Why Kings Can't Count

Medieval monarchs no doubt hoped history would be kind to them. That history would remember them with a kindly epithet.
Because it so often happened that they shared the same name as other rulers of their line. In France, for example, they tended to be called Philip, or Louis, or Charles. In Castile, they were called Alphonso.

So history needed a way of distinguishing between them. And that way was simple- but not always kind.
They were remembered by an epithet. Charles the Great, Charles the Bald, Charles the Fat, Charles the Simple.

Indeed, an amusing aside of history is the poor King of Castile known as Henry the Impotent. Everybody in Castile knew him as Henry the Impotent. There was no questioning the King was not likely to have children. It was a known fact that the organ he was born with was too malformed to make fathering children possible. Unless it was by immaculate conception. But no one seemed to have the heart to tell King Henry the Impotent what his entire kingdom knew.

So when the Queen gave birth, it was somewhat of an embarrassment. Worse, no one told the poor daughter, who grew up believing herself to be a princess who would one day be Queen of Castile.
One her 'father's' death, she was shunted off to a convent and her aunt Isabella became Queen. She of Ferdinand and Isabella fame.

Perhaps Kings started to realise there was a good way to avoid this fate, because about this time Kings started adopting a practise the popes had long done. Number themselves. Thus Henry the Impotent is saved by history- he is called Henry IV. Alphonso the Slobberer is remembered as Alphonso IX. Louis the Fat becomes Louis VI. Whilst history still remembers the names their people gave them, regnal numbers have saved their dignity. And in this new world, monarchs avoided acquiring epithets in the first place. Henry VIII of England, for example is spared being remembered as Henry the Poxy, or Henry the Angry.

But these numbering systems are often fraught with problems, glitches and in fact, a closer look at the numbering schemes of most countries, reveals a few oddities. There are several reasons for this, but a key one is, they were often backdated and often contained mistakes. Or things that actually don't quite add up. It's worth remembering that when we talk of say, Louis IX of France, he didn't call himself that. Louis XII called himself Louis XII, but he was the first Louis to do so.

I thought it might be amusing to go through some of the oddities of these regnal numbering systems. Because most of them, have their own oddities.

England- England is in the unusual situation of being a few digits short in one royal name. The only country which is, I think. But the fact is, Eleven English Kings have been called Edward. And yet the last one was Edward VIII. The commonest given reason is that we don't number Kings before William I, but no reason for this is ever really given. The actual reason is more complicated. Henry VII was the first King to use a regnal number. But, when numbers were backdated, it was noticed one King of England HAD actually used a number on his coins. The King we call Edward the Third, had actually called himself that. But, he wasn't saying he was the third King of England called Edward. He knew he was the sixth. What he meant was, he was the third SUCCESSIVE King called Edward. The third in a line of Edwards. And he kind of confused everybody ever after, who followed his own bizarre numbering scheme.



Scotland- Scotland does have flaws, depending on what scheme you use. Not of course, that it matters in Scotland's case. But one will find variations in the way the earlier kings are numbered. this is because earlier schemes included a whole series of mythical and legendary kings who were supposed to have reigned from the time of Alexander the Great until Kenneth McAlpin in the eight century. Modern schemes ignore them, and thus the brother of Malcolm III, is Donald III. But some schemes list him as Donald VII.

France- Aside from the obvious fact that Louis XVII never reigned and nor really did Napoleon II, France has the fact that one of its Kings was removed from the record as well. A Forgotten Charles X reigned after Henry III, but was removed from the record by Henry IV. And thus the next Charles, is Charles X again. Otherwise, there are problems in the early numbering as well. The Merovingian Kings aren't included, and France starts with the Carolingians. But quite who the first two Charleses were, is open to interpretation. Either Charles the Great and Charles the Bald, or Charles the Bald and Charles the Fat. But opinions vary.

Spain- The most obvious issue, is that the numbering starts right back with Pelayo of Asturias, who ruled the tiny sliver of Spain that the Moors DIDN'T conquer. And as his kingdom expanded, it often got partitioned between descendants. So the numbering system doesn't follow a straight line. It was backdated by the Kings of Castile and Leon to include their predecessors, but at one point the two kingdoms were divided having separate monarchs. Yet the Kings of both are included in the same numbering system. Henry I was ONLY king in Castile. Ferdinand III was ONLY King in Leon. Alphonso VIII and Alphonso IX ruled at roughly the same time, in separate kingdoms. The sequence is not continuous. It is the result of being backdated. I doubt Alphonso IX would have chosen to take the number following a contemporary King of another kingdom.

The Popes- Plenty of errors here. Not all of these are serious- merely that Popes who once were counted, are now classed as illegitimate and so shouldn't really be included, but are. Benedict X and Boniface VII are the obvious ones. But the most glaring is the fact that there is a John XIX and a John XXI, but no John XX. Confused? Well, the answer is more confusing still. It isn't John XX that's missing. We have to call John XXI, John XXI, because that's what he called himself. His predecessor Johns hadn't started numbering themselves, so we can number them correctly. But John XXI treated John XIX as John XX. And John XVIII as John XIX. The problem lies further back, when someone made a scribal error and thought that a John who'd been deposed was a different Pope to the same John being described as dieing months later. And so a John XV that never existed got invented.

Denmark- A similar problem to Scotland. Earlier numbering systems add the legendary Kings of Denmark. Thus Harald III is Harald VIII in some versions.

Sweden- Again, same problem as Scotland and Denmark. Except in the case of Sweden, it isn't rectifiable. It doesn't matter in the case of Scotland or Denmark, because the names in question, weren't used in modern times. But in Sweden, they have been. The current King is Carl XVI. But the first six were the products of the fertile minds of early historians and never existed. The name Eric is in the same boat- the last one was Eric XIV, but seven Erics belong to myth.

Poland- This has one of the more interesting oddities. The apparent lack of an Augustus I. And the answer really is bizarre. It turns out that the King called Sigismund II Augustus ALSO counts as Augustus I. Go figure.

These really are only a small sample of the confused numbering systems in existence for monarchies across the world. In fact, they're merely the ones that spring to mind.
But they really do represent the tip of the iceberg.

But I'll leave you with one last oddity.



The next Spanish King called Juan, will be Juan IV.
It's true.

And yet, you won't find a Juan III in the history books. So why will the next Juan be Juan IV?

The reason is that in 1947, Franco declared Spain to be a Kingdom again. The thing was, he couldn't decide who should be King. Whether it should be the Carlist heir, Prince Xavier, or the Alphonsist heir, Prince Juan. He didn't much care for Juan, and when Juan agreed to renounce his claim in favour of his son, Juan Carlos, Franco decided that he would decide in Favour of Juan Carlos.

So technically, although Juan Carlos didn't ACTUALLY become King until Franco's death, seeing as he was the legitimate King, and Spain was a Kingdom in strict legal terms, his reign started when his father renounced the throne. And accordingly, his father actually was Juan III from 1947 to 1969. He is buried next to his ancestors with 'Juan III' on his tomb.

An entire backdated reign.

Curious things, these Kings.