent, under the leadership of a man named Wat Tyler, revolted against the high taxes they were forced to pay.

The rebels actually managed to enter and sack London, destroying many buildings and killing a number of royal officials, including the Lord Chancellor and the Lord High Treasurer. On June 15, 1381 Richard met with the rebels outside of London. During the meeting, a quarrel broke out between the Lord Mayor of London, William Walworth, and Tyler, and the latter was killed.

By then the revolt had spread to other parts of the country, and was suppressed with great difficulty; some estimates say as many as 1,500 rebels were killed or executed. Richard had escaped this threat to his crown, but his ineptness as a ruler saw him overthrown by his cousin, Henry, the Earl of Bolingbroke in 1399, and he died the following year under mysterious circumstances.