Minority reign
Encyclopedia
The term minority reign or royal minority refers to the period of a sovereign
's rule when he or she is legally a minor
. Minority reigns are of their nature times when politicians and advisors can be especially competitive.
Commonly, a regent
is appointed if a sovereign is a minor
. In many instances, the advent of a royal minority led to fierce competition for any regency office, and in England only one actual regent was ever appointed: In October 1216 William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
became regent for the nine-year-old Henry III
on the death of King John
. Subsequent royal minorities before 1811 were dealt with by the appointment of officers who held the less provocative title "Lords Justices of the Realm", "Lord Protector
" or "Protector and Defender" (after 1422), and sometimes "Guardian of the Realm". In all instances they were intended to be assisted by a collective council or body of officials, although the brief Protectorate of Richard, duke of Gloucester from April to June 1483 did not allow for the naming of an official council.
Sovereigns who have ruled as minors include:
Sovereign
A sovereign is the supreme lawmaking authority within its jurisdiction.Sovereign may also refer to:*Monarch, the sovereign of a monarchy*Sovereign Bank, banking institution in the United States*Sovereign...
's rule when he or she is legally a minor
Minor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...
. Minority reigns are of their nature times when politicians and advisors can be especially competitive.
Commonly, a regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
is appointed if a sovereign is a minor
Minor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...
. In many instances, the advent of a royal minority led to fierce competition for any regency office, and in England only one actual regent was ever appointed: In October 1216 William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
Sir William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke , also called William the Marshal , was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He was described as the "greatest knight that ever lived" by Stephen Langton...
became regent for the nine-year-old Henry III
Henry III
Henry III may refer to:*Henry III, Duke of Bavaria *Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor *Henry the Lion, Henry III of Saxony, *Henry III of England *Henry III, Count of Champagne, , also King Henry I of Navarre...
on the death of King John
King John
The Life and Death of King John, a history play by William Shakespeare, dramatises the reign of John, King of England , son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and father of Henry III of England...
. Subsequent royal minorities before 1811 were dealt with by the appointment of officers who held the less provocative title "Lords Justices of the Realm", "Lord Protector
Lord Protector
Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...
" or "Protector and Defender" (after 1422), and sometimes "Guardian of the Realm". In all instances they were intended to be assisted by a collective council or body of officials, although the brief Protectorate of Richard, duke of Gloucester from April to June 1483 did not allow for the naming of an official council.
Sovereigns who have ruled as minors include:
- Valentinian IIIValentinian III-Family:Valentinian was born in the western capital of Ravenna, the only son of Galla Placidia and Flavius Constantius. The former was the younger half-sister of the western emperor Honorius, and the latter was at the time Patrician and the power behind the throne....
- Louis IX of FranceLouis IX of FranceLouis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
- Charles VI of FranceCharles VI of FranceCharles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
- Charles VIII of FranceCharles VIII of FranceCharles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...
- Francis II of FranceFrancis II of FranceFrancis II was aged 15 when he succeeded to the throne of France after the accidental death of his father, King Henry II, in 1559. He reigned for 18 months before he died in December 1560...
- Charles IX of FranceCharles IX of FranceCharles IX was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. His reign was dominated by the Wars of Religion. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Childhood:...
- Louis XIII of FranceLouis XIII of FranceLouis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...
- Louis XIV of FranceLouis XIV of FranceLouis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
- Louis XV of FranceLouis XV of FranceLouis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
- Henry III of EnglandHenry III of EnglandHenry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
- Edward III of EnglandEdward III of EnglandEdward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
- Richard II of EnglandRichard II of EnglandRichard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
- Henry VI of EnglandHenry VI of EnglandHenry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars...
- Edward V of EnglandEdward V of EnglandEdward V was King of England from 9 April 1483 until his deposition two months later. His reign was dominated by the influence of his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who succeeded him as Richard III...
- Edward VI of EnglandEdward VI of EnglandEdward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
- Wilhelmina of the NetherlandsWilhelmina of the NetherlandsWilhelmina was Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1890 to 1948. She ruled the Netherlands for fifty-eight years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War I and World War II, the economic crisis of 1933, and the decline of the Netherlands as a major colonial...
- Michael of Romania
- Malcolm IV of ScotlandMalcolm IV of ScotlandMalcolm IV , nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" , King of Scots, was the eldest son of Earl Henry and Ada de Warenne...
- Alexander III of ScotlandAlexander III of ScotlandAlexander III was King of Scots from 1249 to his death.-Life:...
- David II of ScotlandDavid II of ScotlandDavid II was King of Scots from 7 June 1329 until his death.-Early life:...
- James I of ScotlandJames I of ScotlandJames I, King of Scots , was the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He was probably born in late July 1394 in Dunfermline as youngest of three sons...
- James II of ScotlandJames II of ScotlandJames II reigned as King of Scots from 1437 to his death.He was the son of James I, King of Scots, and Joan Beaufort...
- James III of ScotlandJames III of ScotlandJames III was King of Scots from 1460 to 1488. James was an unpopular and ineffective monarch owing to an unwillingness to administer justice fairly, a policy of pursuing alliance with the Kingdom of England, and a disastrous relationship with nearly all his extended family.His reputation as the...
- James IV of ScotlandJames IV of ScotlandJames IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...
- James V of ScotlandJames V of ScotlandJames V was King of Scots from 9 September 1513 until his death, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss...
- James VI of Scotland
- Mary, Queen of Scots
- Alfonso XIII of SpainAlfonso XIII of SpainAlfonso XIII was King of Spain from 1886 until 1931. His mother, Maria Christina of Austria, was appointed regent during his minority...
- Louis the ChildLouis the ChildLouis the Child , sometimes called Louis IV or Louis III, was the last Carolingian ruler of East Francia....
of East Francia - Otto III, Holy Roman EmperorOtto III, Holy Roman EmperorOtto III , a King of Germany, was the fourth ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. He was elected King in 983 on the death of his father Otto II and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 996.-Early reign:...
- Henry IV of Germany
- Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire
- Ivan IV of RussiaIvan IV of RussiaIvan IV Vasilyevich , known in English as Ivan the Terrible , was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres,...
- Peter I the Great of Russia
- Pedro II of BrazilPedro II of BrazilDom Pedro II , nicknamed "the Magnanimous", was the second and last ruler of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he was the seventh child of Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil and Empress Dona Maria Leopoldina and thus a member of the Brazilian branch of...
- Peter II of YugoslaviaPeter II of YugoslaviaPeter II, also known as Peter II Karađorđević , was the third and last King of Yugoslavia...