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Former monarchies of Europe

  • Carolingian EmpireIn 732, a Muslim army crossed the Pyrenees and marched north toward Tours. Charles Martel stood at the head of Christian European forces to stop them.
  • Achaemenid EmpireIn 550 BC, Cyrus the Great defeated the Median king Astyages and captured Ecbatana. This single event marked the birth of an empire that would stretch from…
  • Austrian EmpireOn the 24th of March 1803, the Imperial Recess declared that ecclesiastical states would drop from eighty-one to just three.
  • Crown of AragonIn 1137, the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona merged through a single dynastic union. Petronilla of Aragon married Raymond Berenguer IV of…
  • Kingdom of EnglandOn the 12th of July 927, monarchs from across Britain gathered at Eamont Bridge in Cumbria to recognize a single ruler. They acknowledged Aethelstan as king…
  • MerciaThe name Mercia means boundary folk in the ancient tongue of the Angles. This description points to a kingdom born on the frontier between native Welsh…
  • NorthumbriaIn 651, the last independent king of Deira, Oswine, was murdered by his cousin Oswiu. This violent act ended decades of conflict between two separate…
  • Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)Napoleon I stood before the Milan Cathedral on the 23rd of May 1805 to receive the Iron Crown of Lombardy. This moment marked the official birth of the…
  • Kingdom of PrussiaIn 1518, the House of Hohenzollern took control of the Margraviate of Brandenburg. This marked the beginning of a long political journey that would…
  • Kingdom of RomaniaOn the 24th of January 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected prince of both Moldavia and Wallachia. This event united two distinct territories under a single…
  • Crown of CastileIn 1230, Ferdinand III stepped onto the vacant throne of León to claim a crown that had been his father's. He inherited Castile from his mother Queen…
  • Kingdom of SerbiaOn the 6th of March 1882, Milan I stood before a crowd in Belgrade and accepted the crown that transformed Serbia from a principality into a kingdom.
  • Kingdom of FranceThe Treaty of Verdun in 843 divided the Carolingian Empire into three parts, leaving Charles the Bald to rule West Francia.
  • Ancient CarthageThe year 814 BC marks the arrival of Tyrian colonists on a triangular peninsula in North Africa, where they established a settlement that would become…
  • Roman KingdomThe Roman Kingdom began on the Palatine Hill, a settlement along the river Tiber in central Italy. A ford allowed travelers to cross the water, creating a…
  • Kingdom of Great BritainOn the 1st of May 1707, the separate Parliaments of England and Scotland ceased to exist. They were replaced by a single Parliament of Great Britain sitting…
  • Grand Duchy of LithuaniaThe name Lithuania first appeared in the Annals of Quedlinburg during 1009, marking a missionary expedition by Bruno of Querfurt to the Yotvingians.
  • Mongol EmpireIn the year 1162, a boy named Temüjin was born on the Mongolian Plateau near Lake Baikal. His father Yesugei had been poisoned by Tatars when the child was…
  • Austria-HungaryOn the 20th of March 1867, the Hungarian parliament at Pest began negotiations that would reshape Central Europe. These talks culminated in a formal…
  • German EmpireOn the 18th of January 1871, inside the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, King Wilhelm I of Prussia accepted the crown of German Emperor.
  • First Bulgarian EmpireIn 681, the Byzantine Empire signed a humiliating peace treaty that acknowledged Bulgaria as an independent state south of the Danube.
  • Habsburg monarchyRadbot of Klettgau built Habsburg Castle in the late 10th century. This stone fortress in present-day Switzerland gave the family its name and foundation.
  • Kingdom of GreeceIn 1832, the Treaty of Constantinople officially established the Kingdom of Greece as a successor to the First Hellenic Republic.
  • Duchy of OldenburgThe first known count of Oldenburg was Elimar I, who died in 1108. His descendants served as vassals to the dukes of Saxony while occasionally rebelling…
  • First French EmpireOn the 2nd of December 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte stood inside Notre-Dame de Paris to receive his imperial crown. Pope Pius VII had traveled from Rome to…
  • Empire of ThessalonicaModern scholars use the phrase Empire of Thessalonica to describe a specific Greek state that existed between 1224 and 1246.
  • Kingdom of ItalyOn the 17th of March 1861, Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy in Turin. This event marked the birth of a new state from decades of…
  • Latin EmpireIn April 1204, the crusader army sacked Constantinople instead of Jerusalem. The original plan had been to restore Isaac II Angelos to his throne after he…
  • Maritime republicsIn 839, the city of Amalfi threw off Lombard rule to become a free republic. This moment marked the beginning of a new political order along the Italian…
  • Archduchy of AustriaThe year 1156 marked a turning point when Emperor Frederick Barbarossa issued the Privilegium Minus. This document detached the region from the Duchy of…
  • Lordship of IrelandIn 1155, Pope Adrian IV issued a bull granting Henry II of England authority over Ireland. This document became the legal foundation for English rule, though…
  • Gallic EmpireIn the summer of 260, King Odaenathus gained control of Egypt and Syria while Emperor Valerian was captured by the Sasanian Empire.
  • Hospitaller MaltaIn 1530, Emperor Charles V handed the islands of Malta and Gozo to the Order of St. John. This transfer followed a seven-year period where the Knights…
  • Kingdom of WestphaliaNapoleon established the Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807 through a series of territorial mergers. The new state absorbed lands from Prussia, Hanover…
  • Kingdom of PortugalOn the 26th of July 1139, Afonso Henriques stood before his troops and was acclaimed King of the Portuguese. This moment followed a battle that some…
  • Kingdom of SardiniaIn 238 BC, the island of Sardinia became a province of the Roman Empire alongside Corsica. The Romans ruled this territory until the middle of the fifth…
  • DaciaThe land known as Dacia stretched from the Black Sea to the river Tisza during the reign of King Burebista. This territory extended from the Middle Danube to…
  • Holy Roman EmpireOn Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne emperor in Rome. This event revived a title that had lapsed more than three…
  • Western Roman EmpireIn 395, the Roman Empire split into two distinct courts when Emperor Theodosius I died. His son Honorius inherited the western half while his brother…
  • ColchisThe eastern coast of the Black Sea held a land known to Greek writers as Colchis. This region stretched from the river Corax in the west to the Greater…
  • United Kingdom of Great Britain and IrelandOn the first of January 1801, a new sovereign state emerged from the merger of Great Britain and Ireland. The Acts of Union brought two kingdoms together…
  • BadenHermann II of Baden first claimed the title of Margrave of Baden in 1112. This claim marked the beginning of a lineage that traced its roots to the House of…
  • Duchy of MilanThe year 1395 marked a turning point when Gian Galeazzo Visconti received the title of Duke of Milan from Wenceslaus of Bohemia.
  • Kingdom of NaplesIn 1282, the island of Sicily erupted in a violent uprising known as the War of the Sicilian Vespers. This rebellion forced King Charles I of Anjou to…
  • Empire of TrebizondIn April 1204, Alexios Komnenos and his brother David marched from Georgia to seize the city of Trebizond. They arrived with troops provided by their aunt…
  • Grand Principality of MoscowIn 1263, Daniel, the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, received Moscow as an appanage principality. This small territory likely encompassed the basin of the…
  • Vladimir-SuzdalIn the year 988, Yaroslav Vladimirovich became the first known prince of Rostov. He was appointed by his father Vladimir I of Kiev to govern this northern…
  • Roman EmpireIn 27 BC, the Roman Senate granted Octavian overarching military power and bestowed upon him a new title. This single act marked his accession as the first…
  • Ottoman EmpireIn 1302, the Battle of Bapheus marked a turning point for Osman I. This Turkish tribal leader commanded forces that defeated Byzantine troops along the…
  • Russian EmpireIn November 1721, the Governing Senate and Synod invested Tsar Peter I with the titles of Peter the Great, Pater Patriae, and Imperator of all Russia.