Why is there ONLY ONE "Great" English monarch (Alfred the Great)? Why Elizabeth is not "the Great"?

Question

I'm not an history expert. First of all, I don't know who decides who is called "the Great". But, I don't understand why Queen Elizabeth and King Henry VIII who won so many battles are not called "the Great". Anyone knows?

Answer 1

As far as I can tell, yes Alfred was the only one. But we must not forget some other English kings etc had great titles - e.g. Hereward the Wake and Ethelred the Unready.

Answer 2

All the European monarchs earned a nickname, often on how they ruled, or their appearance or what order they ruled in. For example, Garcia the Trembling (IV) of Pamplona & Louis the Indolent (V) of France and Henry the Eighth and Richard the Lionheart England. Now this royal fellow had quite a few:

Edward I of England : the Hammer of the Celts, the English Justinian, Longshanks, the Leopard, the Leopard of England, the Warrior King, the Father of the Mother of Parliaments, the Father of the Longbow, Scotland's Scourge.

Check out the website below for others, including more "greats".

Answer 3

She probably wasn't called "the great" because she was Elizabeth "the virgin queen" since she never married.

Answer 4

I think this reflects as much about the way the English language has changed over the centuries as about Alfred's special place in history.

Nowadays, we understand the word 'great' to mean something outstanding, special and wonderful. In Alfred's time, and for many centuries after, 'great' meant 'the biggest' or 'most important'. So the 'Great Hall' of a palace was the biggest public room, the 'Great Toe' was the biggest one, and so on.

Alfred was King of Wessex, and united a number of small kingdoms, such as Essex and Dorset, under his rule. The kings of those places gave their loyalty to Alfred, so he became the Great' or biggest, most impiortant king. Today it's hard to imagine that these places even were separate kingdoms, but in those days, that's how it was.

Alfred's subsequent career, which saw him fend off invasion after invasion and keep his lands safe for the local people for many years are certainly enough to make him 'Great' by modern standards, but it was his role as leading king among many smaller kings that earned him the title 'Great King'.

In contrast, the kingdom inherited by Henry VIII was a cohesive and settled single kingdom with clearly defined boundaries. While he was a fair sort of warrior whose reign left an enduring legacy, Henry didn't actually add any new kingdoms to his domain. He was also a man who gave himself a lot of titles and was very much aware of his own magnificence.

While there is litle doubt that his people admired,respected and feared him, and basked in his reflected glory, it does not seem he was especially beloved by the common folk, and they do not seem to have given him an affectionate or honorary nickname.

However, it is also worth considering that as a king and a man, Henry far outshone the Henrys who had gone before him in the popular imagination. When people today talk about 'King Henry', most will immediately think of Henry VIII. And of course, after him, there have been no more Henrys, so perhaps this is, itself, a kind of enduring recognition.

The same is partly true for Elizabeth I, who was the ONLY  Elizabeth for many centuries. The England she became Queen of was an entirely delineated place. She would not have been the chief monarch, because she took good care that there were NO other monarchs to rival her power and authority. For example, when Mary of Scotland's influence became troublesome, she was imprisoned and later executed.

It is worth remembering also that while Elizabeth was greatly feared and hated by some during her lifetime, for the majority of her people, the Elizabethan era was indeed a golden age of prosperity and national pride. During her lifetime she was publicly known as 'Good Queen Bess', which seems very familiar today. People must have felt they knew her on some level, and it is a fact that she was very much beloved.

To me it's also interesting that Alfred was very beloved by his poeple, even those he conquered. Maybe it's because he was a very human person, who sought their affection. Remember the legend of him apologising to the poor woman for burning her cakes? So even after he died, people never forgot him, and always rembered that he was the High King, after others who fought more glorious battles and won greater victories were long forgotten.

Just the same, Elizabeth I always sought the people's love, and received it, and has always been remembered as 'Good', for that.

Cheers :-)

Answer 5

1.  The word "Great" at that time meant "Big" as well as "Mighty".  Great Britain implies that the island is big.   The description may be in reference to his size but is often seen in reference to his abilities.

2  Monarchs in England did not have regnal numbers before the Norman invasion.   Thus there have been 11 king Edwards, the last of whom was Edward VIII.   The first three were pre-Norman and so do not have a number.   The most known of these is Edward the Confessor.   As such pre-Norman Kings usually are identified by a quality or attribute or place - The Great, The Confessor, The Martyr, of Wessex etc.

2. Canute, King of England and later King of Denmark (then including Norway and a good deal of Sweden) is also known as "the Great";  this however is commonest in reference to his Danish title and is rare in English or in reference to his English crown.

Answer 6

It's sometimes a term of respect in a descriptive way, like Peter the Great.  Or in the case of Ivan the Terrible disrespect.  And then there was Fat Mary, Princess Mary

of Teck. Really just a descriptive way of identifying a royal.