King Edward The Martyr

[tigerlelly]

Why isn't King Edward The Martyr known as Edward 1st? He was King in the 900s and Edward 1st was King in the 1200s. Edward the martyr's half-brother was Aelthelred 11 so numbering had been introduced at that time.

[atrollope]

Did numbering begin again after the Norman Conquest,?,and was Edward
the Martyr King of all England,or just a region?

[DTCwordfan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_the_Martyr

I believe numbering started around the Conk.....technically there was a Harold I and II

[Messalina]

We didn't start numbering monarchs until after the Norman conquest, as atrollope says. So before then they were just Edward the Martyr or Alfred the Great or whatever.

[tigerlelly]

Not sure on either count, hence the question but Aethelred succeeded him and he presumably was King of the same area and was numbered. There was no other Aethelred after 1066 so it doesn't help much.

[DTCwordfan]

and on your logic tiger, he would have been Ed II - Edward the Elder preceded him, years 899 to 924

[tigerlelly]

Point taken xword fan, so why wasn't he numbered when his half-brother was?

[DTCwordfan]

Two Aethelreds as well - the one you are referring too was No 2 and was titled the Unready....

1st one was on the throne 865 -871 and preceded the "Cakes" King.....Alfred the Great (except at baking)

[DTCwordfan]

because he was "unready" to do so - no, that was his "nom de plume" seriously,

[DTCwordfan]

Danziger's 1066 is a good little tome on what it was like around then - though his book on 1215 is much better, as there was much more known and recorded. They cover politics, religion, justice and punishment, food, wine, climate, sex etc etc - fascinating read.

[tigerlelly]

Shame about 1066, names were much more interesting before William came on the scene and people felt obliged to jettison their saxon names for safety's sake.

[Mosaic]

DT I thought Unready came from 'un-rede' ie taking bad advice?

[DTCwordfan]

I was joking back there, Mosaic.....yes, you are right - and a play on his name as Aethelred means "Noble Counsel"

[ABerrant]

Of course Guillaume le Bâ*** was not known as William I until after his reign.

[ABerrant]

Guillaume le Bâtагd

[jno]

Anyone know who was actually the first king to be called second, so to speak? Even after 1066 people were still distinguished from other kings of the same name by nickname (William Rufus rather than Richard II). I think Henry II may have been the first one but I'm not sure.

[jno]

bah - I meant William Rufus rather than WILLIAM II, obviously...

[MarkRae]

William II and William Rufus are the same person...

[jno]

that's what I meant, MarkRae. As far as I know, he was known at the time as William Rufus and didn't become "William II" until some time later; but when? What about Henry II - was he simply Henry Plantagenet during his life? When did he become Henry II?

[jackthehat]

Good Queen Bess didn't become 'Elizabeth the first' until 1952.

Perhaps the convention is to ascribe a regnant number to a past monarch on the accession of a new incumbent taking the same name?

[Ric.ror]

Is he the same as the confessor?