OF KINGS AND QUEENS!!

King Offa (757 - 796)

Jan 1, 757

Name: King Offa
Born: c.730
Parents: Thingfrith (Father)
House of: Mercia
Became King: 757
Married: Cynethryth
Children: Aelfflaed, Ecgfrith, Eadburh
Died: July 29, 796 Offa (son of Thingfrith, son of Eanulf), King of Mercia, was one of the leading figures of Saxon history. He obtained the throne of Mercia in 757, after the murder of his cousin, King Aethelbald, by Beornraed. After spending fourteen years in consolidating and ordering his

King Egbert (Ecgberht) (802 - 839)

Feb 2, 802

Egbert (Ecgberht in Anglo Saxon) king of Wessex (802-39), and the first Saxon king recognized as sovereign of all England . He was the son of a Kentish noble but claimed descent from Cerdic (reigned 519-34), founder of Wessex, the kingdom of the West Saxons in southern England.

King Aethelwulf (839 - 856)

Mar 3, 839

Aethelwulf was the son of Egbert and a sub-king of Kent. He assumed the throne of Wessex upon his father's death in 839. His reign is characterized by Viking invasions and repulsions common to all English rulers of the time, but the making of war was not his chief claim to fame.

King Aethelbald (856 - 860)

Apr 5, 856

While his father, Aethelwulf, was on pilgrimage to Rome in 855, Aethelbald plotted with the Bishop of Sherbourne and the ealdorman of Somerset against him. The details of the plot are unknown, but upon his return from Rome, Aethelwulf found his direct authority limited to the sub-kingdom of Kent, while Aethelbald controlled Wessex.

King Aethelbert (860 - 866)

May 5, 860

Became king of Wessex on the death of his brother Aethelbald. During his reign the Danes returned and soon after his accession a Danish army landed either via the Thames or on the south coast and advanced as far as Winchester before two contingents of Saxons defeated them. Towards the end of his reign a more organized force arrived under the command of Ragnar Lodbrok.

King Aethelred I (866 - 871)

Jun 6, 866

Succeeded his brother Aethelbert. Aethelred's reign was one long struggle against the Danes. Ivarr the Boneless and his brother Halfdan based in Dublin attacked and occupied York in 866 which became a Viking kingdom (Jorvik). The Danes marched south and occupied Nottingham.

King Alfred the Great (871 - 899)

Jul 7, 871

Anglo-Saxon king 871–899 who defended England against Danish invasion and founded the first English navy. He succeeded his brother Aethelred to the throne of Wessex in 871, and a new legal code came into force during his reign.

King Edward The Elder (899 - 924)

Aug 8, 899

King Edward The Elder (899 - 924)

King Athelstan (924 - 939)

Sep 9, 924

King of England 924–39. The son of Edward the Elder, Athelstan brought about English unity by ruling both Mercia and Wessex. He defeated an invasion by Scots, Irish, and the men of Strathclyde at Brunanburh in 937. He overcame the Scandinavian kingdom based in York and increased English power on the Welsh and Scottish borders.

King Edmund (939 - 946)

Oct 10, 939

King of England 939–46. The son of Edward the Elder, he succeeded his half-brother, Athelstan, as king in 939. He succeeded in regaining control of Mercia, which on his accession had fallen to the Norse inhabitants of Northumbria, and of the Five Boroughs, an independent confederation within the Danelaw.

King Edred (946 - 955)

Nov 11, 946

King Edred was born in about 923 AD, a son of King Edward the Elder by his third marriage. He succeeded his brother, King Edmund I, in 946. Like both his elder brothers, Edred enjoyed military success over the Vikings. However, Edred was a strongly religious man with bad health (he had a stomach ailment and could barely eat).

King Edwy (Eadwig) (955 - 959)

Dec 12, 955

King 955-959. Reportedly murdered by Canute. Historians have not treated Eadwig well, and it is unfortunate for him that he ran afoul of the influential Bishop Dunstan early in his reign. Legend has it that his coronation had to be delayed while Dunstan dislodged him from a bed where he was lying between his sweetheart and her equally amorous Mother.

King Edgar (959 - 975)

Feb 1, 959

King of all England from 959. He was the younger son of Edmund I, and strove successfully to unite English and Danes as fellow subjects. In 973 Edgar of England marched his army north to Chester. His navy meets him there via the Irish Sea.

King Edward The Martyr (975 - 978)

Feb 2, 975

Elder son of King Edgar, he succeeded to the throne as a boy of 12, and in so doing, aroused rival claims to the throne from his even younger half-brother, Aethelred II, the Unready. He was murdered by members of Aethelred's household at Corfe Castle in 978.

King Aethelred II The Unready (978 - 1016)

Feb 4, 978

King of England from 978, following the murder of his half-brother, Edward the Martyr. He was son of King Edgar. Aethelred tried to buy off the Danish raiders by paying Danegeld. In 1002 he ordered the massacre of the Danish settlers, provoking an invasion by Sweyn I of Denmark.In 1013 King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark landed in England and was proclaimed king

King Edmund II lronside (1016)

Feb 2, 1016

King of England in 1016, the son of Ethelred II 'the Unready' . He led the resistance to Canute's invasion in 1015, and on Ethelred's death in 1016 was chosen king by the citizens of London. Meanwhile, the Witan (the king's council) elected Canute.

King Cnut (Canute) (1016 - 1035)

Mar 3, 1016

King of England from 1016, Denmark from 1018, and Norway from 1028. Having invaded England in 1013 with his father, Sweyn, king of Denmark, he was acclaimed king on Sweyn's death in 1014 by his Viking army.

King Harold I Harefoot (1035 - 1040)

Apr 4, 1035

King of England from 1035. The illegitimate son of Canute, known as Harefoot, he claimed the crown on the death of his father, when the rightful heir, his half-brother Harthacnut, was in Denmark and unable to ascend the throne. He was elected king in 1037, but died three years later, as Harthacnut was preparing to invade England.

King Harthacnut (1040 - 1042)

May 5, 1040

Was the eldest son of King Canute II and Emma of Normandy and was therefore the heir to the English crown. He had been proclaimed king of Denmark in 1028 but when Canute died in 1035 Harthacnut was defending his land in Denmark.

King Edward The Confessor (1042 - 1066)

Jun 6, 1042

King of England from 1042, the son of Ethelred II. He lived in Normandy with his mother Emma of Normandy's relatives until shortly before his accession to the English Throne. During his reign power was held by Earl Godwin of Wessex and his son Harold, while the king devoted himself to religion, including the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey (consecrated in 1065), where he is buried.

King Harold II (1066)

Jun 6, 1066

Harold succeeded his father Earl Godwine in 1053 as Earl of Wessex.. He had no bloodline to the throne but his sister Edith was married to King Edward the Confessor. In January 1066 when Edward died childless, the Witan (or Witenagemot a council of high-ranking religious and secular men) elected Harold to succeed him and one day later he was crowned King Harold II.

King William I The Conqueror (1066 - 1087)

Jul 7, 1066

King of England from 25 December 1066. He was the illegitimate son of Duke Robert the Devil whom he succeeded as Duke of Normandy in 1035. Claiming that his 2nd cousin King Edward the Confessor had bequeathed him the English throne, William invaded England in September 1066, defeating Harold II Godwineson at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066.

King William II Rufus (1087 - 1100)

Jul 7, 1087

King of England from 1087, the third son of William (I) the Conqueror. He spent most of his reign attempting to capture Normandy from his brother Robert (II) Curthose , Duke of Normandy. His extortion of money led his barons to revolt. Malcolm III of Scotland twice invades England in 1091 and 1093 before Malcolm is defeated and killed at the Battle of Alnwick.