Ranking Every English Monarch from Worst to Best

well here we go again and this time it's the english kings from worst the best this time we will be including an actual tier list along with the actual positions so you can get an actual idea on how good or bad they were given there's 56 monarchs on this list and as such i will be going through them a little faster than usual this will go from alfred the great to george vi queen elizabeth ii will not be considered because last time i checked literally last monday as that was the time i was writing this she was alive and therefore her reign hadn't finished yet now here we go by the way consider subscribing 56 john lackland aka the guy so incompetent he had to sign the magna carta not did had lost lands in france gave away much of his realm to the pope faced a huge rebellion facing civil war faced a war with france to put it bluntly he was just incompetent and he didn't even compensate that with a good personality there's far more to indicate he was personally unpleasant there's other kings i thought for the bottom position but jon was literally the first to come in mind though i will say tales of his tyranny have been greatly exaggerated 55 richard ii more competent than jon for sure but i wouldn't describe him as anything but an overgrown child who throws temper tantrums over the slightest issue his tendency to eliminate his inferiors often for no decent reason whatsoever is what ended up having him overthrown by his cousin 54 edward ii he pissed off both the french and his nobility so much both parties actually allied against him including his own wife that is incredible the only one not against him was his best friend who may have been his lover though that's pure speculation 53 henry vi we have been cursed god have mercy on us all those who get it will this man was little more than a puppet whose weakness would lead to the wars of the roses not much more i can say 52 stephen of bloa his reign was initially good then everything just sort of fell apart specifically a massive welsh revolt alongside a civil war against his own cousin and rival empress matilda who by the way is not on this list by the end steven had lost control of much of england 51 richard iii when it comes to administration he was for the most part all right politically however a disaster he definitely murdered the princes in the tower i say it without evidence but come on we're all adults here most of the people watching anyway when you murder and usurp the rightful king it's hard for people to like you regardless of your awesome administrative abilities the trumped-up charges on your political enemies didn't help either 50. marry the first you may recognize her as bloody mary catholic aligned with spain persecuted protestants short reign yeah you could see why the english hater in her defense she's so low precisely because she didn't reign long enough to have england return to catholicism hatchy and she would probably be much higher 49 charles the first inherit inherited the throne tried to rule like an absolute monarch and even after being imprisoned rejected a constitutional monarchy he was executed for his efforts 48 james ii his short reign is mostly due to his attempts at initiating a catholic dynasty at a time protestantism had pretty much become a part of the character of the english he was allowed to be king despite being a catholic due to personal tolerance this did not mean the english were tolerant of catholicism in general furthermore he tried imposing his measures by decree ignoring parliament he was understandably removed 47 edward viii some say he sympathized with the third reich i say considering he brought a constitutional crisis because he couldn't keep it in his pants he deserves to be this low 46. william rufus stupid name stupid ruler if you're going to rule never piss off those who play a role in ruling the kingdom 45. hedwig i mean edwick short reign marked by disputes with nobility and clergy the most interesting thing about his reign is his name 44 george the first hated for being too german it was under his reign britain transitioned from a powerful monarchy to the modern prime minister system it exists today it was walpole of course it was 43 had read idrit edward did not do badly for himself even if in battle he was consistently defeated by others it's genuinely difficult to judge him 42 swine forkbeard probably ranks higher in the list of danish kings as for this list however due to his short reign is just kind of there 41. arthur kenneth see swine forkbeard because what i said about him essentially applies to arthur kenneth 40. harold harefoot portrayed pretty poorly also refrained so ultimately not much to say about this one 39 richard the lionheart that's right the guy with maybe the coolest cognoman is this low on the list but is it really that surprising he only spent 6 months maybe even less than that in england ultimately he was really more of a general than an actual king in his reign there's almost no ruling whatsoever 38 edward vi his reign is pretty short and also pretty tumultuous he never really ruled the country as he became the king at the young age of nine and would kick the bucket six years later before he really picked up the pieces of the kingdom himself as naturally a regency council ruled over him 37 george iv he was kind of hated by the people mostly because of his poor relations with his parents and wife and also because of his extravagance he wouldn't be missed 36. ethel read the unready the man at the top of the d tier mostly because azam implies he just wasn't ready to deal with all the mass happening throughout his reign after years of peace the danish began heavily raiding the coastlines culminating in an invasion which saw ethel redd flee to normandy only to come back when king's wine died 35 edward v there are two monarchs on the question marked here this is because they were so young and their nominal rule was so brief i can't quite judge them as a result they sit automatically between d and c tier this is the first one 34 edward the martyr this is the other monarch sitting between d and c tier let's move on 33 charles ii apparently pretty popular in england despite dissolving the english parliament at one point which given he spent much of his reign in conflict with said institution isn't that surprising 32 william iv not much to say about this one to be honest his brief reign was just before victorious and saw several reforms most notably the abolition of slavery but it's not like he made all of those reforms himself it's a bit difficult to judge figureheads 31. george ii again another figurehead he is noteworthy for being the last british monarch to lead an army in battle specifically he led his forces at the battle of deregan in the war of austrian succession 30 edward iv with the exception of needlessly pissing off his greatest advisor he was mostly okay i mean he did have to put down said advisor twice but i can't really say he was good or terrible just somewhere in between 29 edmond the first historians view edwin the first wildly he can be seen as a great king and as a terrible one which makes me think he's probably somewhere in the middle 28th edward vii regarded as the first truly constitutional monarch by the british another figurehead and one not particularly noticeable at that 22nd henry iii given his rather long reign he was very likely not an absolute disaster that being said he did have some major failings most notably his naivete and inability to make realistic reforms on the kingdom 26th henry iv overthrew his cousin to become king after sad cousin when richard ii proved to be a disaster that little action would later cause the wars of the roses but we can't really blame him for that his reign was spent mostly putting down rebellions 25 edmond ironside i'll admit it the cognoman may have skewed my opinion a little bit ironside just sounds cool sadly he may have had the most undignified death out of all the kings of england stabbed while taking a dump though that may be hearsay 24 henry vii at the top of sitir we have henry vii the winner of the wars of the roses and the first of the two dynasty i like this way of ruling get the throne do everything to stay on it and slowly improve the country 23 george iii not as terrible as typically portrayed by the americans he had a really long reign where yes the 13 colonies slipped away from british rule but also napoleon was defeated by the end he was plagued by severe mental illness 22 george v a figurehead whose reign saw world war 1 and the rise of extremist political ideologies don't really have anything else to say to be honest 21 and a relatively short reign mostly marked by political stuff the most notable event was the act of union which concluded the union between the crowns of england and scotland this is arguably where the united kingdom of great britain and ireland began though i can't say it for sure due to bureaucratic reasons mostly 20. henry the first just an overall pretty effective ruler good administrator but highly disliked by the mandy led over likely because of his rather unforgiving nature 19. henry viii probably the most controversial placement make no mistake this is a terrible human being and he should have been should have been a terrible king he blew through the cash his father accumulated on the treasury he got himself involved in pointless wars and of course pissed off everyone for his obsession at having a son but somehow along the way he made at least two major major calls that ended up benefiting england in a big way the first is the creation of his own church which made england independent from the catholic church the second is the less noticeable but still major decision of founding the royal navy and you know where that leads henry viii is like that student facing a math problem that makes all the wrong calculations but still somehow ends up getting the right answer 18 edward the confessor jury is still out on this one well it will probably always be out views on him range from depicting him as a saint to an energetic incapable ruler to a disaster who destroyed royal power in britain i tend to see him in the more sympathetic light 17. harold godwinson aka the poor sod who accomplished a magnificent victory against the norwegians in the battle of stamford bridge only to die in the battle of hastings against william the conqueror not even a month after 16 james the first the king of scotland before becoming the king of england he committed himself to pursuing peace and avoiding war specifically the 30 years war that ravaged europe 15 george vi born a stammerer beats it comes into power with the popularity of the monarchy at an all-time low chooses to stay in buckingham palace in world war ii despite not being safe got the same rationing restrictions as his people boosted morale by visits through the country this guy represents everything a figurehead monarch should be he's a total chat 14. marry the second she is usually placed alongside her husband william iii though i am keeping them apart in part because william iii ruled for longer it wasn't the same as i did with the catholic monarchs i know 13 william the conqueror a good general for sure but not that great of a king specifically for england he spent more time in continental europe than england throughout his reign number 12 william iii mostly busy with the nine years war had to deal with the whole jacobite thing 11. edgar the peaceful consolidated on the political union achieved by his predecessors sometimes you just need a guy like that then alfred the great though the title wasn't given until centuries after his death it's not exactly given without reason basically there was nothing this guy couldn't do administration taxation legal reforms military reforms education management this guy had it all the first king of england arguably 9 henry v also known as a guy who came very close to conquering france in the hundred years war the most notable of his victories was of course the battle of ashinko where he managed a decisive victory despite being heavily outnumbered eight kenneth the great male loss strengthened currency was a great politician and successfully protected england against viking raids which given the fact he was also king of norway and denmark was actually pretty easy for him 7. ethelstan arguably the first king of england again he essentially built upon what alfred the great had accomplished more legal texts has arrived to this day from his reign than any other 10th century english king 6 henry ii or henry cartmantle widely regarded as one of the greatest english kings who i've ever lived some people will actually consider him as number one there's only two reasons why he isn't higher the first being his reign wasn't exactly smooth sailing and he even had to humiliate himself in front of the english people due to the death of thomas beckett the other reason being as an outsider myself his reign just lacks the umph the people higher than him have 5. victoria so big of a figure a literal era is named after her the grandmother of europe her reign saw arguably the height of the british empire number four edward longshanks longshanks means long legs in case you're wondering yeah he was six too which is already pretty tall today for the sanders of the middle age dude was freaking gigantic his legislative accomplishments have made him considered to be the english justinian though he's criticized for his inability to compromise number three edward the elder the successor of alfred the great he destroyed the power of the vikings in southern england all the while laying the groundwork for a strong english kingdom ironically edward was often overshadowed by alfred the great until the late 20th century two edward iii with an incredible 50-year long reign edward iii is most famous for starting the hundred years war the first phase went pretty well by the end not so much in his defense he did have to deal with the black death and maybe it's just me but i always get the feeling the degree of devastation major plagues leave isn't given enough significance 1. elizabeth yeah i think it's a pretty obvious choice it's ironic she's seen as the big slayer of the catholic evil when in fact she was actually pretty cautious and tried her best at avoiding a major war likewise being the symbol of protestantism she actually had a pretty moderate view on religion in the big picture her reign turned england into a major power and in turn she had made herself an essential figure in the english mythos and that's the list hope you enjoyed it of course it goes without saying this is opinion based and probably highly flawed naturally i know more about certain monarchs in others and i do have my own personal biases if you liked the video well leave a like comment your thoughts on it down below in the comment section and if you aren't subscribed then by all means do so i really appreciate it this was spectrum and i'll see you around

Channel: Spectrum

Views: 244,266

Keywords: Alfred the Great, Edward the Elder, Edmund Ironside, Edward Longshanks, Harold Godwinson, William the Conqueror, Stephen of Blois, John Lackland, Richard the Lionheart, Elizabeth I, Bloody Mary, Edward the Martyr, Edward the Confessor, Henry II, James I, Cnut the Great, England, Great Britain, British Empire, King, United Kingdom

Id: jpmnQxOqiqo

Length: 15min 47sec (947 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 20 2022