Kings and Emperors (Part II) Quiz

Question: Which of these kings has an epithet that is derived from a word meaning “bad counsel”?

Answer: Ethelred II was the king of the English from 978 to 1013 and from 1014 to 1016. He was called Ethelred the Unready. The epithet is derived from unraed, meaning “bad counsel” or “no counsel,” and it puns on his name, which means “noble counsel.”

Question: What did the emperor Shah Jahān build to immortalize his favourite wife?

Answer: The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum complex in Agra, northern India, on the southern bank of the Yamuna (Jumna) River. It was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahān (reigned 1628–58) to immortalize his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal (“Chosen One of the Palace”).

Question: Who became king of England after his rival for the throne was killed in battle, reputedly shot through the eye with an arrow?

Answer: William I, also called William the Conqueror, was the king of England from 1066. He seized control of England through his victory at the Battle of Hastings, defeating King Harold II, who reputedly died after being shot through the eye with an arrow.

Question: Who was the first Roman emperor?

Answer: Augustus was the first Roman emperor, following the republic. The autocratic regime of Augustus is known as the principate because he was the princeps, the first citizen, at the head of an array of outwardly revived republican institutions that alone made his autocracy palatable.

Question: Who was the last of the great kings of Assyria, reigning from 668 to 627 BCE?

Answer: Ashurbanipal, who reigned from 668 to 627 BCE, was the last of the great kings of Assyria.

Question: Which Ottoman leader captured Constantinople and expanded the empire into Anatolia and the Balkans?

Answer: Mehmed II was the Ottoman sultan from 1444 to 1446 and from 1451 to 1481. A great military leader, he captured Constantinople and conquered the territories in Anatolia and the Balkans that constituted the Ottoman Empire's heartland for the next four centuries.

Question: Which king of England led the country into the Hundred Years’ War with France?

Answer: Edward III, king of England from 1327 to 1377, led England into the Hundred Years' War with France. The descendants of his seven sons and five daughters contested the English throne for generations, a struggle that climaxed in the Wars of the Roses (1455–85).

Question: Which medieval emperor faced a revolt of his sons at the “Field of Lies” in 833?

Answer: On June 30, 833, the Carolingian emperor Louis I (also known as Louis the Debonair) met his son Lothar at the so-called “Field of Lies” near Colmar in Alsace, ostensibly to settle their differences. Instead, the emperor found himself facing a coalition of his three eldest sons, their supporters, and Pope Gregory IV. Leading clerics demanded that Louis abdicate. In a humiliating ceremony, he acknowledged his crimes, removed his imperial regalia, and accepted the penalty of perpetual penance.

Question: Which king’s reign, from 1154 to 1189, was marred by his personal quarrels with Thomas Becket and his own wife and sons?

Answer: Henry II was king of England from 1154 to 1189. His quarrels with Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, and with members of his family (his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and sons Richard the Lion-Heart and John Lackland) ultimately brought about his defeat.

Question: What was Oliver Cromwell's title at the time he ruled England?

Answer: Oliver Cromwell was lord protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1653 to 1658 during the republican Commonwealth. As one of the generals on the parliamentary side in the English Civil Wars against King Charles I, Cromwell helped bring about the overthrow of the Stuart monarchy. He signed Charles I’s death warrant, and, after the king’s execution and the resolution of the civil wars, he began his rule of the three countries.

Question: Which king preserved the political ties between England and Normandy that William the Conqueror had established?

Answer: William II, also called William Rufus, was the son of William the Conqueror and the king of England from 1087 to 1100. He prevented the dissolution of political ties between England and Normandy, but his strong-arm rule earned him a reputation as a brutal corrupt tyrant.