Right away, the English Parliament, with some backing of the Scottish Parliament, worked with Mary, James’ daughter from his first marriage, and her husband, the Dutch noble William of Orange, to get rid of James and put the two of them on the throne. After several months, a Parliament was called and Richard Cromwell submitted a letter of resignation in 1659. Attila (Attila the Hun), was the ruler of the Huns from 434 to 453. Without an heir, Henry was disposable, dying shortly after Edward’s restoration. He had an empire that not only included England and Ireland, but much of northern and all of western France. More posts from the AlternativeHistory community, Continue browsing in r/AlternativeHistory. But after Henry died, Stephen claimed Henry made these promises under duress (disputed) and that Henry had named Stephen as his successor. Idk who came up with this list (no credentials were shown on the article, of course), but it seems questionable at best. However, Henry V died in 1422, and the 9-month old Prince of Wales succeeded to all of his father’s titles, included as heir to the French throne, as King Henry VI. However, Geoffrey did manage to kick Stephen out of Normandy and the former took over as its Duke. After Tostig and the Norwegian king defeated noble armies in the north, Harold took his army on a forced march to meet them. These are the worst queens in history, who between them are charged with unnamable atrocities! Challenge Wins: Ø Times in the Bottom: 1: The first queen to start the trend of "she was too good to go home first". While not as malevolent as the character in the Shakespeare play of the same name, King Richard III was nonetheless a bad man. After a few years of not getting much done under the Commonwealth, Parliament appointed Cromwell to the position of Lord Protector; the position could be thought of as a constitutional military dictator. He crossed the Danube twice and plundered the Balkans, but was unable to tak… During that time, he did much to alienate the nobility and the commoners in both England and Scotland, although Charles did keep England out of the Thirty Years (he alienated the Protestant side by making peace with Catholic powers Spain and France, prior to the latter joining the Protestant side later in the war, and marrying a Catholic princess). This is not an "alternate" history sub. But Somerset had worse problems. Yet, Edward found out his nephew Edward (known as Edward the Exile, son of the king’s half-brother, the late king Edmund Ironside) was living in what is now Hungary and sent for him to return to England; suspiciously, Edward the Exile died within a short time after returning to England, although he had a young son, Edgar, who stayed with the king. Mary I: Known to history as “Bloody Mary” (an epithet sometimes wrongly attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots) and the eldest child of King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine (Catherine of Aragon, daughter of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile; Spain was not a unified country at the time), she was not groomed to rule England since there had never been a ruling queen before, although there was no law preventing it, and there was an excellent chance she would eventually have a brother who would succeed Henry. (As a side note, Charles, the current Prince of Wales, has exhibited many of the same bad qualities as his great-uncle; it will be interesting to see what he will when and if he becomes King Charles III). The problem is the reality of her existence. Cleopatra Of Egypt. By the end of June, 1483, before Edward was officially crowned, Gloucester had declared Edward (and the young king’s brother Richard, Duke of York) illegitimate and usurped the throne, being crowned shortly thereafter as King Richard III, imprisoning Edward and Edward’s brother Richard in the Tower of London. Queen Mary I of England Via commons.wikimedia.org Facebook Pinterest Mail Link Queen Mary I … Worse, James’s wife Mary had given birth to a son to succeed him, James, Prince of Wales. John was back on offense and doing well when he died of dysentery in 1216. Unfortunately for the rest of us, we have to go to work! After being convicted, Mortimer was hanged, drawn, and quartered, over the objections of Queen Isabella. Esmeralda Marcos, Elena Ceaușescu, Queen Elizabeth, Nefertiti, Cleopatra to name a few more. For the 15 years between his father’s death and the death of King Edward the Confessor, Harold was loyal, eventually becoming the most powerful man in England, after the king. Defeating Charles after a few years, he was retained as king with greatly reduced powers. Suspected of poisoning her husband to succeed him, she initiated a brutal campaign against those who refused to abandon Christianity during her harrowing 33-year reign. From the time he was born in 1894, Edward was going to be king, being third in line to the throne following Queen Victoria. Instead, Parliament, both the House of Lords and the House of Commons, began raising its own army to challenge the king, precipitating the English Civil War. Along with Jane, several hundred others were executed, mostly by being burned at the stake (Jane and her husband Guilford were beheaded), including the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer. The list of most beautiful queens in the history wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Rani Vijaya Devi. In order to get the funds for a second expedition, Charles recalled the English Parliament to raise taxes (a requirement since 1225). For the next four years, England was fairly quiet under Mary’s rule as Catholicism was expanded. John had been married to Isabel of Gloucester but had no children. George, Prince of Wales (for King George III): By 1811, King George III had gone blind and became permanently insane. Like his grandfather, the Prince of Wales was very much a playboy, taking several mistresses and never showing any interest in getting married, that is until shortly before his father’s death. Now an adult, and with the backing of his mother, Henry claimed the English throne from Stephen. For the next nine days, Northumberland scrambled to find support for Jane and to keep Mary from the throne. Seymour, as Earl of Hertford, was on the council; additionally, the will allowed Seymour to promote himself to be Duke of Somerset. Richard’s first order of business was to organize the 3rd Crusade; but, he first got a promise from John to stay out of England. Queen Inhyeon was exiled when her rival gave birth to a son. Nor had James given anywhere near the love and encouragement to Charles as the king had to Henry. Some time in the early 1930’s, Edward had taken up with a Wallis Simpson, an American who had been previously divorced and who was married to someone else at the time. In 1553, it was known that the young king was dying. In much of Western Europe, he is remembered as the epitome of cruelty and rapacity. Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector of England: Richard Cromwell was the son of the previous Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. During this period, Richard was Duke of Gloucester who by 1483 ended up as second in line to the throne and was the most powerful noble in England. Ilse Koch. Wait until the person that made this list finds out about all the rulers with syphilis. Mad Queen of Castile. Mary I: Known to history as “Bloody Mary” (an epithet sometimes wrongly attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots) and the eldest child of King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine (Catherine of Aragon, daughter of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile; Spain was not a unified country at the time), she was not groomed to rule England since there had never been a ruling queen before, … Stephen: Had things worked out right, King Henry I’s daughter Matilda should have been the first reigning queen of England in 1135, being descended from Norman, Scottish, and English (Saxon) kings (she is known today as the Empress Matilda, having been married for a short time to a Holy Roman Emperor, and Lady of the English, having never been crowned queen). Plus, John ran afoul of the Pope regarding who would be the next Archbishop of Canterbury, England’s premier clerical position. Both Charles and York were in exile for most of the period between their father’s death in 1649 and Charles’ restoration in 1660. Following the death of his wife, Thomas Seymour wanted to marry Elizabeth, who would only do so if the council agreed. Queen Inhyeon (인현왕후) is one of the best known queens in Korean history. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire, which stretched from the Ural River to the Rhine River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland (for Lady Jane Grey): Taking over from the Duke of Somerset the leadership of the minority council ruling for King Edward VI in 1551, Northumberland was an effective regent and ruled well, building consensus as much as possible, as opposed to the arbitrary rule of his predecessor; he also included the king in preparation of Edward’s personal rule once he became 18. The worst part? I can only assume the material on this website is content farmed. Growing up during the civil war known as the War of the Roses, a 30-year battle for the throne between the royal Houses of Lancaster and York (Richard was a Yorkist), the House of York ultimately prevailed with a victory by Richard’s brother King Edward IV. Parliament then passed the English Bill of Rights in 1689 (along with Magna Carta, it was a major forerunner of the U.S. Constitution) and a first of a series of Acts of Succession which kept James’ descendents from taking either the English or Scottish thrones (after the Act of Union in 1707 united England and Scotland under one government, under James’ younger daughter Queen Anne, this meant James’ descendents would be excluded from the throne of the United Kingdom). Being somewhat of an Anglophile, I love comparative history. 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