The Kingdom of England

Kingdom of England
10th century–1649, 1660–1707 1649–60: Commonwealth
Top: Flag (after 13th cent.) Bottom: Royal Banner (1406–1603) Royal Arms (1399–1603)
Location of the Kingdom of England in 1700
Capital		Winchester (until 1066) London (1066–1707) ∟ Westminster      (administrative) ∟ City of London      (commercial)
Languages		English Old Norse (until 11th century) Welsh Cornish Cumbric (until 11th century) Anglo-Norman (11th–15th century) Medieval Latin (until 15th century)
Religion		Christianity
Demonym		English
Government		Absolute monarchy (10th century-1215) Unitary parliamentary monarchy (1215–1707)
Monarch
•	Until 939	Æthelstan (first)
•	1702–1707	Anne (last)
Legislature		Parliament
•	Upper house	House of Lords
•	Lower house	House of Commons
History
•	Unification	10th century
•	Battle of Hastings	14 October 1066
•	Conquered Wales	1277–1283
•	Incorporated Wales	1535–1542
•	Union of the Crowns	24 March 1603
•	Glorious Revolution	11 December 1688
•	Union with Scotland	1 May 1707
Area
•	1283–1542 est.	145,000 km2 (56,000 sq mi)
•	1542–1707 est.	151,000 km2 (58,000 sq mi)
Population
•	1283 est.	500,000
Density		3/km2 (9/sq mi)
•	1542 est.	3,000,000
Density		21/km2 (54/sq mi)
•	1707 est.	5,750,000
Density		38/km2 (99/sq mi)
Currency		Pound sterling
Preceded by Succeeded by Wessex Sussex Essex Kent Dumnonia Mercia East Anglia Northumbria Welsh Marches Principality of Wales Great Britain
Today part of		United Kingdom  ∟  England  ∟  Wales
a.	^ Monarch of Wessex from 925.
b.	^ Continued as monarch of Great Britain until her death in 1714.

Unitary parliamentary monarchy (1215–1707)

The Kingdom of England /ˈɪŋɡlənd/ was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the 10th century—when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms—until 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

In the early 10th century the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, united by Æthelstan (r. 927–939), became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway. The Norman conquest of England in 1066 led to the transfer of the English capital city and chief royal residence from the Anglo-Saxon one at Winchester to Westminster, and the City of London quickly established itself as England's largest and principal commercial centre.

Histories of the kingdom of England from the Norman conquest of 1066 conventionally distinguish periods named after successive ruling dynasties: Norman 1066–1154, Plantagenet 1154–1485, Tudor 1485–1603 and Stuart 1603–1714 (interrupted by the Interregnum (England) of 1649–1660). Dynastically, all English monarchs after 1066 ultimately claim descent from the Normans; the distinction of the Plantagenets is merely conventional, beginning with Henry II (reigned 1154–1189) as from that time, the Angevin kings became "more English in nature"; the houses of Lancaster and York are both Plantagenet cadet branches, the Tudor dynasty claimed descent from Edward III via John Beaufort and James VI and I of the House of Stuart claimed descent from Henry VII via Margaret Tudor.