Who was the first king of England?

Question

I'm not sure HELP!!!

Answer 1

James I, from (1603-1625)

Answer 2

The first king of the House of Wessex (over much of England) was Egbert (r. CE 802-839); however, England wasn't permanently unified until CE 927 under the reign of Athelstan (r. CE 924-939). Some historians, however, regard the Wessex ruler, Alfred the Great (r. CE 871-abt. 899), as the first English king who ruled over all of England. Take your pick.

James I of England (and VI of Scotland) was the first king to rule simultaneously over England, Scotland, and Wales as the two kingdoms and the principality were united under his personal rule (r. 1603-1625). James ruled Scotland from 1567 to the time of his death, 1625.

Answer 3

The first King of England is probably Aelle (AD 477. King of the Suth Seax (South Saxons,) King of Sussex in Southern England and the first true English King.

After the Romans a period of confusion arose, eventually resulting the formation of a number of smaller Anglo-SAxon kingdoms - Northumbria, Cumbria, Mercia, Wessex to name a few. Each had its own king. Many important kings ruled (such as Alfred the Great) during this time, but only over parts of England.

The Viking invasions altered a great deal in the balance of power within England. Eventually power became increasingly centred around an English and a Norse/Viking/Danish ruler. Probably the first king of ALL England was a Dane called Cnut or Canute (994-1035).

With the Norman conquest (1066) and the Rule of William I England became a firmly established single state. A new system of administration was imposed and all of the smaller kingdoms became nothing but historical memories.

Read more at http://www.englandandenglishhistory.com/adventus-saxonem-saxonum/default.aspx for an overview.

Visit http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page5.asp, which gives a full history of British Royalty from the Anglo Saxon times through to present day. Though the first mention of Kings and Queens are of regions and not of Britain as a whole.

Answer 4

me and my uncle King Arthur

Answer 5

It began with the Anglo-Saxons... and Offa is the first officially listed. From http://www.royal.gov/uk
"In the Dark Ages during the fifth and sixth centuries, communities of peoples in Britain inhabited homelands with ill-defined borders. Such communities were organised and led by chieftains or kings.

Following the final withdrawal of the Roman legions from the provinces of Britannia in around 408 AD these small kingdoms were left to preserve their own order and to deal with invaders and waves of migrant peoples such as the Picts from beyond Hadrian's Wall, the Scots from Ireland and Germanic tribes from the continent.

King Arthur, a larger-than-life figure, has often been cited as a leader of one or more of these kingdoms during this period, although his name now tends to be used as a symbol of British resistance against invasion.

The invading communities overwhelmed or adapted existing kingdoms and created new ones - for example, the Angles in Mercia and Northumbria. Some British kingdoms initially survived the onslaught, such as Strathclyde, which was wedged in the north between Pictland and the new Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.

By 650 AD, the British Isles were a patchwork of many kingdoms founded from native or immigrant communities and led by powerful chieftains or kings. In their personal feuds and struggles between communities for control and supremacy, a small number of kingdoms became dominant: Bernicia and Deira (which merged to form Northumbria in 651 AD), Lindsey, East Anglia, Mercia, Wessex and Kent.

Until the late seventh century, a series of warrior-kings in turn established their own personal authority over other kings, usually won by force or through alliances and often cemented by dynastic marriages.

According to the later chronicler Bede, the most famous of these kings was Ethelberht, king of Kent (reigned c.560-616), who married Bertha, the Christian daughter of the king of Paris, and who became the first English king to be converted to Christianity (St Augustine's mission from the Pope to Britain in 597 during Ethelberht's reign prompted thousands of such conversions).

Ethelberht's law code was the first to be written in any Germanic language and included 90 laws. His influence extended both north and south of the river Humber: his nephew became king of the East Saxons and his daughter married king Edwin of Northumbria (died 633).

In the eighth century, smaller kingdoms in the British Isles continued to fall to more powerful kingdoms, which claimed rights over whole areas and established temporary primacies: Dalriada in Scotland, Munster and Ulster in Ireland. In England, Mercia and later Wessex came to dominate, giving rise to the start of the monarchy.

Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period the succession was frequently contested, by both the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy and leaders of the settling Scandinavian communities. The Scandinavian influence was to prove strong in the early years.

It was the threat of invading Vikings which galvanised English leaders into unifying their forces, and, centuries later, the Normans who successfully invaded in 1066 were themselves the descendants of Scandinavian 'Northmen'."

The first king listed officially is Offa:
"OFFA (r. 757-796)

Offa, King of Mercia seized the throne after a civil war, and established supremacy over many lesser kings.

He consolidated his position by marrying his daughters to the kings of Wessex and Northumbria, and was the first ruler to be called 'king of the English'.

Offa ruthlessly overcame strong opposition in southern England. By the end of his reign, Offa was master of all England south of the Humber. He had a frontier barrier (Offa's Dyke) built; this continuous ditch and bank ran 149 miles along the boundary between the Mercian and Welsh kingdoms 'from sea to sea'.

Offa had dealings with the emperor Charlemagne (a proposed dynastic marriage between their children came to nothing), and he visited Rome in 792 to strengthen his links with the papacy.

The English penny (silver currency) was introduced during Offa's reign.

In the first recorded coronation in England, Offa's son Ecgfrith was consecrated in 787 in Offa's lifetime in an attempt to secure the succession. However, Ecgfrith died childless, months after Offa. Offa's success in building a strong unified kingdom caused resistance in other kingdoms.

The Mercians' defeat at the hands of Egbert of Wessex at the battle of Ellendun in 825 meant that supremacy passed to Wessex. "