Lists of Monarchs: Rulers by Country, House and Reign

Contents9

• Lists of monarchs by country and empire
• Start with a section
• First and last monarchs in each list
• Long reigns in these lists
• Dynasty and family lists
• How to read these lists of monarchs
• Disputed records across the lists
• How the records are checked
• Verdict: using these lists of monarchs

Lists of monarchs answer simple questions: who ruled, in what order, and when. But they are harder to get right than they look. Sources differ on dates and on joint reigns. They differ on claimants who never quite held the throne.

This index gathers every list of monarchs on Ellone-Loire. It says what each one covers. It also brings together the disputed records the lists flag. Start with the country or empire you need, or with the ideas behind monarchy itself.

TL;DR: The lists here cover England and Britain since 1066, with 42 monarchs, and the kings before 1066. They cover Russia's czars and the 18 Romanovs, and the Roman emperors to 476-480. They cover about 90 Byzantine emperors to 1453 and 45 Holy Roman emperors. They also cover the 43 monarchies of today. Every list names its sources and shows its disputed records.

Lists of monarchs by country and empire

"Reviewed" here means a list's rows have been checked against the sources named on it. Inside each list, a disputed label marks any row that sources treat differently.

Start with a section

• England royal family: every monarch since 1066, the royal houses from the Plantagenets to Windsor, succession rules and the British Empire.
• Monarchy: what monarchy means, its types, titles and ranks, and the monarchies that remain today.
• Eastern Roman Empire: the Roman and Byzantine emperors, the fall of the West, and the Holy Roman Empire.
• Romanov dynasty: the tsars and emperors of Russia, the Romanov family and the events of 1918.

First and last monarchs in each list

Long reigns in these lists

The shortest reigns tell you just as much. In England, Edward V reigned for about eleven weeks in 1483. Lady Jane Grey's disputed nine days in 1553 were shorter still. The reign page explains how historians date and number reigns.

Dynasty and family lists

Some lists follow a family rather than a country.

How to read these lists of monarchs

A few conventions apply across every list.

• Reign dates run from accession to death, abdication or deposition. Each list gives them at the precision the sources support: a bare year means the sources give only the year.
• Calendars. England used the Julian calendar until 1752 and Russia until 1918. Where sources give Old Style and New Style dates, the Russian lists give the New Style date first.
• Regnal numbers follow the usual English forms, such as Henry VIII and Nicholas II.
• Joint and co-rulers, such as William III and Mary II or Ivan V and Peter I, appear together or with a note.
• Counting rules appear on each list. For example, the English count of 42 leaves out Empress Matilda and Lady Jane Grey, and counts William III and Mary II separately.

Disputed records across the lists

These are the records that the lists mark as disputed, with the reason.

How the records are checked

Every list is built from published reference works and official sources. The sources are named on each page and in each record box. For British records, typical sources include Britannica, the Royal Family website and Historic Royal Palaces.

They also include the UK Parliament and legislation.gov.uk. For Rome, they include De Imperatoribus Romanis and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Where science matters, we use peer-reviewed studies, such as the DNA work that identified the Romanov family.

A record earns the reviewed label when at least two separate sources agree on its dates and facts. If they disagree, or if only one source backs a claim, the record is marked disputed or left off the list. The full rules, and the log of corrections, are on the methodology page.

To read more, try our guide to the best books about the royal family. It picks eight. They cover every era from 1066 to Elizabeth II.

Verdict: using these lists of monarchs

These lists of monarchs cover England and Britain, Russia, Rome and Byzantium, the Holy Roman Empire and today's monarchies. Each names its sources and flags its borderline cases. Where counts differ from other lists, the page gives the reason. Usually it is a joint reign, an infant ruler or a claimant who never held the throne. For the ideas behind the lists, start at the monarchy hub.

Sources checked for this page

• The Royal Family, "Kings and Queens from 1066"
• Britannica, "List of British monarchs"
• Britannica, "Leaders of Muscovy, Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union"
• Britannica, "List of emperors"
• De Imperatoribus Romanis
• Heraldica (François Velde), "The Holy Roman Empire"

Questions people also ask

What lists of monarchs does this site cover?

England and Britain from 1066 (with the kings before 1066), Russia from 1547, the Roman emperors from 27 BCE, the Byzantine emperors to 1453, the Holy Roman emperors from 800 to 1806, and the monarchies that exist today.

How are the lists checked?

Each record is compared with at least two published reference sources, such as Britannica, the Royal Family website or a university-hosted encyclopedia, and those sources are named on the page. Where they disagree, the record is marked disputed and both positions are given.

What does 'disputed' mean on a list?

It means the sources disagree on a date, a title or whether a reign should be counted at all. The row shows the disagreement instead of silently choosing one version.

Why do some lists of monarchs give different numbers?

Lists differ on whether to count joint rulers, infant or deposed rulers, rival claimants and uncrowned heirs. This site states its counting rule on each list and marks the borderline cases.

Which list of monarchs is the longest?

Of the lists on this site, the Byzantine emperors, with about 90 rulers from 395 to 1453, and the Roman emperors, with about 80 from 27 BCE to 476-480, are the longest.