Empire · 927–1707 · Europe
Kingdom of England
Also known as England, English territory, Angevin Empire, England and Ireland
The Kingdom of England was created when Æthelstan of Wessex, building on his grandfather Alfred the Great's resistance to the Vikings, brought all the English kingdoms under his rule in 927. After conquest by the Danish king Cnut in 1016 and William of Normandy in 1066, England was tied to French lands, and under Henry II it formed the core of the Angevin realm stretching to the Pyrenees.
Kings shared power with barons, as in Magna Carta of 1215, and from the 13th century with Parliament. England fought the Hundred Years War against France, lost its French territories and endured the Wars of the Roses. The Tudors broke with Rome and ruled Ireland as a kingdom. In 1707 England united with Scotland to form Great Britain.
- Years
- 927–1707
- Capital
- Winchester, then London
- Greatest extent
- 1180, about 380,000 km²
- Region
- Europe
Henry II's Angevin lands, from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees
Legacy
Medieval England developed the common law, Magna Carta and Parliament, institutions later spread worldwide by the British Empire.
Rulers
- Æthelstan 927 – 939
First king of all England
- William I the Conqueror 1066 – 1087
Norman conqueror of England
- Henry II 1154 – 1189
Ruled the Angevin realm and reformed English law
- Edward I 1272 – 1307
Conquered Wales and developed Parliament
- Edward III 1327 – 1377
Began the Hundred Years War
- Henry VIII 1509 – 1547
Broke with the Roman Church
- Elizabeth I 1558 – 1603
Defeated the Spanish Armada
- Anne 1702 – 1707
Last monarch of England alone; then of Great Britain
Realms on the map
- Kingdom of England 936–1708
- Kingdom of England 936–1707
- Norman England 1072–1168
- Angevin Empire 1147–1209
Wars
- Third Crusade May 1189 – 9 October 1192
- Hundred Years' War May 1337 – 19 October 1453
- Wars of the Roses 22 May 1455 – 16 June 1487