Medieval English Kings

 THe Viking root is exaggerated. The norseman (not to confuse with norman as people from Normandy) were defeated at Chartre. But the viking were fast and mobile so unstoppable. So the Frank king gave the Norseman normandy in exchanged they helped stopping the viking raid. So they settled there, the vast majority were single men. Eventually they married into the much larger Gallic population and were thoroughly assimilated. 150 years, no trace of viking whatsoever, only story remains and some local tradition. But these people were more french than the Franks themselves, same language, same law, same architecture, same hair cut, same habit. These are the normans as Norman from normandy, the norsemen had long gone.

 Well we don't call ourselves French but Francais which is translated from latin Franci which literally means Franc (Frank). More like french are german because Germany/poland/Danube region was the heartland of europe, even the celt came from  there and the Teutons weren't for sure a Germanic tribe but more likely a Celtic tribes that ride along with Germanic tribe. Charlemagne was the king of the French (French) and emperor of the Holy empire, they  can claim Charlemagne as there Emperor but not as their king.

 And what army was the tapestry of Bayeux, the Tapestry is about the Norman conquest mate. And how can you differentiate a "franci" from Normandy and a "franci" from ile-de-france, if they all have the same characterics Frankish hair cut, all shaven and spoke the same language. From the English POV, they are all the same.

 You are wrong the normans weren't "Francofied" they were french. Most normans king of England couldn't even spoke a word of English.

Yes henry III was intended to be Edward III but after I posted it and was reading it through I discovered I could not edit it. (First time I made a poll) So you can either ignor poor old Henry or pretend that he is Edward and vote for him.

I'm not sure whether to pick Leopold(Or Leopard, depending on translation) of Austria, Edward Longshanks (The first), or Richard the Lion-hearted.

Longshanks was a good king because he noticed the power in the Welsh Longbow, and adapted it to his army. It made a huge difference (Can you imagine the English at Agincourt agains the French "Paladins" without longbows?), so he's worthy of it.

Richard the Lion-Hearted is possibly the most well-known of the three I like, so I won't bother to drill his life into your head.

Leopold had a much more modest reign, and I'm not sure whether it's Saxon-Austrian Pride that makes me vote for him or because of the way he tricked Richard, captured him, and handed him over to the German Emperor. He's somewhat insidious, but a good leader nonetheless.

I voted for Alfred.  As stated before, by others he acted as gardian of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and kept the Danes at bay.  There are many other very able Medieval English kings that could have been listed going further into Anglo-Saxon history.  Culturally speaking I feel that the Irish monastaries really should be given most of the credit for preserving knowledge and culture in the British Isles, not to mention the rest of western Europe.  Kings came and went like the ash and dust they were.  It was the early Irish, and later Anglish (sic) monks that should be given the most votes.  But then again if the Romans hadn't invaded in the first place, I'm sure British history would have been much different.  Nothing like a little civilization forced on you at gladius point, eh?  And why limit ourselves to Kings, and only England?  I personally find some of the greatest leaders to have been Welsh like Llywelln The Great, Llywelln the Last, and Owain the Great.  Of course who can compete with the Triovantes prince Caracatus who defied Rome itself?  Then you have Queen Elizabeth I, whom built and reigned over "A" (not the) Golden Age of England.

-Pytheas 

I liken Llywelln Fawr (The Great) to other Celtic, if I can loosely apply that term, leaders.  Of course Caracatus did not live in Medieval times, but many archaeologists and anthropologists (myself included in both camps), consider the definitions of time periods to be fluid and ill-defined.  Many of the cultural frameworks noted in Pre-Roman, Iron Age Europe, and specifically in Britain continued to grow and evolve.  The early Christian (Xpty) Church adopted MANY countless elements of pre-christian culture and religion into the Church's belief system.  One need only look at the Christian calander and research the Saints and the cult of the saints to realize that people worshiping a Holy Spring were only continuing in the tradition of the Celtic/Germanic forefathers.  Returning to the subject of the Llywellns and other Welsh princes, there are some great books to begin a search of the history of the great land of Wales.  Please refer to the list below.

1. Davies, John.  A History of Wales.  Penguin Books, 1993.

2.  Walker, David.  Medieval Wales.  Cambridge Medieval Books, 1996.

Also for some good fiction on the subject look up the author Sharon Kay Penman and the first of three books about Medieval Wales is entitled Here Be Dragons

Dawn,

As for the Penman books, they were for the most part pretty accuarate concerning the overall history.  When she strays from the historical "truth", she has been pretty good about noting the fictionalized parts of the book at the end, citing poetic license, of course.  I too found her a bit long-winded, but aren't all of us interested in history/archaeology?

I understood where you were coming from with your remark about Queen Elizabeth, I just like to go off on tangents, especially when it comes to the Medieval-ness of something.  By the way, read you article on the Roman invasion of Britain.  Liked it.  Although I missed the famous show down between Claudius and Caracatus in Rome.  How magnaminous of Claudius to spare the poor barbarian!

Your right I should have included it. Well i can always do a revision on it and add that part. I really am an amature at this particulairly writting but ever once in a while I get the urdge to(mostly in the winter).I'm thinking on doing one on the war f the roses but it will hae to wait until after the new year. There is another article around here somewhere that I wrote on the black death but I'm not sure where it got to.  Are you a writer? they love to post articles written by members.