Athelstan was elected king of Mercia in 924 following the death of his father, Edward. By late 925, he’d been elected king of Wessex, too, though not before he had to put down a rebellion. The most powerful Vikings were the Ui Imair, who had their base in the Hebrides. While the history of the conflict between Constantine and the Ui Imair is shrouded in uncertainty, their influence had faded in the face of a centralized Scotland by the end of Constantine’s rule.

Even more confused, and his grin now rictus-like, the Prince moves on to the next patient, who immediately begins to chant: When William the Conqueror was dying of his wounds in 1087, he made the succession clear: His eldest son, Robert, was not to be king of England. Instead, he would be made duke of Normandy and the kingdom that William had built for 20 years would pass to his second surviving son. At the time of Kenneth’s birth around 810, modern-day Scotland was split between the Gaelic kingdom of Dalriada and the kingdom of the Picts. Pictland had been much stronger than Dalriada, but by the time Kenneth became king of Dalriada in 839, it was in the middle of a crisis. Five different claimants fought over the kingdom over the next decade, severely weakening it.However, his wise, levelheaded approach to governance couldn’t last forever. When tensions began to rise once more between England and Scotland, Robert did everything he could to avoid war and alienated many of his supporters in the process. Edgar the Atheling was one of the shortest-reigning monarchs in British history. Part of the Anglo-Saxon resistance during William the Conqueror’s invasion, he was elected king by the royal council in London in October 1066. By December, he had sworn homage to King William and fled to Scotland in exile. So ended the reign of the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, barely two months after it had started. [5]

Now seriously troubled, Charles turns to the accompanying doctor and asks, “Is this a psychiatric ward?” What is wrong and what is OK is determined not by the teller, but by the audience member, by the receiver, and by their mood, the context they're in, the number of drinks they've had, their culture, their identity," continues McGraw. This type of modern comedy, which dates in minutes, is a far cry from a joke scribbled in the margins of a Latin text, which needed to remain funny for the next scholar at whichever time they stumbled across it.Prince Charles decided to take up walking every day. At the same street corner he passed a hooker standing there every day. He learned to brace himself as he approached her for what was almost certain to follow. The ensuing Battle of Burnanburh was a decisive victory for Athelstan and secured his position as the most powerful man in Britain for the rest of his lifetime. He called himself the king of Britain, and the Welsh and Scottish kings were forced to attend his council, where they witnessed and accepted his laws. [3]

Some researchers suggest that because humour brings us together it might have an evolutionary purpose. Perhaps our ability to make light of bad situations helped us to overcome them – by joining together in laughter, we were able to reinforce our social bonds. Some scholars point to the existence of teasing-like behaviours in primates like chimpanzees as evidence of an early evolutionary origin of humour in humans. However, captive animals could be copying behaviours they have seen in us. His laws fundamentally shaped medieval England and would long be considered the standard which English people expected their kings to follow. When King Cnut invaded decades after Edgar’s death, Cnut swore that he would continue to uphold the laws of King Edgar. [7] Did you hear about the British who is such a big fan of the Royal Family, each of his four sons is named after a king? While Athelstan was the first actual king of England, it was Edgar the Peaceful who laid the foundations of a long-lasting, powerful realm. He worked tirelessly to centralize the power of the monarchy over the whole kingdom. He was also responsible for defining a system of weights and measures to be used across the kingdom. Although many kings had tried this, he was the first whose system was widely implemented and used.The coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as king and queen of the UK and the other Commonwealth realms is scheduled to take place in May 2023. It was a close shave for the men, as "if they hadn't come up with such a witty reply, their fate would have been dire indeed", says Bayless. Henry imprisoned Robert for life after capturing him in 1106. With Henry in a much stronger position, he ignored many of the restrictions set out in the Charter of Liberties. Robert II of Scotland was in his fifties when he became king of Scotland in 1371. He had been the heir presumptive for over 50 years. He was also the first king of the Stuart dynasty, which ruled Scotland until 1603 and then all of Britain until 1714. He allied himself with the English for much of his reign, even deigning to visit the court of Athelstan and witness his laws in return for peace and cooperation. In 918, he worked with the Northumbrians. Together, the Scottish and English armies met the Vikings at the Battle of Corbridge.

Jokes in the times of all-powerful medieval monarchs were a risky business. Bayless recounts a story where a joke fell foul of English king Richard I. "Two men had been ridiculing the king at a drunken feast – the king was furious and summoned the men. Clearly disaster was about to befall the men, but then one of them answered: 'We might have said those things, but that was nothing to what we were going to say if the wine hadn't run out!'" Kenneth faced some initial resistance from some of the Picts but was able to endure. His 10-year reign laid the foundations for a dynasty that lasted until 1034 and a state that has remained united until this day. [2] King and queens have always been one of the most powerful representations of political and social power. King and queen have occupied the throne and shaped their respective domains throughout history, from ancient cultures to modern nations. Their reigns frequently marked the peak of their kingdom's prosperity and power, as they served as the foundation for numerous powerful dynasties. The Egyptian First Dynasty, which was established by King Narmer in 3100 BC, was the first known example of ancient kings and queens. Pharaoh Aha, his successor, is credited with starting a long line of kings who each built their empires and developed the country's rich culture. Some of the most powerful ancient kings and queens followed the Pharaohs. Particularly, the Assyrians and the Babylonians were two major empires whose rulers were well-known for their leadership and the size of their military. Queen Semiramis of Assyria was a particularly powerful ruler who shaped the country's early history and ruled from 811 to 806 BC. The powerful kings and queens of the Greeks and Romans, who rose to power in both city-states and empires, are well-known. Two of the most prominent monarchs of these ancient cultures were Caesar and Augustus of Rome, as well as Agamemnon and Cleopatra of Greece. Both were wise politicians and military leaders who used their power to shape societies and cultures for centuries to come. However, the history of kings and queens extends beyond the ancient world. Europe witnessed the rise and fall of a number of powerful dynasties during the Middle Ages, including the Merovingians, Carolingians, and Plantagenets. These families played a significant role in European politics, from Charlemagne and Alfred the Great in the 8th and 9th centuries to Philip II of France and Henry VIII of England in the later Middle Ages. Although their power and influence may be significantly different from those of their forebears, kings and queens still reign in many nations today. The current Queen Elizabeth of England has served as a significant and symbolic leader since the 1950s, and monarchies like Saudi Arabia, Japan, and England continue to be significant forces in their respective nations. While kings and queens' roles and powers have evolved over time, their impact on shaping our shared human history is undeniable. The contributions of kings and queens have been crucial in defining our past and present, from Egypt's Pharaohs to modern monarchies. 5 questions to help you come up with king and queen names

What are good king and queen names?

Instead, he was responsible for establishing the most efficient and advanced English state that had been seen up to that point. He made many new royal justices who roamed the countryside ensuring that courts were functioning properly and that all criminals paid their fees to the crown. Shortly after, while waiting for her train, Bayless was reading a copy of Truly Tasteless Jokes 3 – a popular joke anthology from 1983. She was surprised to find, almost word for word, a joke that she had been transcribing just a day earlier.