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Monthly Archives: May 2015

Happy Birthday, Queen Victoria

24 Sunday May 2015

Posted by liamfoley63 in From the Emperor's Desk, Happy Birthday

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George III, King Edward VII of Great Britain, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Prince Albert, Prince Edward, Queen Victoria, Queen Victoria of Great Britain, The Duke of Kent

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On this date 1819, birth of the future Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. She was christened HRH Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent and was the only child of HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III, and HSH Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne at the age of 18 upon the death of her uncle, King William IV of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, King of Hanover. At this time since women were barred from the throne of Hanover, her uncle, HRH The Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale became King Ernst-August of Hanover.

In 1840 Queen Victoria married her first cousin HSH Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They had nine children and his death in 1861 put Queen Victoria in mourning for the rest of her life. She oversaw the British Empire at its zenith. In 1876 she was proclaimed Empress of India. She died on January 22, 1901 having reigned for 63 years and 216, the longest reigning British monarch. She was succeeded by her eldest son the Prince of Wales as King Edward VII of the united Kingdom of Great Britain.

Who was the first King of Scots…

22 Friday May 2015

Posted by liamfoley63 in Kingdom of Europe

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Alexander III of Scotland, Donald II of Scotland, Kenneth I of Scotland, Kingdom of Alba, Kingdom of Scots, Malcolm II of Scotland, Scorland

As we stated last week the dominant kingdoms in Scotland before the Viking Age was the northern Pictish kingdom of Fortriu on the shores of the Moray Firth, the Kingdom of Strathclyde, and the Kingdom of Dál Riata. By the 9th century, the Gaels of Dál Riata (Dalriada) were subject to the kings of Fortriu (a Pictish kingdom) of the family of Constantín mac Fergusa (Constantine son of Fergus). Constantín’s family dominated Fortriu since after 789. The dominance of Fortriu came to an end in 839 with a defeat by Viking armies. The Viking Age brought great changes in Britain and Ireland, including Scotland. By the middle of the 9th century, when Ketil Flatnose is said to have founded the Kingdom of the Isles, the Vikings had destroyed the kingdoms of Dál Riata and Northumbria, greatly diminished the power of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, and founded the Kingdom of York. The Kingdom of Strathclyde became a sub-kingdom of the Kingdom of the Picts.

One of the main repercussions of the Viking raids was that King Uen of Fortriu and his brother Bran, Constantín’s nephews, together with the Áed mac Boanta, king of Dál Riata, were killed. These deaths led to a period of instability lasting a decade as several families attempted to establish their dominance in Pictland. By around c. 848 Kenneth I MacAlpin (Cináed mac Ailpín) had emerged as the winner.

Cináed mac Ailpín defeated the rival kings, winning out by around 845-848. He is traditionally considered and counted as the first “King of Scots,” or alternatively “King of Picts and Scots.” Modern scholars point out, he was actually King of Picts, and the terms ‘King of Alba’ and the even later King Scots were not used until several generations after him. During the reign of Cínaed’s grandson, Caustantín mac Áeda (900–943), outsiders began to refer to the region as the Kingdom of Alba rather than the kingdom of the Picts, but we do not know whether this was because a new kingdom was established or Alba was simply a closer approximation of the Pictish name for the Picts.

The reign of Kenneth MacAlpin begins what is often called the House of Alpin, which is a modern concept. The descendants of Kenneth I MacAlpin were divided into two branches; the crown would alternate between the two, the death of a king from one branch often hastened by war or assassination by a pretender from the other. Malcolm II was the last king of the House of Alpin.

When did the title of these kings transform from to Rex Pictorum (“King of the Picts”) to Rex Scotie? Domnall mac Causantín (Modern Gaelic: Dòmhnall mac Chòiseim), anglicized as Donald II (died 900) was King of the Picts or King of Scotland (Alba) in the late 9th century. He was the son of Constantine I (Causantín mac Cináeda). Donald’s death is dated to 900 by the Annals of Ulster and the Chronicon Scotorum, where he is called king of Alba, rather than king of the Picts. He was buried on Iona. The change from king of the Picts to king of Alba is seen as indicating a step towards the kingdom of the Scots, but historians, while divided as to when this change should be placed, do not generally attribute it to Donald in view of his epithet. Most historians feel that by the time of King Alexander III 1249-1286 the unity of modern Scotland was complete.

So who was the first King of Scotland? Although historians cannot pinpoint when the title went from King of the Picts to King of Alba and to King of Scots it is difficult to say who was the first king. For example King David II of the Scots was also the last king of Strathclyde and he died in 1124 and as just mentioned it wasn’t until Alexander III that the unity of modern Scotland was complete. There is a good case for Kenneth I MacAlpin although historians do even question this. The theory is that the kingship of Gaels and Picts underwent a process of gradual fusion, starting with Kenneth I, and rounded off in the reign of Constantine II. Hence the change in styling from King of the Picts to King of Alba. The legacy of Gaelic as the first national language of Scotland does not obscure the foundational process in the establishment of the Scottish kingdom of Alba.

A Close Second!! Baron Foley

15 Friday May 2015

Posted by liamfoley63 in Royal Genealogy

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8th Baron Foley, Baron Foley, BondStreet, Foley Surname, Peerage

Back on March 26, 2013 I mentioned that the longest held peerage title was an marquesses. George John Patrick Dominic Townshend, 7th Marquess Townshend, succeeded to his peerage on 17 Nov 1921. He died on 23 April 2010,having held the peerage for 88 years, 157 days.

Since my last name is Foley, I have an interest in the title Baron Foley.

This is copied from wikipedia….

The title Baron Foley, in the peerage of Great Britain was held the longest by the 8th Baron, Adrian Gerald Foley from the death of his father, Gerald Henry Foley, 7th Baron Foley in 1927, until his own death  in February 2012, aged 88. That means he held the title for 83 years!

Baron Foley was a musician and composed music for the films Piccadilly Incident (1946) and Bond Street (1947). He appeared on an episode of the American game show, To Tell the Truth in 1957. In 1958, he met a wealthy American heiress, Patricia Meek, née Zoelner, during a stage production of Jane Eyre, produced by Huntington Hartford in New York City. On 23 December 1958, the couple married. They had two children: Alexandra Mary (born 1960) and Thomas Henry (born 1961), before divorcing in 1971. In 1972, he married another wealthy heiress, Ghislaine (née Dresselhuys; former wife of both the 6th Earl of Caledon and the 4th Baron Ashcombe), the only daughter of Dutch-born Long Island resident and former Consul of the Netherlands in London, Cornelius William Dresselhuys and Edith Merandon du Plessis. His second wife died in 2000. On 15 December 2003, he married his third wife, Hannah Steinberg.

Next week, I will give some history behind the title, Baron Foley

Who was the first king of Scotland? Part I

14 Thursday May 2015

Posted by liamfoley63 in Uncategorized

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Alba, Áedán mac Gabráin, Briton, Dál Riata, Dumbarton Castle, Hen Ogledd, King of Scots, Kingdom of Alba, Kingdom of Strathclyde, Kingdom of the Picts, kings and queens of Scotland, Ptolemy's Geography, Scotland

Like it’s neighbor to the south, Scotland has a long history of monarchy that is partly clouded in myth and legend and it is only as you progress during the centuries do you come upon more credible and documented history. Similar to England the country was divided into many kingdoms and sub-kingdoms. The main and warring kingdoms were the Kingdom of the Picts, Kingdom of Del Riata and the Kingdom of Strathclyde. Each of these regions have a rich and vast history that I could never do justice in this simple post. Many of these regions began as tribal clans that grew to take over certain regions. The early history of Scotland is that of clans becoming regional kings that were later absorbed by much larger and more powerful regional kings from other clans. A series on each of these kingdoms is warranted!

An example of some thriving sub-kingdoms othjer than the larger main three kingdoms is the kingdom of Cait, which is now Caithness in northern Scotland. Cait was, according to Pictish legend, founded by Caitt (or Cat), one of the seven sons of the ancestor figure named Cruithne. After the death of its last king, Taran mac Entifidich, in 697, it was absorbed into the larger Kingdom of the Picts. There were at least seven other small sub-kingdoms within the the broader Pictish kingdom. These sub-kingdoms are…

Ce, situated in modern Mar and Buchan, Circinn, perhaps situated in modern Angus and the Mearns.
Fib, the modern Fife, known to this day as ‘the Kingdom of Fife.’ Fidach, location unknown, but possibly near Inverness. Fotla, modern Atholl. Fortriu, cognate with the Verturiones of the Romans; recently shown to be centred around Moray. More small kingdoms may have existed. Some evidence suggests that a Pictish kingdom also existed in Orkney.

Here is some information on the three main Scottish kingdoms:

Kingdom of the Picts: A Pictish confederation was formed in Late Antiquity consisting of a number of f tribes. It is not known how and why this Confederation was formed but some scholars have speculated that it was partly in response to the growth of the Roman Empire. Succession to the kingship of the Picts was confusing and complex. Kings who had fathered sons were not frequently succeeded by their sons, not because the Picts practised matrilineal succession, but because they were normally followed by either their own brothers or cousins, more likely to be experienced men with the authority and the support necessary to be king. The tradition of monarchy had not yet adopted the concept of primogeniture. So instead of leaving the crown to your son a king would leave the crown to the best able male to support the kingdom. In these days when wars between tribes was a common occurrence you needed a king who could rise to the task.

The style of kingship changed considerably during the centuries of Pictish monarchy. Earlier kings had to be successful war leaders to maintain their authority. This lead to a style of kingship that became rather less personalized and more institutionalized during this time. Bureaucratic kingship, where the king was concerned with laws and justice was still far in the future and it would not commence until Pictland transformed into the Kingdom of Alba.

Kingdom of Strathclyde: Strathclyde was originally known as either Cumbric: Ystrad Clud or Alclud, was one of the early medieval kingdoms of the Britons in the Hen Ogledd. (Hen Ogledd is a Welsh term used by scholars to refer to those parts of what is now northern England and southern Scotland in the years between 500 and the Viking invasions of c. 800, with particular interest in the Brittonic-speaking peoples who lived there). The kingdom developed during the post-Roman period. It is also known as Alt Clut, a Brittonic term for Dumbarton Castle, the medieval capital of the region. It may have had its origins with the Damnonii people of Ptolemy’s Geography.

Kingdom of Dál Riata (also Dalriada or Dalriata) was a Gaelic kingdom that included parts of western Scotland and stretched to northeastern Ulster in Ireland, across the North Channel. In the late 6thearly 7th century it encompassed roughly what is now Argyll and Lochaber in Scotland and also County Antrim in Ulster. To its east and north was Pictland, with whom it was often in conflict. The inhabitants of Dál Riata were often referred to as Scots (Scoti in Latin). Scots was a name originally used by Roman and Greek writers as a name for the Irish who raided Roman Britain. As time passed the name Scots came to refer to any Gaelic-speakers, whether from Ireland or elsewhere. They are referred herein as Gaels, an unambiguous term, or as Dál Riatans.

The kingdom reached its height under Áedán mac Gabráin (r. 574-608), but its growth was checked at the Battle of Degsastan in 603 by King Æthelfrith of Northumbria. Serious defeats in Ireland and Scotland in the time of Domnall Brecc (d. 642) ended Dál Riata’s “golden age”, and the kingdom became a client of Northumbria, then subject to the Picts.

Next week we will examine the Kingdom of Alba and unifying the Kingdom of Scotland. 

Lines of Succession to the Throne.

13 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by liamfoley63 in Royal Genealogy, Royal Succession

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Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of Scotland, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Prince Andrew, Prince Charles, Prince Edward, Prince Philip, Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of York, The Earl of Wessex, the prince of Wales, The Princess Royal

Today will begin a new series on how the line of succession has changed over the years. I will pick random and important dates and will examine who was in line for the throne at that time. Although my main focus will be the British line of succession I will also include other monarchies from time to time. Although this is a new series I won’t be doing it week-to-week, it will reoccur randomly.

At first there was just four. It was mid 1977 when I began to research the royal family and the Kings and Queens of Britain. At that time there were just four descendants of HM. The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. These four were also the top four in line to the succession to the throne:

1. HRH The Prince of Wales
2. HRH The Prince Andrew
3. HRH The Prince Edward
4. HRH The Princess Anne

Except for the Prince Charles, none of the Queen’s children had any titles yet. Princess Anne would not be given her title, The Princess Royal, until ten years later in 1987. Prince Andrew and Prince Edward would not be given their titles until they married. In 1977 the Queen had been on the throne 25 years and it was also the year of her Silver Jubilee. Her Majesty was 51 years old (the same age as I am now) and would be a first time grandmother that November when Princess Anne would give birth to her first child Peter Philips.

Flash forward 38 years and a lot has changed! Her Majesty is now 89 and has celebrated her Golden Jubilee celebrating 50 years on the throne in 2002 and her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 celebrating 60 years on the throne. This September The Queen will be on the throne one day longer than Queen Victoria and will be come Britain’s longest reigning monarch at 63 years, 217 days. Instead of her descendents occupying the first four places in the succession they now occupy the first 17 places in line for the succession! Here they are in order.

1. HRH The Prince of Wales
2. HRH The Duke of Cambridge
3. HRH Prince George of Cambridge
4. HRH Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
5. HRH Prince Henry of Wales
6. HRH The Duke of York
7. HRH Princess Beatrice of York
8. HRH Princess Eugenie of York
9. HRH The Earl of Wessex
10. Lord Severn
11. Lady Louise Windsor
12. HRH The Princess Royal
13. Peter Philips
14. Savannah Phillips
15. Isla Phillips
16. Zara Tindall
17. Mia Tindall

It is very interesting to see how the line of succession changes over the years. It is fascinating to compare today’s line of succession to February, 1952 just prior to the death of HM King George VI.

1. HRH The Prince Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh
2. HRH Prince Charles of Edinburgh
3. HRH Princess Anne of Edinburgh
4. HRH The Princess Margaret
5. HRH The Duke of Gloucester (Prince Henry)
6. HRH Prince William of Gloucester
7. HRH Prince Richard of Gloucester
8. HRH The Duke of Kent (Prince Edward)
9. HRH Prince Michael of Kent
10. HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent
11. The Princess Royal, Mary, Countess of Harewood
12. The Rt Hon The Earl of Harewood
13. David Viscount Lascelles
14. Gerald Lascelles
15. HH Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife
16. James Carnegie, 3rd Duke of Fife
17. HM King Olav V of Norway

Today, 63 years later only the top two remain in the top twenty inline for the throne. The Prince of Wales (HRH Prince Charles of Edinburgh at the time) moved up one place and has remained. His sister, The Princess Royal (HRH Princess Anne of Edinburgh at the time) has gone from 3 (she was actually at number 2 until the birth of the Duke of York in 1960) to number 12. The next living member on the list is number 7, HRH Prince Richard of Gloucester, the current HRH The Duke of Gloucester who moved to his current 24th inline to the throne. Incidentally, the Duke of Gloucester is the youngest grandchild of King George V and Queen Mary. He is the first inline to the throne who is not descended from King George VI. He is also the senior male line descendant of Queen Victoria.

On This Day……

08 Friday May 2015

Posted by liamfoley63 in From the Emperor's Desk

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It was a busy week so I did not finish my “First Kings of…” series. That will be back next Friday. I will post more before that. Until then I leave you with On this day in history…

May 8.

413 – Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.
1450 – Jack Cade’s Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI of England
2015 – Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage step down as party leaders of the Labour Party, Liberal Democrat Party and UKIP respectively.
2015 – Conservative Party gain a majority in UK Parliament and David Cameron is elected for another term.

Births
1326 – Joan I, Countess of Auvergne (d. 1360)
1460 – Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1536)
1587 – Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1637)
1670 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (d. 1726)
1720 – William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1764)
2003 – Moulay Hassan, Crown Prince of Morocco

Deaths
535 – Pope John II (b. 470)
685 – Pope Benedict II (b. 635)
1192 – Ottokar IV, Duke of Styria (b. 1163)
1278 – Emperor Duanzong of Song (b. 1268)
1319 – Haakon V of Norway (b. 1270)
1473 – John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English politician (b. 1420)

The Music of Michael Tomlinson

06 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by liamfoley63 in Uncategorized

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Michael Tomlinson, Music

No, this is not Spam. This is blog owner Bill Foley here with an important message. Please forgive me for this one indulgence. I would like to take a break for a moment for discussing royalty and speak about something important to me.  Michael Tomlinson is one of the best singer-songwriters in the business these days. He is in the process of creating a beautiful new album and if his past work is any indication this new CD will fill your soul and make you smile and make life just that much enjoyable. So, let’s all support Michael Tomlinson in any way you feel moved. Financially, emotionally, pass this on to a thousand friends, what ever you can do. In a world that can be difficult Michael’s music shines through and lets us all know how positive and joyous life truly is.

https://www.kickstarter.com/…/michael-tomlinsons-beautiful-

http://www.michaeltomlinson.com

HRH Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge

04 Monday May 2015

Posted by liamfoley63 in In the News today..., Royal Genealogy

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Constitutional Monarchy, Diana, Duke of Edinburgh, Elizabeth II, George III, George IV, King George V of Great Britain, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, Princess of Wales, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the prince of Wales

Some interesting facts about the new Princess Charlotte of Cambridge and the history of the name in the Biritish Royal Family.

Princess Charlotte is 4th in line to the throne after her grandfather, The Prince of Wales, her father, the Duke of Cambridge, and her brother Prince George of Cambridge. Should she have a younger brother he will not supplant her in the line of succession due to the change in succession laws. She is the first female in line to the throne. She will only be supplanted in the succession if and when her brother Prince Gorge of Cambridge has children in the future. God forbid anything happening to Prince George of Cambridge, but if it did Charlotte would become her father’s heir and eventually Queen Regnant. This would happen even if Charlotte were to have younger brothers.

She is the first Princess of Cambridge born since 1833 when HRH Princess Mary-Adelaide of Cambridge (1833-1897) was born. Princess Mary-Adelaide of Cambridge was the daughter of HRH Prince Adolphus-Frederick, Duke of Cambridge (1774-1850) (7th son of King George III) and HSH Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel (1797-1889). Princess Mary-Adelaide of Cambridge was a first cousin of Queen Victoria and married Francis, Duke of Teck (1837-1900) in 1866. Their daughter, Mary of Teck (1867-1953) married the future King George V of the United Kingdom 1893 making her the grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II. This means that Princess Mary-Adelaide of Cambridge is the great-great-great-great grandmother of the newest Princess of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge.

There have been other Princesses named Charlotte in the Royal Family. First of all there was Queen Charlotte (1744-1818) wife of King George III of the United Kingdom. Queen Charlote was born HSH Princess Sophia-Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and daughter of Duke Carl-Ludwig of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1708-1752) and HSH Princess Elizabeth of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1713-1761). It has been said that Queen Mary resembled her great-grandmother Queen Charlotte and that in turn, Queen Elizabeth II resembles Queen Mary and conversely, Queen Charlotte.

The eldest daughter of King George III and Queen Charlotte was HRH The Princess Charlotte, The Princess Royal (1762-1828). In the future she would marry King Friedrich of Würrtemberg (1754-1816) as his second wife. This is the same royal dynasty that produced Francis, Duke of Teck.

King George III’s eldest son, the future George IV (1761-1820), had only one daughter, Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796-1817) from his disastrous marriage with his cousin Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. In 1817 Charlotte married HSH Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Sadly, Princess Charlotte of Wales never lived to succeed her father as Queen. She died in childbirth in 1817. Her husband went on to be elected King of the Belgians in 1831.

Another aspect of the birth of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge is that everyone in line after her takes one step back in the sucession. Princess Charlotte’s uncle, Prince Harry of Wales, is now 5th in line to throne. He was born 3rd in line. But who it affects most is Princess Beatrice of York who falls beck to 7th in line to the throne. Under the new laws of succession only the first 6 in line to the throne have to seek permission of the Sovereign to marry. This means that Princess Beatrice of York does not have to ask the Queen permission to marry. Should the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have another child this would push the Duke of York to 7th inline to the throne meaning he would no longer need his mother’s permission to marry once again.

Lastly, The Duke of Cambridge’s uncle, The Earl Spencer, has a two year old daughter named Lady Charlotte Diana Spencer. So the name Charlotte has a strong history behind it!

It’s a Princess!!

03 Sunday May 2015

Posted by liamfoley63 in Happy Birthday, In the News today...

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Prince Harr, Prince Philip, The Duchess of Cambridge, The Prince of Wales & The Duchess of Cornwall, The Queen

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a daughter at 8.34am. The baby weighs 8lbs 3oz. The Duke of Cambridge was present for the birth. The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales & The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry & members of both families have been informed. Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well.

As soon as the names are announced I will do a nice blog post on the new Princess of Cambridge!

Who was the last King of the Franks? Who was the first King of France? Part Deux

01 Friday May 2015

Posted by liamfoley63 in Uncategorized

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Charles the Bald, Charles the Simple, Hugh Capet, Kingdom of France, Kingdom of the Franks, Louis II The German, Louis Philippe, Louis the Pious, Louis XIV of France, Louis XVI of France

We had last discussed the the first two kingdoms of the three that were created when the Empire of Louis I The Pious was divided in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun.

That leads us to West Francia which was the land under the control of Charles the Bald. It is the forerunner of modern France. It was divided into the following great fiefs: Aquitaine, Brittany, Burgundy, Catalonia, Flanders, Gascony, Gothia, the Île-de-France, and Toulouse. The Capitian dynasty came to rule the Île-de-France as Duke of the Île-de-France. The fact that these territories were fiefs of the Kingdom instead of sovereign sub-kingdoms of their own helped West Francia become a unified kingdom…eventually.

As with the Merovingians the Carolingians also began to falter with weak rulers that were not up to the task of ruling. In 888 Odo, Count of Paris and Duke of the Île-de-France, was elected king temporarily supplanting the Carolingian Dynasty. The Carolingians were restored next year under Charles III the Simple in West Francia, and ruled until 987, when the last Frankish king of that dynasty, Louis V, died. Hugh Capét Count of Paris and Duke of the Île-de-France was then elected king of West Francia and his direct descendants would rule until 1792 when King Louis XVI of France and Navarre was deposed. The monarchy was restored in 1814 and the last Capetian king of France, Louis-Philippe, was deposed in 1848.

That is a lot of history to cover! So who just was the last King of the Franks and the first King of France? Well, like Wessex and England this is up for debate! When did the Kingdom of the Franks end and the Kingdom of France come into existence? It is difficult to tell by the titles of the monarchs. The Latin term Francorum Rex (sometimes the title took the form of Rex Francorum) was the official Latin title of the “King of the Franks” from the founding of the kingdom in 496 and remained as such even after after the accession of the Carolingian and Capetian Dynasties. This title was used in official documents until French replaced Latin as the formal language of legal documents, and this title remained used on coins until the 18th century. However, it was King Philippe II “Augustus” changed the official title in 1990 to the form Franciae Rex (“King of France”) was also used.

Even though the title King of the Franks lasted until it was changed by King Philippe II in 1190, and remained on coins until the 1700s, there seem to be two choices of who was the last King of the Franks and the first King of France. Many historians cite the treaty of Verdun of 843 and the creation of West Francia as the end of the old Frankish Kingdom and the birth of the Kingdom of France. That would make Louis I, the Pious the last King of the Franks and his son Charles I The Bald as the first King of France. If you support the election of Hugh Capét, Count of Paris and Duke of the Île-de-France as King of France in 987 (as many historians also do) then Louis V would be the last King of the Franks.

My choice is for Louis I, the Pious as the last King of the Franks and his son Charles I The Bald as the first King of France via the Treaty of Verdun in 843. Why? By the time of that treaty was established there were already cultural shifts between France and Germany, the domain of Louis II, the German. As time went on these differences were solidified and by the time Hugh Capét was elected King, that which we see as French culture had already taken shape.

Recent Posts

  • January 27, 1859: Birth of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia
  • History of the Kingdom of East Francia: The Treaty of Verdun and the Formation of the Kingdom.
  • January 27, 1892: Birth of Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria
  • January 26, 1763: Birth of Carl XIV-III Johan, King of Sweden and Norway.
  • January 26, 1873: Death of Amélie of Leuchtenberg, Empress of Brazil

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