To Have a Son (Henry VIII and the Tudors)

Today we discuss one of history's most tragic dynasties: the Tudors. Dying off after only three generations and barely a century of rule, indeed, hardly constitutes a dynasty at all. Had not Mary and Elizabeth ruled, I'd go so far to say that the Tudors were simply a ruling house—an interregnum between the successful Plantagenets and the somewhat successful Stuarts. In any case, no 118 period in English history was more turbulent than the Tudors, though the War of the Roses preceded it and the English Civil War came soon after.

The dynasty began with hope and ended with a long defeat. But the major error the the dynasty was the failure to arrange successful marriages. From Henry VIII's failed six marriages to Edward VI's and Elizabeth I's lack of marriages, the Tudors failed in the marriage game miserably. Their only success was in the marriages of those who never themselves became rulers. The failure of the Tudors to establish successful marriages doomed the dynasty within the first generation. Thus, despite Henry VII's triumphant victory over Richard III at Bosworth Field, which heralded the end of England's medieval experience, England did not enter the new area with a secure dynasty.

The Lancastrian Inheritance
Henry Tudor, 2nd earl of Richmond (later King Henry VII) was the son of Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort. Neither of these people had a claim to the English throne. The Tudors were an upstart Welsh family that only achieved fame through the affair and marriage of Owen Tudor to Catherine of Valois, the French widow of King Henry V. This placed their son, Edmund, in the curious position of having no claim to the English throne but being the legitimate half-brother of King Henry VI. His Lancastrian loyalty when the War of the Roses broke out was through this.

Henry VII Tudor, king of England

Meanwhile, the Beaufort family was equally from a strange background. The House of Lancaster descended from John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, the fourth son of King Edward III. His son, Henry IV, deposed King Richard II and claimed the throne for himself despite others having a stronger claim. The Beauforts were half-siblings of Henry IV through John of Gaunt's affair with Catherine Swynford, a Flemish Lady. Although the entire family was later declared legitimate, they were barred from inheriting the English throne due to their ancestry. Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII, was the daughter of John Beaufort, duke of Somerset, the son of John Beaufort, the earl of Somerset. She was the only child of the eldest line of the Beauforts and, therefore, the most senior member of the House of Lancaster, although that claim was through an illegitimate line of descent.

Thus Henry VII officially had no claim to the throne against Richard III, who he deposed, especially considering that Richard III descended from the senior-most line of Edward III. Sure there were people with a better claim than Richard (Edward, earl of Warwick, was his nephew through an elder brother. Edward had a sister, Margaret, as well.), but Richard was the eldest among them if nothing else.

Elizabeth of York, queen consort of England

The Reign of Henry VII
Henry VII negotiated his succession by marrying the Yorkist heiress Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of King Edward IV. Officially, this was his only legitimate claim to the throne, but he downplayed her status throughout his reign. The marriage was loveless at best. It was arranged between Henry, Margaret, and Elizabeth Woodville, the girl's mother. It was fruitful, though. Henry and Elizabeth produced four surviving children, two sons and two daughters. His eldest, Arthur, died at the age of fifteen only six months after marrying Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. After Arthur died, Catherine insisted that the marriage was never consummated, a statement that justified her marriage to Henry, Arthur's brother, eight years later.

Catherine of Aragon, queen consort of England and Ireland

The marriage of Arthur to Catherine was part of a strategy to ally with Spain against French aggression. Meanwhile, Henry VII attempted to pacify the Scottish by marrying his eldest daughter to King James IV in 1503. James was killed in battle ten years later, leaving Margaret in charge of the young James V. Margaret abandoned her position as regent when she married Archibald Douglas, earl of Angus, the next year. With Archibald, Margaret produced a daughter, Margaret Douglas, who will enter into this story later.

Henry VII attempted to marry his younger daughter, Mary, off to many different individuals but died before she was even betrothed. In 1514, the fifth year of Henry VIII's reign, Mary was wedded to Louis XII of France as part of a peace settlement. He was thirty years her senior and died three months after the wedding. Mary returned to England and resumed her courtship by Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk. They married in secret in March 1515 and publicly, after paying a hefty fine, in May. Their marriage was more fruitful. The couple had two surviving daughters, Frances and Eleanor. Frances was married to Henry Grey, later duke of Suffolk. This family, too, will reenter the story later.

Henry VIII and his Many Wives
In England, Henry VII passed leaving the throne to Henry VIII. The new Henry was young and rash. He married his brother's widow reluctantly and was haunted by fears that Catherine of Aragon had consummated her marriage to Arthur. Still, the couple produced one daughter, Mary, in 1516. Meanwhile, Henry began a long life of adultery and intrigue. Mary became little more than a political tool throughout his life, much to her and Catherine's dismay.

Henry VIII, king of England and Ireland

His first public affair was with Elizabeth Blount, the daughter of a knight. This affair proved fruitful in proving that Henry was, in fact, capable of producing a son. His illegitimate son, named Henry FitzRoy, was publicly recognized and created duke of Richmond and Somerset. He lived to the age of seventeen before dying of an unknown sickness.

Henry's affair with Mary Boleyn soon after received much more attention. Mary, too, was the daughter of a knight, though a more prestigious one. Henry and Mary's affair lasted for nearly a decade and may have produced up to two children, Catherine and Henry Carey, though both were never acknowledge and both accepted as children by William Carey, Mary's husband at the time. In any case, the most important aspect of Henry and Mary's affair was his introduction to Anne, Mary's sister, which singlehandedly destroyed the Tudor dynasty.

Anne Boleyn, queen consort of England and Ireland

Although a devout Catholic, Henry strongly sought an annulment from his wife, Catherine of Aragon, since she had failed to provide him with sons and he had ceased being attracted to her. The pope at the time, Clement VII, refused his requests leaving Henry with few options. Henry, therefore, broke ties with the Catholic Church, was excommunicated by the pope, divorced Catherine of Aragon, and married his long-time love interest. The couple married in January 1533 before receiving formal clearance of divorce from the new head of the Church of England, Thomas Cranmer. Anne was pregnant within days and when the baby was born in September of that year, it was a girl. For another two years the couple attempted to produce a son, but Henry had grown tired of Anne and her tricks and began an affair with another young courtier, Jane Seymour. Meanwhile, Catherine of Aragon died, leaving all taint of illegality behind him. Another stillbirth by Anne finalized Henry's plans to annul the marriage. He accused Anne of adultery and incest (with her brother) and treason. These charges required the death penalty. Anne was beheaded on 19 May 1536, leaving a daughter, Elizabeth.

Jane Seymour, queen consort of England and Ireland

Henry moved fast to marry Jane Seymour. Within months of their marriage, Jane conceived and nine months later a son was born and Jane was dead by childbed. The son, Edward, remained a sickly child his whole life and, although he outlived his father, he never got a chance to truly rule England.

Anne of Cleves, queen consort of England and Ireland

Henry was out another wife. He decided to arrange a marriage rather than pursue another courtier. He found himself attracted to a portrait of Anne of Cleves, a German princess, during his research. He had her sent to England and, when they met, he found her less-than-appealing. They were forced to wed but apparently Anne also lacked skills in the bedchamber as they never consummated their marriage. The marriage was annulled six months later with Anne being awarded a generous settlement.

Catherine Howard, queen consort of England and Ireland

Again he sought and found a wife in the beautiful Catherine Howard, an English noblewoman. Catherine came from a Catholic family and it is possible that her family manipulated her into catching the eye of Henry in order to restore a Catholic status to England. In any case, it failed. Catherine was pregnant by the time Henry's marriage to Anne was annulled. They were married within a week afterwards. Henry was no longer attractive, however, and the young Catherine became repulsed. She began an affair with another courtier. Through a two-year intrigue, it became known to Henry and he promptly brought charges of adultery and treason against his wife. He annulled his marriage with Catherine Howard in November 1541 and she was executed for a law passed ex post facto in February of the next year.

Catherine Parr, queen consort of England and Ireland

Henry waited a whole year before finding his final wife, Catherine Parr. Yet another noblewoman, he finally found someone with the ability to outlive him. Catherine never produced a child by the king but stayed with Henry to the end of his days and then silently passed into history, the last of Henry VIII's six wives.

Edward VI, king of England and Ireland

The Failure of the Tudor Dynasty
The last four monarchs of the Tudor dynasty all failed in their bid to continue the dynasty. Three were the surviving children of Henry VIII while the fourth was one of Henry VII's great-granddaughters. England fell to the regency of Edward VI which was headed first by his uncle, Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, but later by John Dudley, duke of Northumberland. During this time, the descendants of Mary Tudor, Henry VIII's younger sister, sought a dynastic union.  Mary's daughter, Frances, was too old to rule and already married, but her youngest daughter, Jane Grey, was just slightly older than Edward VI. The plan fell apart, however, when Edward Seymour was removed from the council and replaced with John Dudley. To make things worse, Edward VI was dying. John, seeing an opportunity, married his son, Guildford Dudley, to Jane, thereby placing his own son as, if nothing else, the head of a future English dynasty. Edward approved a writ disinheriting his sisters from the throne and soon after died in 1553. The stage was set for one of the shortest-lived royal coups in history.

Jane, queen of England and Ireland

Jane was proclaimed queen of England by the regency council but many quickly turned to Mary I, the eldest surviving daughter of Henry VIII. By the thirteenth day, Jane was arrested by Mary and placed in the Tower of London. She remained there for a year until her father with others staged the Wyatt Rebellion targeting Jane as their preferred royal candidate. With little other choice, Mary had her cousin beheaded, thereby stabilizing the English throne under her rule. The Suffolk claim to the English throne continued through first Jane's youngest sister and then through the line of her aunt, but never came to fruition. Fate had other plans for the English succession.

Mary I, queen of England and Ireland

Mary I ruled England for five years from 1553 until 1558. In that time Catholicism was resorted and Protestantism pushed out of the limelight. She was unwed and nearly 40-years-old at the time of her succession. She found a husband in her first cousin-once removed Prince Philip of Spain (king from 1556 to 1598). Philip, who was eleven years her junior, proved to be unloving, distant, and uninterested in his new wife. Philip, nonetheless, was crowned king of England & Ireland, the only king consort in the history of England. Even still, Philip returned to the continent and visited rarely. Her inability to conceive a child forced her to accept the inevitable and acknowledge Elizabeth as her heir. Mary died, Protestantism returned, and Philip found a "reasonable regret" that his wife had died.

Elizabeth I, queen of England and Ireland

Indeed, Philip actually saw opportunity. The younger and more attractive Elizabeth was approached soon after her coronation by a delegation from Spain seeking her hand for King Philip II. Elizabeth I rejected this request multiple times over the next few years and the relationship between England and Spain soured. Elizabeth eventually ceased seriously considering suitors entirely, leaving the entire Tudor succession in doubt.

The Solution
Legally, the line of Suffolk had the best claim to the throne after Elizabeth, but Elizabeth refused to validate that claim and even imprisoned the heiress when she wed another claimant from a parallel line without permission. The Catholic world supported Mary I, queen of Scots, the only child of James V, the son of Margaret Tudor. Mary solidified her claim by marrying Henry Stewart, the son of Margaret, the daughter of Margaret Tudor through her second marriage to Archibald Douglas. Thus Mary and Henry shared the first and second senior-most claim to the English throne. Scottish politics proved to be Mary's undoing when a Protestant consortium forced her to abdicate after she arranged the death of Henry Stewart. Her infant son, James VI, became king. Mary continued to pursue her claim to the English throne through intrigue while imprisoned in England. This frustrated Elizabeth I to the point that she had Mary executed. James VI, thereby, became the prime heir, a Protestant with a senior and double claim, and no ghosts in his past. Though the law of Henry VIII's denied his elder sister's line from inheriting the English throne, politics at the time of Elizabeth I's death in 1603 said otherwise. James's succession would bring about a new era in English politics, uniting England once and for all with its northern rival Scotland.

James VI & I, king of Scotland, England and Ireland

Conclusion
A long but interesting story of intrigue and plotting by the best known, but least dynastically important, English royal family. The Tudors act as a bridge between a two-hundred year span of dynasties that failed to leave a strong dynastic impact on English history. The Tudors passed their claims through an eldest daughter of the first monarch of the dynasty just as the Stuarts passed the claim through a younger daughter of the first monarch of the dynasty. It was not until the House of Hanover that things became straightforward again in English dynastic politics.

Rebirth of the Disney Empire (Disney Films: Part III)

I've waited quite a while since the first two posts, much like the gap between Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3, but it's finally time to finish up my dynastological view of the last decade of Disney animated features. While it was not a strong decade for monarchical films, it also could have been much worse. In any case, the past three years especially have shown that the monarchical tendencies of Disney continue to this day. Let's move on...


40. The Emperor's New Groove (2000) – Disney's first monarchical film of the new millennium tells the tale of the young Incan emperor, Kuzco, who is turned into a llama by his chief advisor. Despite starring an emperor as its main character, there is very little in the way of monarchical commentary in this film other than a glaringly obvious one: greed. Kuzco is a very greedy and wealthy emperor and he wants to build a new summer retreat on the site of a peasant's home. The peasant, Pancha, and the emperor-turned-llama then go on a long adventure to turn the emperor back into a llama and humble him a bit. Again, not a lot on the way of monarchical commentary. The emperor turns out to be a better man in the end and everyone lives happily ever after, except the chief advisor. There is no mention of parents, marriage, or children, and even discussion over the empire itself is kept to a minimum. In other words, this is a fun Disney comedy with little in the way of dynasticism.

41. Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) — In contrast, Atlantis proved to be all about monarchy. Like The Emperor's New Grove, Atlantis takes place in an empire, albeit an underwater one. Atlantis is ruled by an ancient king who has lived since the empire sank beneath the waves. "Empire" is a loose term in this film since Atlantis is no larger than a volcanic island in the middle of a molten sea far beneath the Earth's surface. Still, the king's daughter, Kida, helps an expedition that discovers Atlantis. She and the expedition's chief scientific advisor, Milo, fall in love and Milo helps decipher Atlantean text so the lost knowledge of Atlantis can be relearned. In the process, though, the militant contingent of the expedition turns greedy and tries to use the knowledge to become rich. Kida becomes an imprisoned heir, trapped within an ancient jewel. Milo, with the help of some of the expedition members and the now-ailing king, rescues the imprisoned princess and restores Atlantis to its former glory. The story has many twists and, though it seems at times like a damsel-in-distress story, it proves to be quite different. It is the heiress, imbued with the power of her ancestors, who saves Atlantis. The king lives on, but it is strongly implied that his daughter and heir, Kida, will be the one that restores the glory of Atlantis, and Milo will be there all along the way as the royal consort to the Queen. A rich film with dynastic depth, Atlantis: The Lost Empire is perhaps one of Disney's best animated features though it is also one of its darkest.

49. The Princess and the Frog (2009) — The first Disney princess film since Beauty and the Beast, this unique biography of a 1920s New Orleans African-American waitress is interesting all on its own. Tiana has a dream to create her own restaurant along the riverfront. Meanwhile, Prince Naveen of Maldonia is a penniless, unskilled daydreamer seeking to find a wealthy bride in the American South. Where Maldonia is is never stated, but it is said that his father does not want a beggar for a son. Like most Disney movies, Tiana becomes a princess through marriage. Naveen is the true-born prince, the son of the King of Maldonia. When the film nears its conclusion, the couple are still frogs who miss their chance to kiss at midnight, thereby remaining frogs. Their failure to kiss seems to suggest that their love and marriage at the end of the film will be rather Shrek-like. Yet upon their marriage kiss, Tiana "becomes" a princess and the curse finally lifts. I found this a bit anticlimactic because they had decided they were content with being frogs yet they still were cured. Sure that meant Tiana and Naveen could open their own restaurant, but the underlying message—"be content with who you are or become"—seems lost. Also, while it is never entirely clear if Naveen is the heir, it seems certain that he will never become king since he remains in New Orleans, the co-owner of a popular restaurant. Nevertheless, this film ends up being a rather fun twist on the usual princess formula, while still following the standard dynastic patterns of Disney films.

50. Tangled (2010) — Returning back to the roots of Disney, Tangled, formerly known as Rapunzel, tells the tale of a true-born princess stolen by an evil woman while still an infant. The reason she was taken was a special property in her hair which allowed her to heal the sick and injured. To maintain this power, though, Rapunzel could never cut her hair. The woman, Gothel, imprisoned the princess in a tower and raised Rapunzel as her own daughter, never telling her of her parents. Meanwhile, her parents annually hold a festival of mourning during which they release thousands of lighted candles into the air in the hope that Rapunzel may one day see them and return to her parents. Rapunzel can see these from her tower and wishes to see them up close, not knowing their purpose, but Gothel refuses. After a long story known as the plot, Rapunzel loses her hair but saves her new boyfriend, Flynn. She is reunited with her parents, who seem to have not produced any other children other than Rapunzel. The film then jumps ahead a number of years to show Rapunzel and Flynn getting married, thereby making Flynn the prince-by-marriage. Disney did some unusual things in this film. First, it is only the second film where there is a prince-by-marriage. In all the other films where there is a true-born princess except Aladdin, the true-blood princess ends up finding a true-blood prince. The only other formula thus far was the non-royal woman marrying the true-blood prince. Secondly, the woman has a magical power. To my knowledge, no other Disney princess has a magical power, except perhaps Pocahontas who can talk to nature. In other respects, the film is fairly similar to Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with a princess-in-exile not knowing her parents. This film was definitely an interesting flick with new songs and decent graphics.

As for other films during this time, there is not much in the way of monarchy. Like Oliver & Company, Disney's Treasure Planet (2002) does not take place in a monarchical universe but derives from a story written in a monarchical universe, namely Hanoverian Great Britain. The author of the original story, Robert Louis Stevenson, wrote during the reign of Queen Victoria, but the story takes place during the reign of King George II in the mid-1700s. Disney's other films produced during the 2000s—Fantasia 2000 (1999), Dinosaur (2000), Lilo & Stitch (2002), Brother Bear (2003), Home on the Range (2004), Chicken Little (2005), Meet the Robinsons (2007), Bolt (2008), Winnie the Pooh (2011), Wreck-It Ralph (2012)—all lack any obvious connection to monarchies. Dinosaur contains some latent paternal tribalism, but nothing more serious. Disney's 2013 film, The King of the Elves, suggests that Disney has not yet given up on its monarchical aspirations and is progressing in a similar vein as it has for the past eighty years. Thus monarchies remain an important and even integral part of the animators' and story-tellers' canon.

To Defend the Faith (Linchpin Monarchs)

One of the many roles of a monarch has always been to defend the faith of the country in question. In some cases, that simply means upholding the traditions of the past, while in other countries the monarch is literally the head of the church. The Queen of the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II, still holds this position over the Church of England, though most of her powers are delegated to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.

Still, there have been moments in history that are so important to the future of that country that the monarch not only defies the faith he or she is supposed to uphold, but downright changes the faith. These linchpin monarchs are often remembered fondly after their deaths, though at the time they are often criticized and earn many enemies. Four such individuals from Classical times deserve our notice, for they changed the course of history as we know it. A further six will be mentioned in brief for the respective influence they had on our current state of religious affairs in Europe.

Ashoka the Great, Emperor of India
I start this simple study with a non-Western monarch both for chronological reasons and to emphasize that this phenomena is not unique to Europe. Indeed, many monarchs throughout history have changed their state religions, but India is the second-largest country to do so and also the earliest known case. Ashoka was of the Maurya dynasty and ruled an area encompassing much of modern-day India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

Ashoka began his rule as an mean-spirited emperor intent on conquering the sub-continent of India from its current thralldom. But when he conquered the region of Kalinga on the northeast coast of modern-day India near Bangladesh, he converted to Buddhism. Legend has it that when he saw the ruins of capital of Kalinga, he stated:

What have I done? If this is a victory, what's a defeat then? Is this a victory or a defeat? Is this justice or injustice? Is it gallantry or a rout? Is it valor to kill innocent children and women? Do I do it to widen the empire and for prosperity or to destroy the other's kingdom and splendor? One has lost her husband, someone else a father, someone a child, someone an unborn infant.... What's this debris of the corpses? Are these marks of victory or defeat? Are these vultures, crows, eagles the messengers of death or evil?

Ashoka was heartbroken over the ruin his conquest caused and angry that his Hinduistic ways had led him to this destruction. He decided to rule his new empire as a kindly and wise emperor from that moment onward. He adopted the Buddhist principals of the quasi-democratic Kalingas and made it the state religion around 260 BCE. Within ten years, Buddhist policy had spread outward from his empire, reaching as far west as Rome and as far east as Japan. Buddhism was established in Sri Lanka during this time, and remains a Buddhist state to this day.

Ashoka's conversion was helped by the strength of India's military and political power in the region. Following the Kalinga war, none, including Greeks from Iran and the growing Chinese Empire, could question the wisdom or power of Ashoka. His policies were deemed wise and good and convinced even Greeks living in Persia to eagerly convert from their pantheistic ways. Though India eventually turned away from Buddhism over the centuries, other countries including Nepal, Thailand, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka still look to Ashoka as one of their guides in how to properly run a Buddhist country.

Ming, Emperor of the Middle Kingdom (China)
Buddhism took hold in other countries too during this time. From India, Buddhism spread outward to China during the time of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was during the reign of Ming that Buddhism took hold over the monarchy. Ming sent a delegation to the Indian Empire in 67 CE to ask for teachers of Buddhism, and the group returned with two, as well as an image of Gautama Buddha and his book of sutras. Ming then ordered the construction of the White Horse Temple in Luoyang, the capital.

White Horse Temple

While it is thought that Ming converted to Buddhism during this time, he never gave up the strong Confucian undertones of the Han government and continued his wars of conquest in the west. Within 100 years, China was firmly a Buddhist country with temples and statuary scattered across the Middle Kingdom. It remained the dominant religion in China for nearly 700 years before being almost utterly wiped out during the Tang dynasty by Emperor Wuzong in 845 CE. Before it was destroyed, though, it passed to Korea and Japan where it remains a dominant religion today.

Tiridates III, King of Armenia
Christianity gets a lot of hype for its religious conversions, but it took more than 200 years for a single country to convert to the religion. That country is traditionally believed to be Armenia, a sometimes tributary state of Parthian Persia located in the Caucasus Mountains north of Turkey. Tiridates began his rule as a deposed monarch, attempted to retake his native Armenian throne with the help of Rome. Tiridates was raised and educated in Rome during his minority and this allowed him to get the help he needed to retake Armenia from the Parthians.

The Baptism of Tiridates III by Gregory

The conqueror of Armenia, Anak, had a son who became known as Gregory the Illuminator after his conversion to Christianity. He felt guilty for his father's crimes and joined the Armenian crusade to retake Tiridate's throne. Soon afterwards, Tiridates, a staunch Zoroastrian, demanded that everyone in his army lay flowers down at the foot of the goddess Anahit. Gregory refused and his Christianity and parentage was revealed to Tiridates. The now-restored king imprisoned Gregory in a deep dungeon where he lived for the next thirteen years. Eventually, Tiridates was forced to call on him after his sister had a dream in which Gregory held the cure to the king's illness. Gregory was retrieved and the king was cured in the year 301 CE. In joy and thanks, Tiridates immediately converted to Christianity and declared it the state religion. Gregory was appointed the Catholicos (leader) of the Armenian Apostolic Church, a church that still thrives today in the Armenian community. For the next thirty years, Tiridates fought to establish Christianity above all others within Armenia, often at significant threat to his own life.

Constantine I the Great, Emperor of Rome
Despite the progress made by Armenia toward establishing Christian states in Europe, it took a much larger entity to convince the western world that Christianity was the way of the future. The Empire of Rome during the fourth century was vast. It encompassed directly and through tributaries everything from Britain, France and Spain in the west, to the lower half of Germany in the north, as far east as Afghanistan, and as far south as Sudan. Thus when Constantine I, a pious pantheist of Brito-Roman stock, allowed Christianity in the state that technically executed Christ, the world skipped a beat. Yet the legends of Constantine do him more justice than in truth.

First and most importantly, the 313 CE Edict of Milan, perhaps the most important legal document regarding Christianity during Roman times, did not make Christianity legal—it made all religions legal. It's specific Christian proviso was that it also restored property to disenfranchised Christians who had lost property during the reign of Diocletian.


Secondly, Constantine was never a true Christian during his reign. His mother, a Briton named Helena, was already a Christian when Constantine was born and it is likely that she influenced him into becoming a Christian throughout his life. His conversion only became public in 312 during his war with Licinius. At this time, he believed that his success was due to the Christian God. From this time forward, Constantine established and rebuilt churches throughout the empire and added Christians to his bureaucracy. But Christianity was not yet the state religion. Constantine still was the head of the Roman religion and continued to patronize temples of Apollo, Diana, and Heracles.

Still, Constantine increasingly saw himself as the head of Christianity in Europe following his conversion. He summoned the Council of Nicaea in 325 which established the Nicaean Creed and decided against the Arianist interpretation of divinity. He was only baptized on his deathbed and it was not by a Catholic but Arian bishop that he received his last rights.

It would take another sixty years and a few pagan emperors until Christianity was accepted as the prime church of Rome. Another great emperor, Theodosius I, was responsible for finally establishing Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire, and it is through Theodosius that the Byzantine Empire, Russia, Bulgaria, and the Catholic countries of the world claim their right to supremacy.

Clovis I, King of the Franks
It didn't take long for Christianity to spread outward from Rome into its periphery. Gaul, ruled by the Germanic Franks, was the first to convert. Clovis ruled a kingdom in the early sixth century that spanned from Germany to the English Channel, and it was luck that he converted to the correct form of Christianity. The region he occupied had until recently been controlled by Rome and the Gauls that lived there, the Gallic Celts, had sided with the Arians in the Christianity debate. Lucky for Clovis (and history) that he married a Trinitarian Christian princess from Burgundy named Clotilde.

Clovis Receiving Divine Help During the Battle of Tolbiac

His conversion may well have been political, since many of the locals in his new kingdom were Christians. The divine origins of his conversion—invoking Christ in a battle to defeat his enemy—is most probably apocryphal. Regardless, Clovis was baptized publicly at Rheims on Christmas near the end of the fifth century. His Roman subjects felt comforted that the king had chosen Trinitarian Christianity despite the prevalence of Arian Christianity among the other Germanic and Celtic groups. For the remainder of his reign, Clovis fought to control and unify all of Gaul under his dynasty and under his religion. He achieved this at the First Council of Orléans soon before his death. While the Merovingians divided their realm time and again, it was never ruled by a German pagan again.

England's First Christian King
There is no solid first Christian king of England, or indeed the British Isles. During the time that Christianity was spreading through the British Isles, there were numerous kingdoms and chiefdoms and all accepted Christianity separately. Traditionally, the first Christian monarch of Britain was Lucius who wrote a letter to Pope Eleuterus in the second century asking to be converted. It is thought that England continued to be Christians for 100 years until Diocletian suppressed the religion, after which it was revived by Constantine, who was born in York. Today, the very existence of Lucius is very much in question and his conversion to Christianity is doubtful.

Æthelbert, King of Kent

Despite that, Christianity was already present among the Romano-Britons when the Anglo-Saxons conquered much of southeastern Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries. The Anglo-Saxons were Germanic pagans who, like the Vikings, did not accept Christian doctrine. For two centuries, they mercilessly fought against the native Christians until Æthelberht of Kent, one of many kings in England, finally started the process of re-converting England to Christianity. Æthelberht was married to Bertha, the daughter of the Frankish king Charibert. By this time, the Franks were Catholics and it is assumed that Saint Augustine was sent to England by Pope Gregory I by request of Æthelberht due to his wife. Soon after Augustine's arrival in 597 CE, Æthelberht was converted. He established a church at Canterbury and placed Augustine at its head.

Æthelberht influenced his neighbor, Sæberht of Sussex, to convert as well, but attempting to convert both kingdoms proved difficult. Firstly, the local kinglets were hesitant to give up their pagan past even while accepting Christian doctrine into their lands. Secondly, the Britons did not like the sudden intrusion of Rome back into their lives after nearly 200 years of absence. During the time Rome had forgotten them, new and different traditions had developed which contradicted the Catholic teachings. Without the support of the Britons, it was almost impossible for Æthelberht to declare the state religion Catholism. This problem was very apparent at his death, as numerous pagan kings ruled Kent and the other English kinglets for the next hundred years.


The northern Scandinavian countries each had to find Christianity on their own, often through waylaid missionaries or captured monks. Harald Bluetooth, King of Denmark and Norway, was the first Viking to convert to Christianity. His grandson, Canute the Great, became a champion of Christianity and spread it to all corners of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Orkneys and Shetland Islands, and beyond. Meanwhile, Vladimir the Great, Grand Prince of Kiev and a descendant of Vikings himself, became the first Kievan Rus' leader to convert to Christianity. Though he was a Catholic, Russia eventually converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in order to claim succession from Rome after the Byzantine Empire fell. Finally, Mieszko I, Duke of the Poles, became the first Polish monarch to accept Christianity, and through him Poland became the northeastern extent of Catholicism in Europe.

All of these people helped establish the religious order we have today. But why, you may ask, are no Muslim or Hindu monarchs listed here? For a very simple reason: most Muslims didn't convert to Islam, they were conquered and replaced. Islam began with its first monarch: Muhammed. The Prophet then established the Caliphate which replaced virtually every monarchy it came into contact with. Conversion was an option, but retaining the throne was not. When the Caliphate finally fell, only Muslims were left in the power vacuum. On the other hand, Hinduism is not technically a religion but a mixture of religions, all native to India. Leaders in India were already Hindu when Buddhism and Islam came along, and so there was nothing in Hinduism to convert to. Finally, Judaism is only the state religion in Israel, but in ancient times it was also an established religion, just like Hinduism, of the migratory Hebrews. When they settled down, they remained Jewish (though many of their leaders adopted pagan practices as well).

The importance placed on these monarchs is obvious: virtually all of them are "the Great". But this title doesn't have to denote religious greatness. The importance of the individuals, though, is in establishing a religious tradition often upheld by their dynasty for multiple generations in a way that has a lasting effect on their domain. Sure China and India aren't Buddhist anymore but Buddhism is still a central aspect of their histories and is still present in their archaeology. More importantly, if it hadn't been for these monarchs converting to their religions, other countries in their peripheries would not have converted, many of which remain Buddhist or Christian today. Thus the power one monarch has in converting can be seen in the religions of the world today, from Catholic Peru to Buddhist Cambodia. Religion is an important part of people's lives, and the primary reason people are aware of their religion today is through a monarch converting to it many hundreds of years ago.

The Last American Monarch (Hawai'i)

Long ago, the United States came about under the principle that no single person deserved to be titled, noble, or royal. Indeed, the United States (or the Confederate States for that matter) has never truly had a king or any monarch. Sure some presidents have come close to regal respect, but none has ever been king! But the United States did once consume a kingdom. Well, technically it was a former kingdom, but we took it all! Today, the pretenders to that kingdom's throne wonder aimlessly around California and Hawai'i searching to reclaim a past they had stolen from them through treachery and capitalism. I speak, of course, of the great Kingdom of Hawai'i.

The Kingdom of Hawaii, 1837

Most people don't know a lot about the history of Hawai'i and there is a good reason for that: it's not very long or complex. Even the United States seems complicated compared to the history of Hawai'i since its European discovery by Captain Cook in 1778. But the history of the Kingdom of Hawai'i didn't begin for 17 more years. During the time that Captain Cook was roaming the seas, the eight inhabitable islands of the Hawaiian Island chain were being systematically centralized. The Big Island (Hawai'i) was being slowly united under one dynasty. Maui had conquered Moloka'i and Lãna'i under one chief but was in fight for O'ahu. Kaua'i and Ni'ihau had long been under the same chief. Enter Kamehameha, the son of a Hawaiian chief with sights on the Hawai'i throne and the goal of unifying all of the islands under one king. Captain Cook met the future king and inspired the man.

Between 1782 and 1795, Kamehameha systematically unified, first, all of Hawai'i, and then conquered Mau'i and O'ahu (with the other smaller islands following suit). By 1795, the Kingdom of Hawai'i was all but official. The only islands that eluded him were Kaua'i and Ni'ihau, the furthest east of the inhabitable islands. Civil War and dispute made it difficult for Kamehameha I to conquer these islands and an agreement was finally made in 1810 that made Kaua'i vassals of Hawai'i. From this point forward, the kingdom existed and the Kamehameha dynasty was its focus.

For the first eighty years of the kingdom's history, European incursions were the theme. Kamehameha I did not live long enough to see much come of his newly united kingdom. Despite two decades of unification wars, he died only nine years after unifying the island chain. His son, Liholiho, took on the name Kamehameha II, and soon after becoming king began the break-down of the religious order. With so much Christian influence coming in from European traders and whalers, the traditional religion of the state just didn't seem to fit anymore, even thought Liholiho never converted to Christianity. Five years into his reign, Liholiho travelled to Europe to tour and discuss diplomacy with the European courts. While in London, he caught measles to which he had no immunity whatsoever. He and his wife both died in 1824, and the king's brother, Kauikeaouli, succeeded him by default.

Kauikeaouli, known officially as Kamehameha III, was the longest-reigning king in Hawaiian history, but that is partially because he ascended the throne at the age of 11. His step-mother, Queen Ka'ahumanu, former wife of Kamehameha I, acted as regent during his minority. When she died, the king's half-sister took over and took the title Ka'ahuman II. The regency finally ended in 1833 though the regent became a sort of prime minister to the king in the following years. Much happened during the years of Kauikeaouli's reign. First of all, the Catholic mission began in Hawai'i, was ousted, and restored under threat by the French. Secondly, Hawai'i briefly was offered to Britain in 1843 under pressure from a British captain, though London later declined the offer. Most importantly, the Council of Chiefs, which had acted as a legislature until this time, was replaced with an official democratic legislative body, and a cabinet was created. This is important because it allowed Europeans who had become Hawaiian citizens to get directly involved in the government without royal consent. Prior to this time, the king approved all additions to the council of chiefs and native blood was implied as a requirement. The make-up of the new government quickly began shifting away from natives, who were declining as the majority population, and toward those of European or half-European blood.

Kamehameha III, Queen Kalama, and their nieces and nephews

During Kauikeaouli's reign, the United States also became active in Hawaiian politics over whaling and trading rights, since Hawai'i acted as a perfect base station for both endeavors. Multiple treaties would be made between the two countries, beginning with one created in 1849 establishing favorable trade relations. The king was very pro-United States and had been long considering resigning his post in favor of a U.S. annexation of the Hawaiian Islands. While many people favored such a move, others, especially Europeans, were against it. Thus, when the king finally died in 1854, many saw it as a sign that Hawai'i was not yet ready to join the United States.

With the death of Kauikeaouli, the senior line of Kamehameha I died out and a younger branch took over. Alexander Liholiho was renamed Kamehameha IV. He was a staunch Christian educated by Calvinists since he was young. He had worked as a diplomat for the king on numerous occasions and, thus, was one of the best educated kings in Hawai'i's history. Unlike his predecessor, Alexander Liholiho was anti-annexation and sought to strengthen the independence of the Hawaiian kingdom. He was actively pro-health and education, especially for the native Hawaiian population. He expanded the land claims of Hawai'i by laying claim to numerous atolls in the larger Emperor Seamount archipelago, claims that are still in question today. Unfortunately, the king's reign was short-lived. He died at the age of 29 in 1863. His wife would later attempt to claim the throne for herself but failed to do so.

Alexander Liholiho was succeeded by his brother, Lot, who took on the regnal name Kamehameha V, the last of his line. Lot was a builder and expanded the government in all directions. Early in his reign, he forced the creation of a new constitution, an action that worried Americans due to its seeming anti-American stance. Lot also allowed for the construction of new government buildings including a new palace for himself.  Today, this palace is the home of the Hawai'i State Supreme Court. Unfortunately, little else was accomplished by Lot before his untimely death in 1872. With no heirs and his declared heir predeceasing him, the constitutional succession solution went into effect: a general election for monarch.

Among the various candidates, William Charles Lunalilo won out. He was defended from a half-brother of Kamehameha I and thus was a close cousin of Lot. Lunalilo ended up being a progressive monarch. He made democracy more widespread by removing residency and property requirements. He also re-established a bicameral legislature, separating it into a House of Nobles and a House of Representatives. Most oddly, after a mutiny in the Hawaiian armed forces, Lunalilo disbanded the army. Without an army, Hawai'i lost one mean to defend the monarchy. None of this really mattered for Lunalilo, though. He died only a year into his reign, in 1874, of tuberculosis. Again, no heir was designated so the successor went to the polls.

This time around, a more solid dynasty took over. David Kalakaua was a man descended from a rival line of Hawaiian chieftains. While he did descend from some of Kamehameha I's relatives, it was not significant. Kalakaua began as a popular king. He travelled the islands early in his reign and then went to Washington, D.C., personally and spoke with President Ulysses Grant. During his visit, a new treaty was enacted allowing the trade of sugar and rice from Hawai'i to the United States with no import taxes. Kalakaua was not popular with the European crowd, though. He would dismiss cabinets on a whim and ignore the pleas of the legislature. Ignoring politics, he left his sister in charge of affairs at home and travelled the world, becoming the first monarch to circumnavigate the globe. During these years, he had also hired contractors to build 'lolani Palace, the royal residence that remains in Honolulu to this day.

Kalakaua's trip led to imperial aspirations, and he sought to create a trans-Pacific Polynesian Confederations. Samoa was the first (and only) nation to join. Unfortunately for him, unrest at home caused him to lose much of his political power. The Bayonet Constitution, created by the Reform Party, halted his progress and brought the globetrotting king home. It also was the first constitution that specifically favored European and American interests over native Hawaiian in the kingdom. The remainder of Kalakaua's life was filled with attempts to reclaim his royal prerogative. He never achieved that goal and eventually died in 1891, while trying to find a cure to his illness in San Francisco. Few other monarchs left as large a mark on modern Hawai'i than him.

Lili'uokalani, his sister, succeeded him to the throne, Hawai'i's only queen regnant. She had little power as a monarch due to the laws and constitution passed during her brother's reign. Apparent support caused the queen to hastily attempt to overturn the Bayonet Constitution through popular acclamation, but the attempt came to late with too little support. Early in 1893, American and European businessmen organized quickly to halt the queen in her tracks. Defections from every corner of the government, including her own cabinet, forced the queen to abdicate. Despite attempts by President Grover Cleveland to restore the monarchy later that year, it was too late. On July 4, 1894, the Republic of Hawai'i was officially created with Sanford Dole as governor. The republic was made into a protectorate of the United States with the ability of annexation and Hawai'i's monarchical history was finished.

Prince Quentin and his wife

Queen Lili'uokalani lived in Hawai'i the rest of her life, attempting to restore her rights as queen or protesting to the United States the unlawful annexation of her kingdom. In both cases, she failed to succeed though she was released from house arrest and granted a passport. She lived until 1917, the last monarch of an American state. She was succeeded in her royal claims by a close relative, Edward Kawananakoa, who lived until 1953. His death split the royal claim between the descendants of his two sisters. The representative of the elder line, Quentin, ran for Congress in 2006 and a seat in the Hawai'i House of Representatives in 2008. If he had won the 2006 election, he would have been the first royal pretender in U.S. history to be seated in the U.S. Congress. The other heir, Abigail, has actively claimed the titles and refuses to accept the claim of Quentin as her heir, instead choosing an adopted son.

In either case, the story of the Kingdom of Hawai'i is an interesting one, with American and European businessmen taking advantage of a native and, at times, naive people for their own advantage. Indeed, the overthrow was so malicious that President Bill Clinton felt it necessary to issue a formal apology to the current heirs for the revolution inspired by Americans 100 years prior. And while today Hawai'i is another state of the United States, for one brief century, it was a kingdom of its own, a legacy that Hawaiians today look at with fond memories and vacationers observe with wonder.

The Complex History of the Bulgarian Empires (Bulgaria)

The dynastic history of Bulgaria is something I had not intended but was compelled to do following a series of short conversations with a Bulgarian work-and-travel co-worker of mine. Quite a while ago, I inventoried in my royal genealogical files the tsars of Bulgaria, a series of monarchs who ruled periodically from the 10th to the 20th century in some fashion or another. To my surprise, my Bulgarian co-worker expressly denounced any such monarchy on two occasions, despite the fact that I had researched it fairly deeply many years ago. Thus, the basis for today's long-awaited dynastology  is established.

Indeed, Bulgaria has a most interesting dynastic history and one that should not be overlooked. Despite its modern placement in the far-south-eastern corner of Europe — between European Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, and the Black Sea — it once spanned an empire that encompassed most of the Ukraine. The Bulgars historically were people of probably Turkic origin infused with a heavy dose of Persian.  Over time, the dominant Slavic migratory groups supplanted first the proto-Bulgarian languages and later the ethnicity itself. Thus, all Bulgarians today descend primarily from Slavs though they may retain some ancient Bulgarian blood. The modern region of Bulgaria was a nexus of Greek, Roman, Gothic, Hun, Slavic and Celtic cultures and thus elements of all can be found in modern Bulgarian society. Of the original Bulgar invaders, it is thought that they consisted of a relatively small group who mostly interbred with the native population.

Dulo Dynasty (681 – 753) & the First Bulgarian Empire
The history of Bulgaria begins with the ruler, Asparuh, who founded the First Bulgarian Empire around 681 CE. While he is often titled "khan", the Turkic title for king, it is unlikely he or his successors took that title. Asparuh was the second son of a Bulgar ruler, Kubrat of the Dulo clan, who ruled a large kingdom called Great Bulgaria in the Ukraine. After his death, his eldest son ruled for a short while before the region fell to the Khazars in 668. After this point, Bulgaria became associated solely with the region on either side of the Danube River from roughly modern-day Belgrade to the Black Sea. This immigration pushed into previously Byzantine lands. The Byzantines were distracted by attempted to fight back, but failing morale in 681 led to a treaty that was later seen as the establishment of the Bulgarian state in the Balkans.

The Foundation of the Bulgarian Empire

Kubrat was the first Orthodox Christian Bulgarian monarch. While it is unknown whether Asparuh was Christian, his son, Tervel, certainly was. Tervel allied with the Byzantine emperor, Justinian II, and helped him reclaim his throne from the usurpers Leontius and Tiberius III. In exchange for this, Justinian crowned Tervel Kaisar (Tsar) of Bulgaria, making Tervel the first foreign monarch to ever receive the Roman title. In addition, Justinian ceded additional lands to Bulgaria. Despite problems between the two countries, they banded together in 718 and routed the Arabs during the Siege of Constantinople. For this aide, Tervel was added the title "Saviour of Europe" by contemporary historians. Since Byzantine histories are the primary sources for early Bulgarian history, it is thought that the Dulo Dynasty maintained a relative peace after 718. Kormesiy succeeded his father, Tervel, around 721 and little is known about him, though he may have been deposed. Sevar, his son, succeeded him but was also later deposed. Following his deposition, the Dulo Dynasty fell and was replaced by the Vokil Dynasty.

Vokil Dynasty (753 – 762)
Kormisosh was the first ruler of the Vokil Dynasty and he began a long period of political instability in the First Bulgarian Empire. The Byzantine Empire had decided to defend its western borders with Bulgaria by moving Armenians and Syrians into nearby Thrace. Kormisosh was so enraged by this obvious threat that he invaded the Empire and laid a short siege to Constantinople which unfortunately backfired on the Bulgarians as they were defeated and forced to flee, ultimately ending with Kormisosh's death through a palace coup which replaced the ruler with his kinsman, Vinekh. Vinekh held his ground against the Byzantines but ultimately failed to win the day. Though Vinekh managed to finally defeat the Byzantine army, he failed to pursue the fleeing army and, in response, was killed with his entire family by the Bulgarian nobility.

Non-Dynastic Period (762 – 803)
A period of intense confusion followed the end of the Vokil Dynasty. Telets, a member of the Ugain clan, claimed the leadership of the Bulgarian Empire for three years during which time Bulgaria lost a battle to the Byzantines and the nobles, in turned, lynched Telets for his defeat. His successor, Sabin, was a relative of the Dulo Dynasty and attempted to make peace with the Byzantines. However, when this peace offer was discovered, the Bulgarian nobility rebelled and Sabin fled to Constantinople. His successor, Umor of the Vokil Dynasty, lasted only 40 days before also fleeing to the Byzantine Empire to find sanctuary. Toktu adopted, instead, a hostile policy against the Byzantines but was murdered before ever being able to implement it. His successor, Pagan, tried again for peace but was betrayed by the Byzantines and also murdered after the Byzantines penetrated to the middle of the Bulgarian Empire. With the Byzantines now on the offensive, Telerig sued for peace and succeeded, but was forced to flee to Constantinople just as his peaceful predecessor had, later being baptized and renamed Theophylaktos prior to marrying a relative of the Byzantine Emperor. The instability of Bulgaria ultimately ended in the reign of Kardam, who took the mantel of leadership in 777. Between 791 and 792, the Bulgarians decisively defeated the Byzantine Empire multiple times and the Bulgarians pressed their advantage, forcing tribute to be paid. A palace coup in Constantinople ended further aggression to the Bulgarian Empire for a short time and allowed a restoration of the Dulo Dynasty through the nephew of Kardam, Krum.

Dulo Dynasty (803 – 977)
The Dulo Dynasty was restored upon the death of Kardam and the empire thrived during this time. The empire expanded northward to encompass all of modern Romania, Moldova, and most of Hungary. Indeed, for a short while the empire shared a border with the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne. Interestingly, Bulgaria was also under constant attack from the Byzantines. This allowed Krum his greatest victory: over the many invasions, Krum successfully killed or forced the deposition of three Byzantine emperors. Nikephrous I was killed in battle. Staurakios was injured in that same battle and later died. Michael I was forced to abdicate and became a monk. Meanwhile, Krum died a natural death, passing the throne to his son, Omurtag.

The Empire under Krum of Bulgaria

The Baptism of St. Boris I of Bulgaria

The next three monarchs expanded the empire's borders and the laws of the land. Omurtag became famous for his persecution of the Christians, while Malamir and Presian I were ineffectual leaders who nonetheless furthered their ancestor's laws and expansions. It was Boris I, however, that ultimately became the most famous of the Bulgarian monarchs. Boris was ruler in a time of great conflict. East Francia, the Byzantine Empire and Serbia all pressed in, yet Boris succeeded in defeating them all. In 866, somewhat out of nowhere, Boris was baptized into the Orthodox church under the Christian name Michael. Soon after, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, an autocephalous (autonomous) part of the Eastern Orthodox Church, was founded. In addition, Boris adopted the Cyrillic alphabet and Slavic language as official for Bulgaria. Boris abdicated in favor his son, Vladimir, but after a short pagan revival, Vladimir was deposed and replaced with another son, Simeon I. Boris I was later sainted by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Bulgaria thrived under the reign of Simeon I the Great. He was proclaimed Tsar of Bulgaria and established the first Orthodox patriarchate outside of the antique Pentarchy. His son, Peter I, was likewise made tsar and even married the granddaughter of the Byzantine Emperor Romanos I. Despite military and political setbacks during his reign, he was highly revered and was sainted soon after his death. Boris II, his son, did not fare so well. Soon after his elevation, his lands were conquered by the Kievan Rus. He was coerced into fighting the Byzantines and lost badly. Southern Bulgaria was taken while pieces of the rest of the empire were parched between neighbors. The empire ultimately fell to the Byzantines in 971, though Boris tried desperately to reclaim it in 977, an attempt that ended his life. His brother, Roman, survived the affair and claimed the throne but was captured in 791 and died in prison. The Dulo Dynasty had finally met its end.

Cometopuli Dynasty (997 – 1018)
The tsardom passed to Samuil, a general under Roman who served as regent during the captivities of his predecessors. Samuil was successful in conquering back lands from Serbia, the Byzantine Empire, and Hungary – indeed he controlled the majority of the Balkan Peninsula north of Greece – but  he was unable to hold them.  He is widely considered the last monarch of the First Bulgarian Empire despite the fact that a son and nephew both ruled parts of the empire for another four years. Gavril and Ivan, though, were not able to hold back the Byzantine armies and the empire inevitably fell. Two members of the dynasty claimed the throne during the 167 years of Byzantine rule — Peter II and Peter III — but neither were able to retake the empire. The Bulgarians still remained an important part of the region, though, as three Byzantine emperors married Bulgarian princesses.

Asen Dynasty (1187 – 1396) & the Second Bulgarian Empire
After so many years as a tributary state of the Byzantine empire, the Second Bulgarian Empire rose from a revolt left by Theodore and Ivan Asen, two men from Moesia of probable Cumen origin who were otherwise unknown individuals. After three years of revolt, Emperor Issac II finally recognized the new Bulgarian entity in 1187. Peter IV was chosen as the new tsar, though he co-crowned his brother as Ivan I in 1189. Ivan was later murdered and his youngest brother was crowned as Ivan II in 1196.

The Empire under Ivan II of Bulgaria


Ivan II, better known as Kaloyan, was a successful general who expanded the Second Bulgarian Empire to its maximum limits. He successors continued maintaining the empire's size despite internal and neighborly intrigues. For the first time in Bulgarian history, the threat of Byzantium was minimized by the overthrow of the monarchy by the Latin Crusaders who created a new empire based in Constantinople. The Byzantine nobility fled and focused their efforts on retaking their capital rather than attacking the Bulgarians. Boril did little during his reign but his cousin, John II, brought the second empire to its height. John established an alliance with a Byzantine splinter-state, Epirus, but Epirus betrayed them and Bulgaria successfully defeated and annexed the small empire into its lands. The battle between the Latin Empire and the Empire of Nicaea, unfortunately, proved to be John's undoing. He could not choose a side so lingered in the south as the Mongol Horde invaded his northern lands. Though John died prior to the Mongol's ultimate victory, his son, Kaliman I, was forced into subservience to the Mongols under Batu Khan. Michael I was able to buy off the Mongols, but had an ineffectual reign. His nephew, Kaliman II, murdered Michael II and became tsar but died soon after through his own murder. Mitso, a kinsman of the family, tried to claim the throne, the nobles elected another man, Constantine, and Mitso fled to the Nicaean Empire.

The Asen dynasty had ended by this point, and Constantine was a scion of a Serbian family of Bulgarian nobles. He led the country poorly and saw it piecemeal away. By the time of his death, the empire had shrunk to half its size and the peasants were revolting. Ivan III, a son of Mitso, ruled for a very short time before fleeing to Constantinople with the royal treasury.

The Empire under George I of Bulgaria

Terter Dynasty (1280 – 1292, 1300 – 1322)
Ivaylo, the leader of the peasant revolt, took the empire over for a short while before being forced to flee to the Golden Horde of the Mongols in 1280. He was later murdered by his very protector, Nogai Khan. Mongol raids continued into Bulgaria during the reigns of the next four monarchs. George I, the first monarch of the Terter Dynasty, eventually had to flee, though he returned to Bulgaria more than a decade later durning the reign of his son. Smilets was ineffectual and ruled during the height of Mongol control over Bulgaria. Indeed, the next monarch was the son of Nogai Khan, Chaka, who was later deposed then strangled to death in 1300. With Chaka's death, the Terter Dynasty resumed under the leadership of Theodore, who was finally able to rest control of Bulgaria away from the Mongols as well as Thrace from the Byzantines. He later made peace with both neighbors and caused the Second Empire to enter a new age of expansion. His son, George II, took advantage of Byzantine intrigue to expand the empire further, but died before any significant gains coalesced.

The Empire under Theodore of Bulgaria

Shishman Dynasty (1323 – 1396)
When George II died, a descendant of the Asen Dynasty took control in the form of Michael III Shishman. Shishman is noted for many important "lasts" for the Bulgarian Empire. He was the last tsar to actively seek to rule the Balkan Peninsula. He was the last to attempt to seize Constantinople. And the dynasty was the last to rule the Second Empire. He died while fighting the increasingly dominant Serbs in 1330. His successor, Ivan Stefan, faced opposition on all sides and abdicated without ruling a year. Ivan Alexander, the next tsar, was nephew to Michael III Shishman and ruled the Second Empire into a second Golden Age. But the end of Bulgaria as an independent entity was already in sight. The Ottoman Empire was growing around the Byzantine Empire, hoping to entrap it, and the Bulgarian Empire was in the way. Elsewhere, to the north, the Magyar Hungarians were seeking new lands in Bulgarian Wallachia. And the Black Death was spreading its death across all of Europe. In an attempt to fight off this triple threat, Ivan Alexander divided his tsardom into two realms each ruled by a son. In the end, though, this only made its demise easier, separating resources and splitting armies. Ivan Shishman, Alexander's fourth son, held onto central Bulgaria until 1393 and remained alive for two years longer before falling under the Ottoman's axe. Alexander's third son, Sratsimir, lasted decided to ignore the pleas of his brother resulting that brother's fall. A year later, the Ottomans came for Sratsimir too, and the tsar was captured and strangled in 1396, thereby ending the Second Bulgarian Empire. Sratsimir's son, Constantine II, tried desperately to hold onto a few remaining lands of the Bulgarian Empire and was widely recognized as tsar, but failed to reclaim his heritage and died an exile at the Serbian court in 1422. The empire never revived and no independent state of Bulgaria re-emerged until 1878.

The Principality and Kingdom of Bulgaria (1878 – 1946)
Europe had greatly changed since Bulgaria fell so many centuries earlier. The German dynasties ruled most of Central and Eastern Europe and the Ottoman Empire was falling to pieces. When, in 1878, Bulgaria was allowed to become an autonomous monarchy within the Ottoman Empire, the Russian czar encouraged the Ottomans to choose his nephew as prince. And so, on 29 April 1879, Prince Alexander of the House of Battenberg assumed the long-vacant throne of the Bulgarian monarchy. Soon after his elevation and due to Russian intervention, Alexander rebelled and overthrew the new constitution to become an absolute ruler. While his coup was reversed two years later, Alexander lost the support of the Russians. War with Serbia lost Alexander any remaining support in Bulgaria and he was deposed in 1886.

His replacement was Ferdinand I of the Wettin sub-house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Koháry. Prior to his election, the throne had been offered to princes from across Europe in an effort to avoid Russian control of the new principality. His election was unexpected but his reign was unusually successful. On 5 October 1908, he declared the independence of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire and proclaimed himself king. He soon after joined the other Balkan states in destroying Ottoman control of the Balkans. With World War I starting in 1914, Bulgaria joined the Central Powers to gain lands from Serbia but lost the war. Alexander abdicated in favor of his son, Boris III, and went into exile where he died in 1948.

 
The Kingdom of Bulgaria after World War I and World War II

Boris III was a reluctant leader who saw the fortunes of Bulgaria turn from bad to worse. He allied with the Axis during World War II in order to take back Macedonia from Greece and Yugoslavia. Boris became a hero to many Jews by not extraditing his 50,000 strong Jewish population to Poland for processing, though he did condemn those Jews living in lands conquered by Bulgaria. Boris also refused to declare war on Russia due to the strong pro-Russian sentiment of many Bulgarians. This rift ended when Boris died a few months later in 1943 due to heart failure.

Prime Minister Simeon, formerly Simeon II of Bulgaria

His son, Simeon II, became the final Bulgarian monarch. He was six at the time and unable to rule, and thus his uncle, the prime minister, and the head of the military took over as a triumvirate regency. In 1944, Bulgaria was overrun by Soviet troops and the regency was ended. Two years later, a plebiscite ended the monarchy in favor of a Soviet/communist republic. Simeon II went into exile having never ruled under his own power. Though Simeon attempted many times to form a government-in-exile, no such entity came about. However, in a strange turn-of-fate, Simeon was issued a new Bulgarian passport in 1990 upon the fall of the communist government. Lands and property taken from the pretender four decades earlier were returned to him and his family. In 2001, he announced the creation of a new political party called the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII). The party won a majority of seats in Parliament and Simeon II became Prime Minister, becoming one of the only former monarchs in history to later become head-of-state of a democratic republic.


Thus ends the dynastic history of Bulgaria, and a long history it has indeed seen. For whatever reason, I still do not know why my co-worker believes Bulgaria has never had a monarch. Indeed, it is the only country I can think of that elected its former monarch as Prime Minister! In any case, Bulgaria remains a developing republic today, but its rich dynastic history remains a memory for most, though not all, of its people.