Ordinal numbers used to distinguish among persons with the same name who held the same office
Regnal numbers
are
ordinal numbers
used to distinguish among persons with the same name who held the same office. Most importantly, they are used to distinguish
monarchs
. An
ordinal
is the number placed after a monarch's
regnal name
to differentiate between a number of kings, queens or princes reigning the same territory with the same regnal name.
It is common to start counting either since the beginning of the monarchy, or since the beginning of a particular line of state succession. For example,
Boris III of Bulgaria
and his son
Simeon II
were given their regnal numbers because the medieval rulers of the
First
and
Second Bulgarian Empire
were counted as well, although the recent dynasty
dates only back to 1878
and is only distantly related to the monarchs of previous Bulgarian states.
[1]
On the other hand, the
kings of England
and
kings of Great Britain
and the United Kingdom are counted starting with the
Norman Conquest
. That is why the son of
Henry III of England
is called
Edward I
, even though there were three English monarchs named Edward before the Conquest (they were distinguished by
epithets
instead).
Sometimes legendary or fictional persons are included. For example, the
Swedish kings
Eric XIV
(reigned 1560?68) and
Charles IX
(1604?11) took ordinals based on a fanciful 1544 history by
Johannes Magnus
, which invented six kings of each name before those accepted by later historians.
[2]
A list of Swedish monarchs, represented on the map of the Estates of the Swedish Crown,
[3]
produced by French engraver
Jacques Chiquet
[
fr
]
(1673?1721) and published in
Paris
in 1719, starts with
Canute I
and shows Eric XIV and Charles IX as Eric IV and Charles II respectively; the only Charles holding his traditional ordinal in the list is
Charles XII
. Also, in the case of Emperor
Menelik II
of Ethiopia, he chose his regnal number with reference to a mythical ancestor and
first sovereign
of his country (a supposed son of biblical King
Solomon
) to underline his legitimacy into the so-called
Solomonic dynasty
.
[4]
Examples of monarchical ordinals
[
edit
]
Monarchs with the same given name are distinguished by their ordinals:
Ordinals may also apply where a ruler of one realm and a ruler of that realm's
successor state
share the same name:
Double names
[
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]
Practice varies where monarchs go by two or more
given names
. For
Swedish monarchs
, the ordinal qualifies only the first name; for example,
Gustav VI Adolf
, known as "Gustav Adolf", was the sixth Gustav/Gustaf, but the third Gustav Adolf. By contrast, the
Kingdom of Prussia
was ruled in turn by
Friedrich I
,
Friedrich Wilhelm I
,
Friedrich II
, and
Friedrich Wilhelm II
; and later by
Wilhelm I
. Likewise
Pope John Paul I
, who chose his double name to honour predecessors
John XXIII
and
Paul VI
, and was succeeded by
John Paul II
.
Ordinals for non-reigning royalty
[
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]
In any case, it is usual to count only the monarchs or heads of the family, and to number them sequentially up to the end of the dynasty.
[
citation needed
]
A notable exception to this rule is the
German
House of Reuss
. This family has the particularity that every male member during the last eight centuries was named Heinrich, and all of them, not only the head of the family, were numbered. While the members of the elder branch were numbered in order of birth until the extinction of the branch in 1927, the members of the younger line were (and still are) numbered in sequences that began and ended roughly as centuries began and ended. This explains why the current (since 2012) head of the Reuss family is called Heinrich XIV, his late father Heinrich IV and his sons Heinrich XXIX and Heinrich V.
[
citation needed
]
It is rare, but some German princely families number all males whether head of the family or not; for example,
Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg
was preceded as
Prince of Pless
by Hans Heinrich XI and succeeded by Hans Heinrich XVII; the ordinals XII, XIII, XIV, and XVI were borne by von Hochbergs who were not Prince of Pless. Similarly for the
House of Reuss
, where all men were numbered Heinrichs and some were reigning Princes of
Reuss-Gera
or
Reuss-Greiz
.
Pretenders
and rulers of formerly deposed dynasties are often given regnal numbers
as if non-reigning pretenders had actually ruled
. For example
Louis XVIII
of France took a regnal number that implicitly asserts that
Louis XVII
had been king, though he never reigned; his pretendership was during the
First French Republic
. A similar case is that of
Napoleon III
whose regnal number implicitly asserts a ruling
Napoleon II
. Louis XVIII numbered his
regnal year
from the death of Louis XVII, something Napoleon III never did.
History
[
edit
]
Almost all West European monarchs and popes after
medieval
times have used ordinals. Ordinals are also retrospectively applied to earlier monarchs in most works of reference, at least as far as they are not easy to distinguish from each other by any other systematical means. In several cases, various sorts of "semi-regnal" members of dynasties are also numeraled, to facilitate their individuality in works of reference ? in cases such as co-regents, crown princes, succession-conveying
consorts
, prime ministers and deputy monarchs. In the first centuries after the Middle Ages, the use was sometimes sporadic, but became established by the 18th century. In the past couple of centuries, European monarchs without an official ordinal have been rarities.
As a rule of thumb, medieval European monarchs did not use ordinals at their own time, and those who used were rarities and even their use was sporadic. Ordinals for monarchs before the 13th century are
anachronisms
, as are also ordinals for almost all later medieval monarchs. Still, they are often used, because they are a practical way of distinguishing between different historical monarchs who had the same name.
Popes were apparently the first to assume official ordinals for their reigns, although this occurred only in the last centuries of the Middle Ages. It is clear, from renumberings of Popes John XV?XIX and Popes Stephen II?IX, that as of the 11th century the popes did not yet use established ordinals. The official, self-confirmed numbering of John XXI means that at latest from the 13th century the popes did take official ordinals in their accession.
Emperor Frederick II
, King
Charles II of Naples
and King
Premislas II of Poland
evidently used ordinals sometimes during their reign, whereas most of their contemporary monarchs did not. In the 14th century,
Emperor Charles IV
sometimes used that ordinal. Presumably, use of the ordinal of king
Frederick III of Sicily
also is contemporaneous. The royal chroniclers of the
Abbey of Saint-Denis
were using ordinals to refer to the
French kings
as early as the thirteenth century with the practise entering common usage among royalty and the nobility by the late fourteenth century. The
British
tradition of consistently and prevalently numbering monarchs dates back to
Henry VIII
and
Mary I
; however, sporadic use occurred at least as early as the reign of
Edward III
.
The long history of the papacy has led to difficulties in some cases. For example,
Stephen
was only pope for three days before dying of
apoplexy
, and was never consecrated. Because not all list-makers count him as having been pope (as
Stephen II
), there has been some confusion in regard to later popes who chose the name Stephen. Later Stephens are sometimes numbered with parentheses, e.g., his immediate successor (in name) is denoted either Stephen (II) III or Stephen III (II). The church did consider Stephen II a pope until 1960, when he was removed from the list of popes in 1961. The history of the
numbering of popes taking the regnal name "John"
is even more convoluted, owing to the long history of popes taking the name (a common name, chosen frequently to honour the
Apostle
), bad record-keeping, and political confusion; among other results, the regnal name "John XX" is completely skipped under all reckonings.
Personal unions
[
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]
In the case of
personal unions
, some monarchs have had more than one ordinal, because they had different ordinals in their different realms. For instance,
Charles XV of Sweden
was also king of Norway, but in Norway he went under the name Charles IV. The Swedish-Norwegian union was in force 1814?1905 and both realms had had kings called Charles before the union, but Sweden had had more kings by that name.
In the event of one kingdom achieving independence from another but retaining the same monarch, the monarch often retains the same number as was already used in the older realm. King
Christian X of Denmark
thus became King Christian X of Iceland when Iceland became an independent kingdom in personal union with Denmark in 1918. The same is true for
Commonwealth realms
, where the monarch retains the regnal number from the British line of monarchs (see below).
Ordinals and the British Acts of Union 1707
[
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]
Beginning in 1603, when
England
and
Scotland
began to
share a monarch
but were still legally separate realms, their monarchs were numbered separately. The king who began the personal union was James VI of Scotland who was also James I of England, and his name is often written (especially in Scotland) as
James VI and I
. Similarly, his grandson is
James VII and II
.
Mary II
's ordinal coincidentally relates to both her predecessors
Mary I of England
and
Mary I of Scotland
; her co-sovereign husband is
William III and II
(here the English number is first).
Charles I
and
Charles II
had a name not used in either country before 1603.
Acts of Union
[
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]
After the realms were united with the
Acts of Union 1707
, separate numbers were not needed for the next five monarchs:
Anne
and the four Georges. However, when
William IV
acceded in 1830, he was not called William III in Scotland.
[
citation needed
]
(
George Croly
pointed out in 1830 the new king was William I, II, III, and IV: of
Hanover
, Ireland, Scotland, and England respectively.
[5]
) Nor were
Edward VII
and
Edward VIII
known as Edward I and Edward II (or possibly II and III, if one counts the disputed reign of
Edward Balliol
) of Scotland. These kings all followed the numbering consistent with the English sequence of sovereigns (which, incidentally, was also the higher of the two numbers in all occurring cases). This was not without controversy in Scotland, however; for example, Edward VII's regnal number was occasionally omitted in Scotland, even by the established
Church of Scotland
, in deference to protests that the previous Edwards were English kings who had "been excluded from Scotland by battle".
[6]
Current state
[
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]
The issue arose again with the accession of
Queen Elizabeth II
, as Scotland had never before had a regnant Queen Elizabeth, the
previous queen of that name
having been queen of England only. Objections were raised, and sustained, to the use of the
royal cypher
E
II
R anywhere in Scotland, resulting in several violent incidents, including the destruction of one of the first new E
II
R
pillar boxes
in Scotland, at
Leith
in late 1952. Since that time, the cipher used in Scotland on all government and Crown property and street furniture has carried no lettering, but simply the
Crown of Scotland
from the
Honours of Scotland
. A court case,
MacCormick v Lord Advocate
,
contesting the style "Elizabeth II" within Scotland, was decided in 1953 on the grounds that the numbering of monarchs was part of the
royal prerogative
, and that the plaintiffs had no title to sue
the Crown
.
To rationalise this usage, it was suggested by
Winston Churchill
, the
Prime Minister
of the day, that in future, the higher of the two numerals from the English and Scottish sequences would always be used.
[7]
This had been the case
de facto
since the
Acts of Union 1707
; nine of the thirteen monarchs since the Act had names either never previously used in England or Scotland (Anne, six Georges, and Victoria) or used in both only after the
1603 Union of Crowns
(three Charleses), which sidestepped the issue, while the English numbers for the remaining four monarchs' names have consistently been both higher and the ones used (William, two Edwards, and Elizabeth). Under the Churchill rule, if a future British monarch were to use the regnal name
Alexander
, even though there has never been a King of England of that regnal name, they would be Alexander IV, there having been three Kings Alexander of Scotland (reigning 1107?1124, 1214?1249, and 1249?1286).
Ireland
[
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]
As the
Lordship of Ireland
(1171?1542) and
Kingdom of Ireland
(1542?1800) were subordinate to the
Kingdom of England
, the English ordinals were used in Ireland even before the
Acts of Union 1800
.
William III of England
and
William IV of the United Kingdom
were still called "William III" and "William IV" in Ireland, even though neither
William I
or
William II
ruled any part of Ireland. Similarly, the various Kings Henry are numbered II?VIII as they are in England even though
Henry I of England
never ruled any part of Ireland.
Elizabeth I of England
is referred to in
Irish regnal year
legal citations as "Elizabeth" rather than "Elizabeth I" because
Ireland became a republic
before
Elizabeth II
became queen.
[8]
"The first"
[
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]
In some monarchies it is customary not to use an ordinal when there has been only one holder of that name. For example,
Queen Victoria
will not be called
Victoria I
unless there is a Victoria II. This tradition is applied in the
United Kingdom
,
Belgium
,
Luxembourg
,
Norway
and the
Netherlands
. It was also applied in most of the former
German monarchies
and in
Hungary
. In Sweden, the practice is not consistent, as
Sigismund
and
Adolf Frederick
never have ordinals, whereas
Frederick I
often does.
Other monarchies assign ordinals to monarchs even if they are the only ones of their name. This is a more recent invention and
appears
to have been done for the first time when
Francis I of France
issued testoons (silver coins) bearing the legend FRANCISCVS I DE. GR. FRANCORV. REX. This currently is the regular practice in
Spain
and
Monaco
(at least for Prince Albert I, as Princess Louise Hippolyte, who reigned 150 years earlier, does not appear to have used an ordinal). It was also applied in
Brazil
,
Greece
,
Italy
,
Mexico
,
Montenegro
,
Portugal
(where Kings
Joseph
,
Louis
and
Charles
are usually referred to as "Joseph I", "Louis I" and "Charles I" although there has not yet been any Joseph II, Louis II or Charles II, but Kings
Denis
,
Edward
,
Sebastian
and
Henry
are usually referred without the ordinal). The ordinal for King
Juan Carlos I of Spain
is used in both
Spanish
and English, but he is sometimes simply called King Juan Carlos of Spain in English. In
Russia
, use of "The First" ordinal started with
Paul I of Russia
. Before him, neither
Anna of Russia
nor
Elizabeth of Russia
had the "I" ordinal. In
Ethiopia
, Emperor
Haile Selassie
used the "I" ordinal (
Ge'ez
:
????
,
qadamawi
) although previous Ethiopian monarchs had not used it, and they are not referred as "the first" unless there were successors of the same name.
The Catholic
papacy
used the ordinal I under
Pope John Paul I
, but early popes who are the only ones to have reigned under a certain name are not referred to as "the first" (for instance, Peter the Apostle; his immediate successor,
Pope Linus
, as well as
Pope Anacletus
, are referred to without an ordinal). The current
Pope Francis
has declined the use of an ordinal, but on the other hand, his Orthodox counterpart,
Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople
, uses one, as does
Aram I
, the
catholicos
of the
Armenian Apostolic Church
.
In
Austria
, Emperors
Francis
,
Ferdinand
,
Francis Joseph
and
Charles
all styled themselves as "the first" although all the only Emperors of Austria with those names. Three of those names were previously the names of Austrian Archdukes (the Archduchy of Austria was a state within the Holy Roman and the Austrian Empires), which makes three of these emperors Francis II, Ferdinand V, and Charles IV in their capacity as Archdukes. Francis Joseph was the first Austrian Archduke of that name.
The use of "The First" ordinal is also common to self-proclaimed ephemeral "kings" or "emperors", such as
Napoleon I
in
France
;
Dessalines
,
Christophe
and
Soulouque
in
Haiti
;
Iturbide
in
Mexico
;
Zog
in
Albania
;
Bokassa
in the
Central African Empire
;
Skossyreff
in
Andorra
;
Theodore
in
Corsica
; and
"Emperor" Norton
in
San Francisco
. In those cases, they wanted to emphasize the change of regime they introduced or attempted to introduce.
Pretenders
[
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]
It is traditional amongst French monarchists to continue to number their
pretenders
even though they have never reigned. Hence, a supporter of the late
Comte de Paris
would have referred to him as Henri VII even though only four men named "Henri" have been
King of France
.
Non-consecutive ordinals may indicate dynastic claims for non-regnant monarchs. For example, after
Louis XVI of France
was executed during the
French Revolution
,
legitimists
consider him to have been succeeded by his young son, whom they called
Louis XVII
. Although the child died in prison a few years later and never reigned, his uncle, who came to the French throne in the
Bourbon Restoration
, took the name
Louis XVIII
in acknowledgement of his dynasty's rights. Similarly, after Emperor
Napoleon I
's regime collapsed, he abdicated in favour of his four-year-old son, who was proclaimed
Napoleon II
. The young emperor was deposed only weeks later by Napoleon's European rivals and was never recognized internationally; but when his first cousin Louis Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed himself Emperor in 1852, he declared himself
Napoleon III of France
in recognition of his predecessor.
Jacobite usage
[
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]
Following the
Glorious Revolution
, a
line of pretenders
descended from the dethroned
James VII and II
claimed the throne and declared themselves to be
James VIII and III
,
Charles III
and
Henry IX and I
. They numbered themselves separately for Scotland and England because they did not recognize the
Acts of Union
, which joined the two kingdoms into one in 1707, as valid.
James VII's last legitimate descendant died in 1807, and the claim passed to descendants of his sister
Henrietta
, Duchess of Orleans. Although none of them has actively claimed the throne, their supporters have assigned them the regnal numbers that they "should have had"; for example, from 1919 to 1955, the claim was held by
"Robert I & IV"
, which was numbered for England and Scotland respectively.
This custom is currently not followed by any other ethnic groups other than the French and British (Jacobites), being unique to them, monarchists from other nations do not usually use royal numbers for the pretenders they support.
Queens consort
[
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]
While reigning monarchs use ordinals, ordinals are not used for royal female consorts. Thus, while
King George V
used an ordinal to distinguish him from other kings in the United Kingdoms called George, his wife,
Queen Mary
, had no ordinal.
The lack of an ordinal in the case of royal consorts complicates the recording of history, as there may be a number of consorts over time with the same name with no way to distinguish between them. For that reason, royal consorts are sometimes after their deaths recorded in history books and encyclopaedias by the use of their premarital name or, if they were from royalty or sovereign nobility, the name of the dynasty or the country. For example,
Henry VIII of England
's fifth wife,
Catherine Howard
(of noble but not sovereign ancestry), is known by her maiden surname, and George V's wife (a descendant of the sovereign ducal house of Wurttemburg) is commonly known as Mary of Teck (after her father's title) and
Edward VII
's wife (a daughter of the King of Denmark) is known as
Alexandra of Denmark
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Ian Mladjov, "Reconsidering Agatha, wife of Eadward the Exile,"
The Plantagenet Connection
Summer/Winter 2003: 1-85, with sample pedigree at 78-85.
available online.
- ^
Soderberg, F. F. V. (1910). "Johannes Magnus".
Nordisk familjebok
(in Swedish). Vol. 13 (Johan ? Kikare). p. 40
. Retrieved
24 October
2012
.
- ^
"Estats de la Couronne de Suede. 1719"
.
The Map House of London
. Jacques Chiquet.
- ^
"Menilek II"
.
Britannica
. Retrieved
5 November
2020
.
- ^
Croly, George (1830).
The life and times of his late majesty, George the fourth
. London: James Duncan. p. xlix.
- ^
Matthew, H. C. G.
(September 2004).
"Edward VII (1841?1910)"
.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/32975
. Retrieved
24 June
2009
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
(Subscription required)
- ^
"Royal Style and Title"
.
Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
. House of Commons. 15 April 1953. col. 199?201.
- ^
"Statute Law Revision (Pre-Union Irish Statutes) Act, 1962, Schedule 1"
.
Irish Statute Book
. Archived from
the original
on 29 May 2016
. Retrieved
10 September
2016
.