Who Was the First Real King of England? | History in a Nutshell | Animated History

Who was the first real king of England? A question that's a little more complicated than we might expect. In this episode, head back to a time of Saxon kingdoms and Viking invasions to discover the battle for the English throne before William the Conqueror got anywhere near Hastings.
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[@TheFoolOnTheHill_]

A comment for the algorithm. I like this channel a lot.

[@faaaaah]

I really thought I was watching a TED-Ed video until the ending card popped out. Love the video format!

[@wickidblazed420]

I want Mrs.Crocombe at once

[@fakenorwegian4743]

And slightly grumpy would be nice too.

[@adedow1333]

​@@fakenorwegian4743 at the Gardners or the maids?

[@fakenorwegian4743]

@@adedow1333 Maybe at her boyfriend!

You have tea towels with pics of kings and queens? That's some fancy afternoon tea.

[@rebeccawayman4219]

I love watching these. Always lots of great historical information. They bring a smile to my face.

[@LloydSkyLion]

Neat. Who would've thought that"The Last Kingdom' TV show had some historical accuracy.

[@Englishman-_-Mongolia2022]

Æthelstan 937AD.

[@binghamguevara6814]

How do you write that a/e beginning on your keyboard?

[@Englishman-_-Mongolia2022]

@@binghamguevara6814 because I have a Samsung I hold the A tab.

[@Rosee3333]

Yay Aethelstan!!

[@Velvet_Torpedo]

This was tremendous! Great macro level overview. Love how it didn't wander into the weeds with frustrating micro details that only leads to more searches. PS It was fun too!

[@crazy4277]

Fascinating... Thank you!

[@ankita209]

Lord Uthred!

[@Rose46rj]

I love British ancient history.

[@emaarredondo-librarian]

Tea towels with kings in them. How deliciously British 😁

[@megkube]

This is great!👍

[@user-lk3pz8br3e]

Спасибо, коротко и понятно❤

[@eloex]

Please do more! This was so fun and interesting to watch and so well animated!

[@ysa7823]

The Last Kingdom brought me here

[@philipmurphy2]

A comment for the Algorithm, Great content.

[@hapa7791]

I think it should be Alfred. Anglo-Saxon is just another name for English. Also, the last Wessex Princess St Margaret married the King of Scots, so if you are happy about the result of Scottish succession crisis and Glorious Revolution, then King Charles is the rightful successor of Alfred the Great.

[@BombshellBoss]

Did anyone else notice Edward VI was missing from tea towel?

[@nickxii]

I thought it was Angloland which changed over time to Engloland which became England

[@suem6004]

I am sticking with Horrible Histories Monarch song. Haha

[@heatherdeavalon]

All hail the King!

[@sidsnot6952]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@user-wf7xv5xz8f]

i red a book about this its called the first king of england

[@mhenrique4860]

Brutus from troy

[@cartergirl3of3]

So does that means english are just decendents of nords? And I guess germans and other places in europe?

[@emaarredondo-librarian]

Nope. William the Conqueror was from Normandy, France. Mix of Viking and French, with him the French language and culture went into influencing English culture up to this day.

[@GerMFnU1848Sax]

​@@emaarredondo-librarian french culture has had no influence on our English culture!

[@Englishman-_-Mongolia2022]

@@emaarredondo-librarian no

[@Eadric_The_Wild]

Genetics tests shows that English people are 50% Celtic and 50% Germanic, on average The Anglo-Saxons in 1066 would've been genetically identical to modern English people.

[@Angelcynn_2001]

We have German and Norse blood, but also Celtic blood from the natives.

[@mothermovementa]

Ethelstan

[@Saraphina_Marie]

Help a Yank out, I know most of Arthurian legend is 19th century fanfic, but I thought there was some historic underpinnings to the tale. Obviously the tale had enough sway that Henry VII named his firstborn son Arthur, who was supposed to become king (he was the guy married to Katherine of Aragon before Henry VIII). So obviously the legend had *some* meaning to the royals in the 16th cen.

[@rupertprawnworthy758]

The earliest tales of King Arthur are in the Mabinogion which were complied in the 12th-13th centuries the stories within are thought to be based on much older oral bardic traditions. The only character from the Arthurian legends with any real historical basis is that of merlin who's story was loosely based on a bard named Myrddin Wyltt who with some complications is recorded as an actual historical figure.

[@adedow1333]

​@@rupertprawnworthy758 that's very cool. Thank you. (Also: whose. ❤)

Arthur, if he did exist, is thought to have existed around the time of Rome's exodus. He was, if he existed, Romano-British and fought against the Angles and Saxons (which is to say, the English). He was never a king of England (and quite likely wasn't a king at all, but a Dux... the top-ranked military leader, essentially). England did not exist, and he did not belong to the people that would eventually carve out the part of Britain we now call England. His language was likely the direct ancestor of modern Welsh and Cornish; which is to say, the native(ish... highly Latinised, but whatever) language of the land. He is mentioned by name in a middle Welsh poem 'Y Gododdin' in which a fallen hero of the Gododdin (a Brythonic-speaking kingdom in the Northumbrian/Stirling region... likely descendants of the Celtic Votadini tribe) is favourably compared to him. The English and Anglo-Norman rulers tried very hard to link themselves to Arthur, even though, in truth, he fought against their ancestors. They did so in order to give themselves some legitimate claim to Britain by linking themselves to the stories of the land and key pre-English landmarks... which they don't actually have. To that end, they called him the King of England, which he was not. It has stuck... and makes me wince every time I hear it. A number of his knights appear in stories in the Maginogion (a series of tales that are Christianised versions of likely much older tales). Of note is Peredur (Percival). SO sorry I ranted a bit. This is my jam, and I tend to get overly excited.

[@Saraphina_Marie]

​@the niche interest knowledge I was hoping for! It's hard to find info that's not Victorian Authuriana, Mists of Avalon, or various Holy Grail stories (Monty Python, Indiana Jones, Dan Brown, etc.)

@@Saraphina_Marie There's a great book that I read on the topic in university. I think I have it somewhere on my bookshelf. Let me finish the work day and see if I can't get you the title and author this evening. Fingers crossed I don't forget!

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Cute.

Long live King Aethelstan...oops, he died already. Rs

[@cyankirkpatrick5194]

What about the time England was called Mercia and the other names that the country has had.

[@ryan-ch6fp]

the country of england wasn't called mercia but mercia was instead a kingdom in modern day england if that makes sense, there were multiple countries where England would be today and none of them were the country of England, until Wessex invaded the other kingdoms and then made itself England, so really it's Wessex

[@Poliss95]

Yes, but how many know who the last king of England was?

[@adedow1333]

Given the grammatic ambiguity, I think we can safely say that the last king of England was George VI. Now for those who will argue semantics as to the name of the nation at large, I will gently remind you that England is still a recognized part of the whole. Thus George VI was the last (or previous) King of England.

[@embreyd4e686]

Harold Godwinson

[@MossyMozart]

BPS&D - The name change of the country is immaterial. It is still the same country. And we may never know in our lifetimes just who the last king of England was (or rather, will be). Charles the Current may be the last king or the line may continue far into the future or ever afterwards, we may just have a loooong line of queens. Now, WHERE did I leave that crystal ball?

[@thomyorke7622]

Who was the first king in England? before Alfred the Great, who, living in the land that is modern-day England, was king earliest? I don't reckon we know that far back

[@davyannajones]

If Æthelstan was not called King of England in his time then he is not the first King of England

[@maxdavis7722]

I disagree, he was the king of the kingdom of England and the land of the English. Makes him the first true English king.

[@SandileNgwenya-gv7nx]

If you use that mentality then the first king of England is actually king John

[@binghamguevara6814]

It definitely wasn’t any of the Anglo-Saxon kings. Only “earldom” leaders existed. Earls of Northumbria, Wessex Mercia and so on. William the Conqueror is the first king of England because the land mass he conquered and defined as England still exists today.

[@Englishman-_-Mongolia2022]

No not at all.

[@binghamguevara6814]

@@Englishman-_-Mongolia2022 Thanks for replying. Can you explain please? Thanks.

[@Englishman-_-Mongolia2022]

@@binghamguevara6814 England was a heptarchy of 7 kingdoms from 410AD - to 927AD. The Vikings encouraged Alfred the Great to unify the heptarchy and his grandson Æthelstan completed the unification at the battle of Brunaburh. Search Google and it says Æthelstan was the first king of England 927AD

[@rupertprawnworthy758]

It was his son William Rufus who conquered what is now Cumbria which is part of England in 1092.

[@SirZorgulon]

Literally watch the video.