Answers to History Quiz. 1. Harold I was a Danish usurper who ruled England between 1035 and 1040. He was called Harold Harefoot and his famous father was King Canute/Cnut. 2. William I was Henry I’s father. 3. William died as a result of eating a plate of Lampreys. 4. Stephen was ousted briefly by Queen or Empress Matilda (Maud) who was the daughter of William I and therefore had a better claim to the throne EXCEPT for the fact she was a woman in a man’s world!!! 5. Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine. 6. Henry II established the Plantagenet Dynasty. 7. Nicholas Brakespeare was elected Pope in 1154 and died in 1159. He took the Papal name Adrian IV. 8. Henry II’s 4 sons who survived to maturity were Henry, Richard, Geoffrey and John. His eldest son was William but he died at an early age. 9. Henry was crowned ‘Young King’. It indicated that he was heir and joint ruler but in fact his father deprived him of all power. 10. Richard I the Lionheart succeeded Henry I. 11. Magna Carta established the principle that everyone is subject to the law, even the king, and guaranteed the rights of individuals, the right to justice and the right to a fair trial. King John was notorious for flouting the law and imposing cruelty and injustice on his people whilst over-taxing them as well. No wonder he had to be forced to sign. 12. Edward I was known as ‘The Hammerer of the Scots’ and ‘Long- shanks’. 13. Edward II as a small child became the first English Prince of Wales. Since that time it is a title taken by the Heir to the Throne as in Prince Charles currently. 14. Edward II was another bad king given to sycophants and male lovers. He was murdered at Berkley Castle when a red hot metal rod was forced into his rectum. 15. Edward II’s eldest son was called Edward the Black Prince. 16. Richard II was Edward III’s Grandson. His father was Edward the Black Prince. 17. Henry Bolingbroke, Henry IV, was Richard II’s uncle. 18. Henry V’s most famous victory was at Agincourt, Northern France and in the treaty which followed the French defeat Henry V married the French King’s daughter Catherine of Valois. 19. The son of Henry V was a small baby when his father died in 1422. He was crowned as Henry VI but he proved to be useless as a king. He dithered and made poor decisions. He favoured sycophants and put them in positions of power and as a result he lost most of England’s territory in France. He suffered from periods of ‘Melancholy’ in which he couldn’t communicate and as a result Queen Margaret of Anjou, his wife ruled England. She was highly unpopular and resented by many at court. 20. Richard Duke of York who was heir to Henry VI early in the reign tried to govern England to stop the loss of territory in France and to manage England for the benefit of the people. However he had too many enemies and so was forced into open revolt leading to the Wars of the Roses. 21. After the Battle of Towton Richard of York’s son Edward became King as Edward IV. 22. Edward IV was supported initially by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. He became known as the King Maker after he changed allegiance supporting Edward’s foe, and ended up being killed in battle by Edward IV’s men. 23. The two sons of Edward IV were called ‘The Princes in the Tower’ from where they supposedly disappeared in 1483. 24. The princes’ mother was Elizabeth Woodville. 25. Richard III’s wife was Anne Neville, daughter of Warwick the King Maker and she was the widow of Edward of Westminster, son of Henry VI. Her only son was called Edward of Middleham. 26. Richard III died at the ‘Battle of Bosworth Field’. 27. Henry VII’s mother was the four times married Margaret Beaufort and on his accession she styled herself as ‘My Lady, The King’s Mother.’ 28. Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV. He married her to strengthen his claim to the throne. In fact it was likely that she had a stronger claim to the throne than he possessed but then she was a woman in a man’s world!!! 29. Henry VII’s eldest son was called Arthur, Prince of Wales. It was Arthur who was betrothed to Catherine of Aragon. However Arthur died and then Catherine was married to his younger brother Henry. 30. Henry VII was succeeded by his second son Henry VIII. Henry VIII is particularly remembered for his six wives and his treatment of them, and the fact that he created the English Reformation to destroy the power of the Pope and the Catholic Church to facilitate his divorce from Catherine of Aragon.

Now that conundrum I set you. The four years in which there were at least three monarchs are as follows:- 1066. Edward the Confessor Harold II Edgar the Atheling William the Conqueror.

1483. Edward IV Edward V Richard III

1553. Edward VI Lady Jane Grey Mary I

1936. George V Edward VIII George VI