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Here's a few more interesting facts: - before the Crown, there were several crowns. England was composed of a handful of Anglo-Saxon petty kingdoms - before t

Here's a few more interesting facts: - before the Crown, there were several crowns. England was composed of a handful of Anglo-Saxon petty kingdoms - before that, it had an emperor. The Roman emperor. - parts were ruled by the Danish (the Danelaw) and parts were ruled by the Saxons - with regards to the UK, the political union is much younger than the union of crowns. The personal union was a Scottish king inheriting the English throne. The political union was the English parliament strong arming the Scottish. - there was once a kingdom of Ireland until England had its way.

ptaipale 9y ago
And there was also a Kingdom of Dublin, ruled by the Danes. It lasted from 853 AD to 1171 when the Norman conquest finished it off -- in fact, this is a longer time than what the Acts of Union of England and Scotland have lasted so far.
dreen 9y ago
The Saxons also came from area of modern Denmark, to fill the void left by collapsed Roman Britain, which was occupied by Celtic Britons (and Romans from other parts of the Empire)
- jacobush 9y ago
  And I'd dare say, even some "Roman Celts"! The roman influence was long and strong.
  - dghf 9y ago
    There is a sixth century memorial stone in North Wales that uses consular dating: "The stone of ... son of Avitorius. In the time of Justinus the Consul." (Justinus was consul in Constantinople in 540 AD.) Source: http://www.walesher1974.org/her/groups/GAT/media/GAT_Reports/GATreport_350_compressed.pdf http://www.walesher1974.org/her/groups/GAT/media/GAT_Reports..., p. 121.
- flurdy 9y ago
  And the Normans was originally Danes, Icelanders and Norwegians that settled and integrated into Normandy, France, before crossing the channel...
dghf 9y ago
> there was once a kingdom of Ireland until England had its way There was, but its king was the King of England (and later of Great Britain), and its parliament was subjugated to the parliament at Westminster, which could veto its acts and legislate directly for Ireland. It saw a brief period of autonomy towards the end of the eighteenth century, when its relationship with Britain became more akin to that between England and Scotland from the Union of the Crowns to the Act of Union; but after the United Irishmen revolt, Britain convinced the Parliament of Ireland, at least partly through bribery of its members, to abolish itself, and Ireland was formally absorbed into the UK. Before the Kingdom of Ireland was the Lordship of Ireland, which was much the same, but with the King of England as Lord (rather than King) of Ireland, a title granted in 1154 by the first and only English pope, Adrian IV. (Henry VIII had himself declared King of Ireland after his breach with Rome, to quash the belief that the Pope was Ireland's ultimate sovereign.) Before the Lordship there was a whole mass of kingdoms and sub-kingdoms (including the Kingdom of Dublin mentioned by ptaipale in a sibling to this comment), sometimes united under a High King, the most famous possibly being Brian Boru.
- jwdunne 9y ago
  For some odd reason, I was sure there was an independent kingdom but clearly not. I think I've played too much Ck2 to remember my real history now. Thanks for that :)
  - dghf 9y ago
    Well, like I said, there was the High Kingship, but opinion seems to be divided on whether it represented a genuine political union, a confederation, a series of occasional and temporary alliances, a courtesy title for a "first among equals", a claim of supremacy not necessarily accepted by other Irish kings, or all of the above at different times. And at least some of its incumbents, especially the earlier ones, were entirely fictional.
- Anthony-G 9y ago
  That’s an impressively comprehensive, concise and well-informed history of Ireland with regard to its various kingdoms. I only learned some of this history in the past two years and while I had learned that Henry II had received a papal mandate to conquer Ireland, I hadn’t realised until now that Adrian IV was actually English.
olau 9y ago
If you're into historical fiction, I can recommend the Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saxon_Stories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saxon_Stories I don't know how historically accurate they are, but they're relatively fast paced, fun to read and take place around the time where there were several kingdoms.

ptaipale 9y ago

And there was also a Kingdom of Dublin, ruled by the Danes. It lasted from 853 AD to 1171 when the Norman conquest finished it off -- in fact, this is a longer time than what the Acts of Union of England and Scotland have lasted so far.

dreen 9y ago

The Saxons also came from area of modern Denmark, to fill the void left by collapsed Roman Britain, which was occupied by Celtic Britons (and Romans from other parts of the Empire)

jacobush 9y ago
And I'd dare say, even some "Roman Celts"! The roman influence was long and strong.
- dghf 9y ago
  There is a sixth century memorial stone in North Wales that uses consular dating: "The stone of ... son of Avitorius. In the time of Justinus the Consul." (Justinus was consul in Constantinople in 540 AD.) Source: http://www.walesher1974.org/her/groups/GAT/media/GAT_Reports/GATreport_350_compressed.pdf http://www.walesher1974.org/her/groups/GAT/media/GAT_Reports..., p. 121.
flurdy 9y ago
And the Normans was originally Danes, Icelanders and Norwegians that settled and integrated into Normandy, France, before crossing the channel...

dghf 9y ago

> there was once a kingdom of Ireland until England had its way There was, but its king was the King of England (and later of Great Britain), and its parliament was subjugated to the parliament at Westminster, which could veto its acts and legislate directly for Ireland. It saw a brief period of autonomy towards the end of the eighteenth century, when its relationship with Britain became more akin to that between England and Scotland from the Union of the Crowns to the Act of Union; but after the United Irishmen revolt, Britain convinced the Parliament of Ireland, at least partly through bribery of its members, to abolish itself, and Ireland was formally absorbed into the UK. Before the Kingdom of Ireland was the Lordship of Ireland, which was much the same, but with the King of England as Lord (rather than King) of Ireland, a title granted in 1154 by the first and only English pope, Adrian IV. (Henry VIII had himself declared King of Ireland after his breach with Rome, to quash the belief that the Pope was Ireland's ultimate sovereign.) Before the Lordship there was a whole mass of kingdoms and sub-kingdoms (including the Kingdom of Dublin mentioned by ptaipale in a sibling to this comment), sometimes united under a High King, the most famous possibly being Brian Boru.

jwdunne 9y ago
For some odd reason, I was sure there was an independent kingdom but clearly not. I think I've played too much Ck2 to remember my real history now. Thanks for that :)
- dghf 9y ago
  Well, like I said, there was the High Kingship, but opinion seems to be divided on whether it represented a genuine political union, a confederation, a series of occasional and temporary alliances, a courtesy title for a "first among equals", a claim of supremacy not necessarily accepted by other Irish kings, or all of the above at different times. And at least some of its incumbents, especially the earlier ones, were entirely fictional.
Anthony-G 9y ago
That’s an impressively comprehensive, concise and well-informed history of Ireland with regard to its various kingdoms. I only learned some of this history in the past two years and while I had learned that Henry II had received a papal mandate to conquer Ireland, I hadn’t realised until now that Adrian IV was actually English.

olau 9y ago

If you're into historical fiction, I can recommend the Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saxon_Stories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saxon_Stories I don't know how historically accurate they are, but they're relatively fast paced, fun to read and take place around the time where there were several kingdoms.