Ten Famous British Rulers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great lived from 848 to 899. He was King of Wessex from 871 until his death, and, after defeating Viking attempts to take over his kingdom, he effectively became the most powerful ruler in "England", even though his rule didn't encompass the whole of the country at that time. It would become the one country under his grandson, Aethelstan, in 927. Before the attacks by the Danes resumed in the early 890s - and their temporary thorough defeat by Alfred - he set about seeing that London became habitable once more and then turned his attention to the government of his kingdom.

From this period and during the remainder of his reign, Alfred improved the taxation system in his realm; tidied up the rules for conscription (compulsory military service of tenants); reformed and reinforced the military defence structure of the country; improved the small naval force (not terribly successfully); modified, altered and tightened up the civil laws existing at that time; applied biblical and merciful concepts to matters requiring the intervention of the justice system; began steps towards cordial relations with other foreign powers; and put a massive effort into improving education and learning (boys only, as was the case then). He truly deserved the name Alfred the Great.

The cook tip in the question? Legend has it that during his early struggles with the Vikings, Alfred had strategically retreated to regroup his forces. During this period, he sought shelter in a peasant woman's home, and given instructions by that sturdy dame to keep an eye on some wheaten cakes she'd put in her oven to cook. Deep in thought over his military engagements, however, Alfred let them burn - and was given a severe scolding for his foolishness.

Answer: Aethelred the Unready

Officially titled Aethelred II, this English monarch lived from c.966-1016, and ruled from 978 until his death, with a brief break of one year (1013-1014) in between, when he fled to Normandy to escape the invading army of Sweyn Forkbeard. He then reclaimed the throne on Sweyn's death. More than anything else, Aethelred's reign was associated with ongoing battles and attempts at appeasement of those troublesome Danes. This eventually resulted in a very exasperated Aethelred ordering the massacre of all adult Danish males in the land.

Known now as St Brice's Day, this took place on 13 November, 1002, in one third of the country (the Danes were entrenched too firmly elsewhere), but the total number slain is not known with any degree of certainty. Unfortunately for Aethelred however, included in that number was Gunhilde, the sister of Sweyn I of Denmark, and her husband. The repercussions of that returned to haunt Aethelred in 1013 when Sweyn invaded. The Danish problem was never solved in Aethelred's reign and he died in London on 12 April, 1016 fighting the invading forces of Sweyn's son, Cnut (Canute) of Denmark and Norway. The country was then divided between Aethelred's son, Edmund and Cnut himself, but on Edmund's death later that year, Cnut then took over as the sole English ruler, and ruled until 1035.

Why was Aethelred given the nickname of Unready by later generations? It wasn't that he was unready to take the English throne at the age of twelve, but that he was poorly advised by his counsellors. Ironically the name Aethelred itself means well-advised. The old Anglo-Saxon noun "unread", which meant "poor counsel", was too irresistible a pun for later generations not to apply it to this unfortunate ruler.

Answer: Edward the Confessor

Edward the Confessor (c.1003-1066), the son of Aethelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, took back the throne of England upon the death of King Canute's son, Harthacnut in 1042. The unmarried and heirless Harthacnut (c.1018-1043) was thought to have died from an excessive consumption of alcohol at a wedding, but history has decided, in less judgemental terms, that his death was really the result of a cerebral haemorrhage - brought on by an excessive consumption of alcohol at the wedding. He was aged only 24 at the time. Edward and Harthacnut were half-brothers through their mother, Emma, and Edward had been ruling the separate kingdom of Wessex in the southwest of England at the time of Harthacnut's sudden death. He'd only been back in England for a year at that stage, having been exiled in Normandy in the interim.

Although Edward was Harthacnut's titular heir at the time of the young king's passing in June, 1042, Magnus I of Norway, who had inherited the throne of Denmark from Harthacnut, decided to claim the English throne as well. Neither Edward nor his mother were having any of that and Edward was crowned King of England at the Cathedral of Winchester in April, 1043. The early part of his reign consisted of keeping happy the leading earls who had supported him to that position (particularly the powerful Earl of Godwin), while trying to maintain his loyalty to the Kingdom of Wessex, and fending off Magnus I of Norway (who conveniently died in 1047). Following that stabilisation period, however, he then settled down firmly and vigorously into his new role. Along the way, he married Edith, the Earl of Godwin's daughter - just to keep things in the family.

It was in Edward's death however, that his greatest "claim to fame" rests. Having produced no children of his own with his wife, Edith, and as death hovered over him following a series of strokes in 1065, he is believed to have entrusted his kingdom to Edith - and his brother-in-law, Harold - just before he died. That death took place on 5 January 1066, Harold was hastily crowned king the following day - and oh, the mighty changes that followed in the land in that momentous year.

Answer: William the Conqueror

William the Conqueror (1028-1087) was the first Norman king of England. He reigned from 1066, when he invaded this country, and defeated poor old Harold at the Battle of Hastings. Then he marched on London, just in time to have himself crowned King on Christmas Day that year. So why did this lusty young upstart from Normandy stake a claim to the English throne, by George? William stated that the childless King Edward the Confessor, his first cousin once removed, had promised the crown to him for his assistance in fending off the Godwin clan, who, though they had earlier supported Edward's claim to the throne of England, had later fallen out with him and were at that time in exile. However, Edward, you will remember, had married into the Godwin clan, and on their eventual return to England, and with the family harmony restored, Edward then also restored the Godwin's eventual inheritance of the throne as well - through his wife and her brother Harold. He appears, though, to have omitted informing William of that decision. You can understand then that William was a mite peeved when Harold took the throne. William immediately set off from Normandy to claim, and win it, as his rightful due.

He subsequently set about consolidating his rule over his new kingdom - even though he spent most of that reign back on the continent - and the changes he made to the English way of life were entrenched for centuries to come. It wasn't all easy though. As with the many rulers before him, those jolly Danes kept causing trouble (they were nothing if not determined). William also had ongoing problems with his eldest son, Robert Curthose, so much so that instead of leaving England to that son upon his death, and with his second son, Richard, predeceasing him, he willed it to his third son, William Rufus, instead. Not that England was considered that much of a prize at that time in history. He did leave Normandy to Robert, but he wasn't at all happy at losing England - and that would cause trouble between the brothers for some years to come after William's death.

Answer: Henry II

Great-grandson of William the Conqueror, Henry II (1133-1189) inherited the throne of England after the bitter fighting between Matilda (granddaughter of William) and Stephen (grandnephew of William) ended when he agreed to make Henry (Matilda's son) his heir.

One of the most famous of the English kings, Henry was married to the very feisty Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) from 1152 until their mutual separation in the late 1160s. This was a marriage of love and passion (and quite a few arguments), but, after producing eight children (5 sons and 3 daughters), had an acrimonious conclusion. This was a combination of Henry's continual philandering, the offspring thus produced (even though Eleanor herself reared one of them), and his love for his mistress, Rosamund Clifford, a relationship he publicly flaunted. That affair had commenced when Eleanor was pregnant with John, her last child with Henry. Her ire is somewhat understandable. By 1167, she subsequently took all her possessions and moved back to the continent, and she and Henry agreed to a mutual separation. From that time, Eleanor continually encouraged her sons in their many rebellions against their father. This led to Henry capturing Eleanor and keeping her imprisoned in a series of castles back in England until his death. Today that passionate pair are entombed, side by side at Fontevraud Abbey in France. Perhaps, late at night, when all are at rest, their spirits still engage in a domestic brawl now and then.

Major events of Henry's life as ruler of England, apart from his domestic and family squabbles, was his burning desire to restore all the lands lost by his grandfather, Henry I, to the English throne: the establishment of control over Wales; his disastrous attempt to make priests subject to the laws of the land, which led to quarrels with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury (you all know how that ended); creating the foundations of English Common Law; and the decades long sparring with France in what has been described today as a type of cold war. At his death in 1189, he had an empire that controlled most of Wales, all of England, half of Ireland and the western half of France as far south as the Pyrenees. Sadly though, this large empire only led to his sons taking up continual arms against him in their jockeying for control of equal shares in same. Finally, surrounded by rebellion on all sides that were aided by Philip II of France, the ageing and ill Henry, once so proud, ruthless, powerful and virile, died in 1189 at the age of 56. Some say it was of a broken heart. A lovely romantic notion to be sure, but in actual fact, it was from fever and a bleeding stomach ulcer.

Answer: John

The famous or infamous (depending on one's viewpoint) King John (1166-1216) ruled England from 1199 until his death, a year after he reluctantly signed the Magna Carta in 1215. John's rule was a bit of a disaster, all things considered, but he wasn't quite as bad as many people portray him. The youngest son of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, John grew up in the shadow of his famous parents' resounding marital split, and watched his older brothers lead revolt after revolt against their father. He wasn't expected to inherit the throne of England, but following the deaths of his older brothers in turn - William, Henry, Geoffrey and King Richard I - and in spite of his actually leading an unsuccessful rebellion against the ever absent Richard (as well as ultimately turning against his father), the throne became his by right when Richard died in 1199 without legitimate heirs.

John's reign saw a disastrous ongoing war with France in which he subsequently lost his empire on the continent (Lackland indeed); incurring the hatred of all his barons by his revenue raising tactics to reform his military and continue that war; their formation of rebellions against him both prior to and following his reluctant signing of the Magna Carta; his excommunication by the Pope over the long ongoing struggle for supremacy between church and monarchy that played such a part in English history for centuries; his notable lack of religion (he refused to take communion and constantly poked fun at the church); his notable disagreements with, and invasions of, Scotland, Ireland and Wales; his lusty affairs with mistresses during his first childless marriage and his copious illegitimate offspring from same; and his second marriage to an overly young bride. That however turned out quite well and the couple produced five children.

Surely John had some fine points. Nobody is all bad. He was a king who remained in the country for much longer periods than any of his predecessors for a start; he was a brave soldier; he was very active in carrying out his royal duties at home; he had a particular focus on justice; his reforms of the judicial and common law systems had lasting and positive impact on the land; he remained committed and involved in all parts of his government; he reformed, overhauled and improved English currency on several occasions; and he died just in time to set historians arguing the pros and cons of his reign and nature for the next 800 years. Perhaps we'll give the last word to the famous political leader and writer, Sir Winston Churchill. Of King John he would write in his 1958 " A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Volume 1" that "..when the long tally is added, it will be seen that the British nation and the English-speaking world owe far more to the vices of John than to the labours of virtuous sovereigns".

Answer: Edward I

Also known as the Hammer of the Scots and Edward Longshanks, Edward I was born in 1239 and was King of England from 1272 until his death in 1307. Edward was the eldest son of Henry III and the grandson of King John. When he took the throne he set about tidying up and reforming the common law, criminal and property law, eradicating inequities in the feudal system, reforming his own royal administration processes, and the permanently establishing the English parliament. Negatives of Edward I's reign were his notable savagery towards the Scots and his despicable treatment of his Jewish subjects, and eventual expulsion of same from England when they were of no further use to him.

Edward wasn't terribly fond of his father and for a time sided with those troublesome barons against him, but eventually the two sorted out their differences. During his long reign of thirty-five years, Edward's personality began to move more from a type of public service watchdog to a war hawk, particularly with the rebellious Scots when he claimed suzerainty over that country. You can be sure the Scots weren't going to take that lying down. He also took on France with grim determination in an effort to restore the Duchy of Aquitaine to the English crown. Unfortunately, all these long, ongoing military campaigns (including those with Wales as well) saw the people of England bowing under the weight of heavy taxation for their funding and murmurs of discontent began to be heard throughout the land. He managed to keep these at bay while he was alive, leaving his only surviving son, Edward II (1284-1327) to deal with everything when he inherited the throne upon his father's death.

Edward was very tall for the age and, at 6 foot 2 inches, towered over his contemporaries. This earned him his famous "Longshanks" nickname. Unfortunately, he also had a furious temper when younger, a wonky eye (misaligned and with a heavily drooping lid) and a more than noticeable lisp, so, all in all, he would have made a rather intimidating foe in battle. Nor did the English people love him - they feared but respected him instead. He married twice. With his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, a true love affair, he had at least 16 children (11 daughters and 5 sons, with all but one son predeceasing him. He mourned for her for almost a decade until he married again to Margaret of France in 1299. That marriage produced two sons - and a daughter, whom Edward named Eleanor named Eleanor in memory of his first much loved wife. He died 7 July, 1307 from dysentery, during an ongoing battle with the Scots, and after lying in state for some months, was eventually buried in Westminster Abbey on 27 October.

Answer: Edward III

Edward III, grandson of Edward I, was born in 1312, ascended the throne in 1327 and ruled England from then until his death in 1377. Under his reign, England was turned into a powerful and formidable force as the nation began to further strengthen its national identity. He also restored the royal authority which had been so eroded under his father, the deposed Edward II, and instigated the notion of chivalry and the Order of the Garter. Possibly of all the English kings, Edward's name is most associated with both success in war and in rule. This diminished somewhat towards the end of his reign, but this is hardly surprising. His health by then had deteriorated and he was, for the times, a very elderly king.

Edward was crowned at the young age of fourteen and for the next four years, had little say in his kingdom. His mother (Isabella, the "She-wolf of France") ruled as regent during this period instead. She was "assisted" in this by her lover, the powerful and greedy Roger Mortimer, calling the shots behind the scenes. When he turned seventeen, however, Edward had had enough. For their part in the overthrow and murder of his father, Edward II, he arrested Mortimer and subsequently had him executed, and temporarily incarcerated his mother for a period of two years, after which he allowed her to live a very comfortable life style.

Much of Edward's subsequent reign saw the perpetual disagreements with Scotland continuing. The basis of much of this was France's long term alliance with that country and the ever constant threat of invasion of England from French forces. Fed up with French, particularly so after Philip VI confiscated the famous Duchy of Aquitaine and the county of Ponthieu (both of which were possessions of the English crown), Edward stated his claim to the French crown - and it was on for young and old for the next 116 years. This eventually led to unrest throughout England as the national debt began to rise higher and higher to fund the ensuing battles and skirmishes. Edward, a once so powerful and forceful ruler, would go on to see the remainder of his reign, as his years mounted up on the calendar, filled with political strife, failures in military engagements and a great personal weariness. On his death in 1377, the throne passed down to his ten year old grandson, Richard II, the son of Edward's eldest son (Edward, the Black Prince) who had died the previous year from either dysentery - or poison.

Answer: Henry V

Henry V was the great grandson of Edward III. At the time of his birth, he was so far removed from the throne of England, that the exact date of his arrival in the world wasn't documented, but he is thought to have been born in either 1386 or 1387. He would go on to become the second king of the House of Lancaster when he took the throne in 1413 during the unsettled period leading up to the eventual War of the Roses (1455-1485). On his ascension, however, Henry's attention was focused more on France when he shortly afterwards restated England's claim to the throne of the nation. The third stage of the 100 Years' War was on its way once again.

Henry was a fine soldier with several victories against the Welsh and Northern England already to his credit, and his military successes in France were quite astonishing. He swept through large areas of that nation in breathtaking time, including the great English victory at Agincourt, and only ceased his onslaught on the French crown with the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, when Charles VI agreed to make him his heir apparent. Just to reinforce the agreement, Henry then married Catherine, the daughter of Charles. Don't be thinking Henry was a man filled with noble purpose and character, however, in spite of William Shakespeare's glamorous portrayal of him in his famous play "Henry V". He brutally repressed any challenges to his rule at home, and, following the 1415 Battle of Agincourt with France, he had ordered all the French prisoners slain. Worse still by far was his treatment of the women and children of the town of Rouen in Normandy. After they had been forced out of the town by the town's starving defenders, in the mistaken belief that Henry would allow them to go free, he refused to do so, and cold-bloodedly kept them there in ditches around the town to die of starvation. Brutal times indeed.

Henry's short reign could basically be summed up then as brutality, war and more war. He died suddenly in 1422, aged 36, leaving his star-crossed nine months old son with Catherine, to eventually become Henry VI. Oh what a sorry tale that would be. Would you like to know why Henry's face was so scarred on one side? During his participation in the 1403 Battle of Shrewsbury against the Welsh Henry Hotspur Percy, Henry was shot in the face with an arrow that became embedded there. Long before the days of antibiotics, this was a life threatening wound, but Henry's doctor was amazing. He initially treated the wound with honey, a natural antiseptic, for several days, and then designed a tool to dig into Henry's face and screw round and round into the broken arrow shaft, before dragging it back out. He then flushed out the large gaping wound with alcohol. All this while Henry was awake, but hopefully numbed thoroughly with the alcohol beforehand. Henry recovered, but was left badly scarred as a result. This appears to have been on the right side of his face, as almost all portraits we have of the young king with the peculiar haircut depict him facing to the left. There is only one available on the internet depicting him facing the artist and his distorted features are clearly evident in that.

Answer: Henry VI

Poor old Henry VI (1421-1471) was just a baby when he inherited the British throne in May, 1422. Within a few short months of that disaster, he also inherited the throne of France, in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Troyes, when his grandfather Charles VI of France died in October that same year. He also inherited the 100 Years War. This recommenced while he was still a child, when the indignant disinherited Charles VII of France staked his claim to the French throne (with the help of Joan of Arc), and was crowned King of that country in 1429.

When Henry VI was old enough to take office in England in 1437, he was still a young teenager, and with no experience in rule, administration or in battle. England was in a mess. Multiple losses in France, a discontented English nobility losing all their lands in that country, and an unsettled population back in England were his inheritance. He did his best, but, coupled with his gentle nature, his deteriorating mental instability, continuing losses abroad, and an increasing political unrest at home, this sad only child of Henry V was doomed. In at attempt to achieve peace with France in 1445, he married the very feisty Margaret of Anjou, niece of Charles VII, but things just went from bad to worse from this time. By 1453, the only English possession remaining in France was the region of Calais.

At the same time in England, Richard the powerful Duke of York, cousin of the King, and descended down from the famous Edward III on both sides of his family, was becoming more and more popular with the people. From 1453, Henry's mental health collapsed and he was considered unfit to rule. The question of succession became or prime importance, and in 1459, this saw the onset of the English War of the Roses. Henry was deposed in 1461 by Richard's son, who took the throne as Edward IV. He was captured and imprisoned in 1465 in the Tower of London. His powerful wife headed a rear guard action on his behalf and he was briefly restored to the throne in 1470, but imprisoned again in 1471 by Edward. His only son died in battle in May that same year, and, seventeen days later, the tragic Lancastrian Henry VI was found dead in the Tower of London, having lost both his kingdoms and his only heir. When his body was exhumed several centuries later, it was found that he had severe damage to his skull and his fair hair was covered in blood. This indicated, as long suspected, that Henry had been murdered on Edward's orders, a Yorkist king who was already prepared to be re-crowned the following morning.