Gary Wallace » English Kings and Queens

Kings and Queens of England Articles Moved

Gary Wallace — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 09:42:21 +0000

The first thirteen articles in my Kings and Queens of England series have been moved to pages on this site from their old home at Triond. The biographies cover the reigns of the kings of the Saxon and Danish houses from August 924 to January 1066.

25 February 1570: The Excommunication of Elizabeth I

Gary Wallace — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:50:09 +0000

Elizabeth I c1575

Henry VIII’s decision to break the Church of England away from Rome set in motion a series of events that were central to the political and religious life of the Tudor era and beyond. Today marks the 440th anniversary of one of those events, the excommunication of Henry’s daughter, Elizabeth I.

The religious attitudes of the last four Tudors were very different. Although Henry had broken the English church from Rome, his religious observances were still essentially Catholic. Edward VI, under the influence of his mother’s family, the Seymours, took the country down a Protestant route during his short reign.

After Edward’s early death, Mary I, a devout Catholic, reversed all of his religious reforms and pursued a bloody crusade to stamp out Protestantism in England. The religious tide turned again on Mary’s death when Elizabeth’s first parliament passed a new Act of Supremacy naming her supreme governor of the Church of England.

Elizabeth’s religious settlement was opposed not only by Catholics, who saw the changes as moving too far away from Rome, but also by Puritans, who thought the reforms were too little and too slow. Both groups were fined for non-attendance at Church of England services but were safe if they did not pose a threat.

This situation changed on 25 February 1570 when Pope Pius V issued his papal bull, Regnans in excelsis. The bull excommunicated Elizabeth and anybody who remained loyal to her. It also deposed the queen and called for Catholics to remove her, releasing them from any oaths they had sworn to Elizabeth.

Although the bull was an attempt to return England to Catholicism it actually weakened the Catholic position. Most Catholics were loyal subjects, but after 1570 they could no longer remain loyal to their queen and their church.

The immediate result of Elizabeth’s excommunication was, on the Catholic side, a new push to reconvert England and, on the Protestant side, a harder line against recusancy, ultimately leading to trials and executions of priests. In the longer term, it led to a marginalisation of Catholicism in England that would continue long after the end of the Tudor age.

Other events on 25 February

1308 Coronation of Edward II, king of England
1723 Death of Sir Christopher Wren, English architect, astronomer and mathematician
1914 Death of Sir John Tenniel, English Illustrator

View more February events

Kings and Queens of England: Edward the Confessor

Gary Wallace — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:10:21 +0000

Edward the Confessor

Often in the study of history a reputation must be stripped away to reveal the real historical figure (or as much as the evidence allows). This applies to the story of Edward the Confessor more than most. Far from being the saintly old man seen in the Bayeux tapestry, Edward was a typical 11th century king who took the throne after a long period of civil war and foreign rule.

In the third article of my Kings and Queens of England series I attempt to find the real Edward and discover why the end of his reign led to a struggle for control of the country. As usual, the key dates in Edward’s story can be found in the On This Day section.

You can read the full biography of Edward the Confessor at Quazen.com by following the link below.

Kings and Queens of England: Edward The Confessor (1042-1066)
The Edward the Confessor sat on the throne in the Bayeux tapestry is a white-bearded old man. His reputation is as a saintly king, a peaceful but ineffectual ruler whose childlessness left the kingdom in chaos after his death. But the full story of the penultimate Saxon king is one of warfare, exile, power struggles and shrewd diplomacy.

Kings and Queens of England: Danes and Saxons

Gary Wallace — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:51:44 +0000

Cnut, King of England 1016-1035

The second part of my Kings and Queens of England series covers the years 1013 to 1042. This 29-year period saw six kings on the throne of England and a power struggle between the Saxons and Danes.

Part one ended in 1016 with the death of Æthelred II. In part two I jump back three years to investigate the short reign of Swein Forkbeard before the restoration of Æthelred. Following this I look at the lives of Edmund II, Cnut, Harold I and Harthacnut, the last of the Danish kings of England. As with part one, the key dates can be found in the On This Day section.

You can read the second article at Socyberty.com by following the link below.

Kings and Queens of England: Danes and Saxons (1013-1042)
In the second part of the Kings and Queens of England series I will explore the reigns of the Danish and Saxon kings from 1013 to 1042. I will start this section with the life Swein Forkbeard and finish with the early death of Harthacnut and the end of the Danish period.

Kings and Queens of England: Early Saxons

Gary Wallace — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:01:33 +0000

The murder of Edward the Martyr

One of the first difficulties encountered when attempting to chronicle any period of history is where to start. Some may start a history of the monarchs of England with Alfred the Great, who drove back the Danes and secured his kingdom of Wessex. Others may choose to begin in 1066 with the Norman invasion of William I (the Conqueror), thus ignoring the Saxon and Danish periods altogether.

For this series I have decided to choose Æthelstan as my starting point. As the first king to combine the kingdoms of Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria, enabling him to claim to be ‘king of the English’, his reign would seem a logical place to start. Following on from Æthelstan, this first instalment of the Kings and Queens of England series covers lives and reigns of Edmund I, Eadred, Eadwig, Edgar, Edward the Martyr and Æthelred II (the Unready).

It is my intention to continue this series of articles up to the present day. For completeness, I will soon be starting another series about the Kings and Queens of Scots, joining the two together in 1603. The key dates in the lives of these monarchs can be found in the On This Day section of this site.

You can read the first article, covering the early Saxon kings from Æthelstan to Æthelred II, at Socyberty.com by following the link below.

Kings and Queens of England: Early Saxons (924-1016)
This is the first in a series of articles chronicling the kings and queens of England. This section looks at the years 924-1016 and the kings from Æthelstan to Æthelred II (The Unready).