The Kings & Queens of Britain

Introduction

The Impact Of The Monarchy

On 18 May 2018, Prince Harry, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, walked down the aisle with Meghan Markle. Their royal wedding was celebrated in exuberant style, with a rousing sermon, a 20-strong gospel choir singing ‘Stand by Me’ and a cello performance by the first black musician to win the title ‘Young Musician of the Year’. Meghan was no typical royal bride and this was no traditional wedding – yet it indicated the extraordinary adaptability of the British monarchy, which first emerged in Anglo-Saxon times and has endured to the present day.

The monarchy arose alongside other social changes. Around 600, a feudal structure began to develop, with lords owning private land that was worked by serfs; clear social divisions were established between the landed and landless. At the same time, the power of the central state was growing, owing to the military conquest of territory. The king gained significance as the most important feudal lord and as a war leader, and from the time of Athelstan (925–939), monarchs ruled all of England. Early kings had a huge political impact on the country, and their personality was key to the success or failure of their reign. The coronation of a new monarch was a decisive event; the sovereign would probably rule for life, and some remained at the helm for decades. Political life was quite different to the cycle of regular elections we experience in modern times.

The Imperial State Crown is presented to Queen Elizabeth II before the state opening of Parliament. The Crown Jewels are held in the Tower of London.

Throughout history, the actions of individual monarchs have affected social, political and economic affairs. Strong rulers have conquered and subjugated territory, including William I in England, Edward I in Wales and Robert the Bruce in Scotland. Their impact has sometimes been unintentional; developments have occurred as byproducts of policies. Social change was triggered by Henry VIII’s personal imperative for a divorce, which led to the separation of the English Church from the Catholic Church, the Reformation and the establishment of Protestantism as the state religion. In the 17th century, Charles I’s inability to compromise with Parliament caused political conflict that contributed to the English Civil War and the Interregnum. After the restoration of the monarchy, Parliament substantially increased its powers.

The monarch’s need for tax revenues to pay for the royal court and prosecute wars led to economic changes. Taxes were imposed initially on land, and the landowning barons who were encumbered by this taxation became determined to protect their own interests and exert some control over Crown expenditure. Over time, from the Magna Carta onwards (1215), the power of the monarchy to manage spending was gradually transferred to Parliament. From the 18th century, economic power began to shift away from the landowners who sat in the House of Lords towards the businesspeople and industrialists who occupied the House of Commons; as the latter gained ascendance, the Commons became the more powerful house in Parliament.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, constitutional monarchy developed – the institution lost its executive role and adopted an advisory role in government. As the autocratic monarchies of Europe fell away in the early 20th century, the British monarchy preserved itself by carving out a ceremonial niche and becoming a focus for national identity that was cemented during two world wars. This book tells the story of a remarkably resilient institution.

Chapter 1

SAXONS AND DANES 800s–1066

From the 5th to the 7th centuries, Angles, Saxons and Jutes from northern Germany established kingdoms in England. Traditionally, historians perceived their invasion as a violent takeover, but recently opinions have shifted. Although the native British people offered some resistance, many historians now see it as a less forceful conquest, marked by social integration and intermarriage with the local population. By 700, twelve main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had formed and they fought among themselves for supremacy. It was not until the 10th century that England came under one ruler. Once in control, the Anglo-Saxon monarchs created administrative systems and laws to govern the land. In the 900s, Danish invaders persistently attacked England, raiding year after year; they finally seized the English throne the following century. In turn, their dominance was challenged by growing Norman influence.

This Anglo-Saxon manuscript from the early-11th century shows labourers ploughing a field.

TIMELINE OF KINGS 800s–1066

800s

Egbert (802–839)

Aethelwulf (839–858)

Aethelbald (858–860)

Aethelberht (860–865/866)

Aethelred I (865/866–871)

Alfred the Great (871–899)

900s

Edward the Elder (899–924)

Athelstan (924–939)

Edmund I (939–946)

Eadred (946–955)

Eadwig (955–959)

Edgar (959–975)

Edward the Martyr (975–978)

Aethelred II the Unready (978–1013)

1000s

Svein Forkbeard (1013–14)

Aethelred II the Unready (1014–16)

Edmund II Ironside (1016)

Cnut (1016–35)

Harold I Harefoot (1035–40)

Hardecanute (1040–42)

Edward the Confessor (1042–66)

Harold II (1066)

ALFRED THE GREAT (871–899)

The youngest of at least six children of an aristocratic family, Alfred emerged to become a powerful monarch and the best known of the Anglo-Saxon kings. The only English monarch known as ‘the great’, he mounted a fierce defence against the Danish invaders, constructed fortified towns and extensively revised Anglo-Saxon law. Alfred made steps towards the Crown’s control of England, and by the 890s, his charters and coins referred to him as ‘king of the English’. He is often considered the first king of England, although he ruled only part of the country.

The statue of Alfred the Great in Winchester. Winchester was the capital of the kingdom of Wessex.

THE DANES – DESTRUCTIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE

England was attractive to the Vikings of Denmark, for its fertile farmland and the riches of its monasteries – and their longboats allowed them to reach its shores. Alfred’s reign was dominated by struggles with the Danes to control England. In 871, Alfred defeated Danish forces at the Battle of Ashdown, in Berkshire, but they continued to launch attacks in Wessex. Following Alfred’s victory in 878 at the Battle of Edington, near Trowbridge in Wiltshire, they made peace. The Danish raids had been hugely destructive – they razed settlements and stole booty. Yet they brought advances too. The Danes introduced the axe, which was probably used for clearing forests, allowing the expansion of agriculture. They brought their sophisticated sailing technology and navigation techniques, using a sun compass to check the position of the sun, and skilful craftsmanship, making beads from melted coloured glass and elegant combs from animal bones.

A Viking axe blade, c. AD 1000

ALFRED BURNS THE CAKES

As author Rudyard Kipling once commented, ‘If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.’ Many people know of King Alfred from the tale of his poor baking skills. In January 878, the Vikings invaded Alfred’s base in Chippenham, and his forces were routed. The king and his men scattered around the Somerset Levels, relying on food and shelter from the locals. Alfred had taken refuge with a peasant woman, who asked him to keep an eye on her cakes baking by the fire. Consumed by his worries, he allowed the cakes to burn and was scolded by his hostess. Alfred subsequently regrouped his forces in Athelney – a tiny low-lying village in the marshes, surrounded by reeds, woods and scrubland – where he planned the retaliatory assault against the Vikings in Edington.

SECURING THE KINGDOM

Once in control, King Alfred reorganized his army and introduced a military levy system. At any one time, half the militia were active, while the other half remained in reserve. To fight the Danes at sea, he built a naval fleet with superior ships: ‘full nigh twice as long as the others; some had sixty oars, and some had more; they were both swifter and steadier, and also higher than the others’.¹ In 884, Alfred sent a fleet against the Danes of East Anglia and he took London in 886. He realized he could not drive the Danes out of the whole country, so he made a partition treaty. England was divided – the north and east between the Rivers Thames and Tees became Danish territory, while Alfred controlled London, West Mercia and Kent. The main Danish settlements were Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire; in the 11th century, the Danish area became known as the Danelaw.

For defence, King Alfred constructed around 25 burghs – fortified centres across southern England, guarded by professional soldiers. The burghs allowed people to live in peace; they developed into the medieval towns of the south, and the king encouraged the development of industries. The English were no longer purely rural folk.

A Viking helmet. The first Viking raid on the British Isles came at the monastery of Lindisfarne in 793.

BOROUGHS

Alfred rebuilt London, which the Danish raids had made almost uninhabitable, renovating the walls of the old Roman city of Londinium, and restoring the waterfront. He offered settlers plots of land called burghs, which they would defend in times of war. The burghs created in London in the 880s formed the basis of the city centre, between Cheapside and the Thames. The word ‘borough’ comes from ‘burgh’, meaning ‘fortress’.

A map of England in 878. The country was split into the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria, and the Danelaw.

RELIGION, EDUCATION AND LAW

King Alfred also turned his hand to the Church and education, restoring monasteries and convents that had been demolished in Viking raids. He introduced a school system for the sons of noblemen, believing that secular officials as well as churchmen should be educated. Alfred loved books, and was one of the few English monarchs to write books himself. He had ‘books most necessary for all men to know’ translated from Latin to English, and it is believed he commissioned the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (see below).

The king established a legal code to form the body of Anglo-Saxon law. He explained his process:

I … collected these [laws] together and ordered to be written many of them which our forefathers observed, those which I liked; and many of those which I did not like I rejected with the advice of my councillors … For I dared not presume to set in writing at all many of my own, because it was unknown to me what would please those who should come after us …²

The Anglo-Saxons had a council of important nobles and bishops called the Witan, which they could call upon for advice. Alfred clearly accepted that it was necessary to seek advice from his councillors, one of the marks of a successful ruler. By consolidating his territory and developing the legal system, Alfred facilitated the extension of control over the whole of England by his successors.

THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE

A main source for our knowledge of Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle provides a narrative of historical events, covering the breadth of English life, from agriculture, trade and coinage to religion, laws and wars. Its coverage is patchy, with more information about some eras than others; you won’t find much about King Cnut, but it is rich in detail for the hundred years from Edward the Confessor’s reign. The chronicle has survived to this day, although one of the seven manuscripts was destroyed in a fire in 1731.

The opening page of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

EDWARD THE ELDER (899–924)

Described by William of Malmesbury as ‘much inferior to his father in the cultivation of letters’ yet ‘incomparably more glorious in the power of his rule,’³ Alfred’s eldest son Edward increased the territory of the English Crown and achieved the allegiance of the Danes, Scots and Britons (the indigenous pre-Anglo-Saxon people). His military success was in large part due to an alliance with his sister Aethelflaed. They recaptured a large area of land from the Danes, defeating them near Tettenhall, Northumbria, in 910. Edward extended his rule over most of England, except for the Kingdom of York, and subjected the Mercians to his rule. He also forced the submission of Constantine II of Scotland and the Kings of Strathclyde in 921 although it is unlikely he had direct control over Scotland. Edward laid the ground for the unification of England under his successor.

Edward the Elder, depicted in the Genealogical roll of the kings of England, c. 1307.

ANGLO-SAXON SOCIETY

By the 10th century, the laws defined the social hierarchy in England. At the bottom were slaves, frequently victims of misfortune who had been sold into servitude. Then there were the semi-free – cottagers tied to their lord. They were neither paid nor paid rent, but worked on the land, giving a proportion of its produce to the lord. Above them were the warriors and lords – the landowners. Owning land was the key to wealth. Interestingly, women in the Saxon era had more freedom than in later times. They could not be forced to marry and divorce was easy to obtain. High-ranked women could own land and property, and make wills. Ordinary women had a varied working life; they were responsible for housework and childcare, but also farmed and made clothes.

THE LADY OF THE MERCIANS

The 16-year-old daughter of Alfred the Great, Aethelflaed, was married in 886 to Aethelred, the ruler of Mercia. At this time, the eastern part of Mercia was held by the Vikings. Leading their army together, Aethelred and Aethelflaed took back large swathes of Mercia. When her husband grew sick, Aethelflaed led building projects and military campaigns; she campaigned alongside her brother Edward to defeat the Vikings in 910. After Aethelred died in 911, Aethelflaed became the sole ruler of Mercia as the Lady of the Mercians.

Aethelflaed, the daughter of Alfred the Great and ruler of Mercia, portrayed in the 13th-century Cartulary and Customs of Abingdon Abbey. She was the only female Anglo-Saxon ruler.

ATHELSTAN (924–39)

In his personal life, King Athelstan, son of Edward the Elder, was a devout man who loved collecting religious manuscripts and saints’ relics, which he offered to churches and communities to gain their support. As king, he extended his authority over the whole of England, ending opposition in Cornwall. All five Welsh kings submitted to