Which English Kings are generally considered "the best."

[civver_764]

lol, reminds me of Henry VIII. At least how he's portrayed in The Tudors.

I'm curious: How much respect does William I get? And before him the Danish kings?

 

[vogtmurr]

Knut is one of the best alltime - and his chief antagonist Edmund Ironside was no slouch.

 

[Cynovolans]

Cnut was the best of the rulers of England, and me becoming addicted to the historical manga Vinland Sagas does not make me biased.

But I'm still confused as to why Athelstan the Glorious never comes up on any of these best english kings list, and as far as I know he is the only person with the epithet "the Glorious".

 

[BCLG100]

lol, reminds me of Henry VIII. At least how he's portrayed in The Tudors.

I'm curious: How much respect does William I get? And before him the Danish kings?

William I gets quite a bit of respect as it can be seen from here to easily trace the evolution of English Monarchy whilst the Doomsday books were nothing short of impressive for their time!

 

[rollo1066]

I agree with the post listing Henry II. He basically founded the English common law system. He also was very advanced in his military strategy and almost always victorious. Unfortunately none of his sons were even close in ability. Henry V could be considered for his victory at Agincourt, had he lived longer England & France might be one country. Of course I agree with Elizabeth I but she has been listed so many times. I don't think a post 1715 monarch could qualify because of the greatly reduced power of the monarch.

 

[Bast]

English Kings are not the best. English Queens are.

Queen Victoria
Queen Elizabeth I
Queen Mary II
Queen Anne
Queen Elizabeth II
Matilda, Lady of the English

England is one of the most important nations historically and women have been at the head of that power for so long. They helped shape it.

 

[Traitorfish]

English Kings are not the best. English Queens are.

Queen Victoria
Queen Elizabeth I
Queen Mary II
Queen Anne
Queen Elizabeth II
Matilda, Lady of the English

England is one of the most important nations historically and women have been at the head of that power for so long. They helped shape it.

Well, Elizabeth, certainly, and Mary is probably under-rated, but the rest of them range from irrelevant- such as Victoria- to the arguably influence of Matilda. If the Queens are a superior lot to the Kings, it's only because most ruled in a period when the monarchy lacked the authority to actively terrorise the population, and of those that did, one- notably, the only ruling Queen absent from the list- did so with infamous gusto.

 

[Karalysia]

Where is Bodiccia?

 

[Dachs]

The list sez 'English', chief. The Iceni weren't English, and she wasn't even really royalty. Now, Cartimandua, there's an actual queen.

 

[LightSpectra]

Where is Bodiccia?

Good leadership consists in waltzing your entire army into an encirclement?

 

[vogtmurr]

The list sez 'English', chief. The Iceni weren't English, and she wasn't even really royalty. Now, Cartimandua, there's an actual queen.

I guess none of them were english yet - but Cartimandua, how so ? Dependent always on Roman soldiers and when they didn't show up one time she disappears, not before giving up a hero by the name Caractacus.

 

[Karalysia]

Good leadership consists in waltzing your entire army into an encirclement?

Burning London has to count for something.

 

[BananaLee]

Londonium was only a 10-year-old town at that point in time.

Colchester was the capital back in those days. Though that was destroyed too.

 

[Lord of Elves]

England doesn't really have a history of great kings, at least from the American perspective. You have Henry VIII, who killed all his wives one after another, George III who completely botched the post-French Indian War tax hike, et cetera.

If I had to pick a king from medieval England, it'd probably be James I. He made the Union possible, and significantly stimulated over-seas colonization.

 

[Traitorfish]

You have Henry VIII, who killed all his wives one after another...

To be fair, he only had two killed. Two others were divorced, one died of natural causes, and the last outlived him. Still not a great record, sure, but not quite as bad as his reputation sometimes dictates. The second execution probably ruined it for him- she lasted less than two three before her head came off.

It's always struck me as odd that this is the one thing people remember about Henry, apart from maybe the fact that he was quite fat (and even then, that was only in his old age). You'd think that the Reformation or the Dissolution of the Monasteries might appear a bit higher on the list, but people always seem hazy on them.

 

[Dachs]

I guess none of them were english yet - but Cartimandua, how so ? Dependent always on Roman soldiers and when they didn't show up one time she disappears, not before giving up a hero by the name Caractacus.

Cartimandua is an actual queen because she was called regina by the Roman sources and Boudicca wasn't.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

The second execution probably ruined it for him- she lasted less than two three before her head came off.

Except she actually was guilty. Henry didn't even believe the accusations at first. It is the Anne Boleyn situation where he comes off looking terrible.

As for the question, the ones I generally hear referred to as the best are Alfred, Athelstan, Canute, Henry I, Henry II, Edward I, Edward III, Henry V, James I and sometimes George III (but not by Americans for obvious reasons).

 

[Karalysia]

Anne Boyeln most likely didn't have sex with her brother.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Anne Boyeln most likely didn't have sex with her brother.

That's what I meant. Anne Boleyn was probably innocent. Catherine Howard (the second execution) was guilty.

 

[LightSpectra]

The story of William I's death is a better argument against obesity than anything else I've encountered in my life.