King

The English term king is derived from the Anglo-Saxon cyning, which in turn is derived from the Common Germanic *kuningaz. The Common Germanic term was borrowed into Estonian and Finnish at an early time, surviving in these languages as kuningas. It is a derivation from the term *kunjom "kin" (Old English cynn) by the -inga- suffix. The literal meaning is that of a "scion of the [noble] kin", or perhaps "son or descendant of one of noble birth" (OED).

The English term translates, and is considered equivalent to, Latin rēx and its equivalents in the various European languages. The Germanic term is notably different from the word for "King" in other Indo-European languages (*rēks "ruler"; Latin rēx, Sanskrit rājan and Irish ríg; however, see Gothic reiks and, e.g., modern German Reich and modern Dutch rijk).

The English word is of Germanic origin, and historically refers to Germanic kingship, in the pre-Christian period a type of tribal kingship. The monarchies of Europe in the Christian Middle Ages derived their claim from Christianisation and the divine right of kings, partly influenced by the notion of sacral kingship inherited from Germanic antiquity.

The Early Middle Ages begin with a fragmentation of the former Western Roman Empire into barbarian kingdoms. In Western Europe, the kingdom of the Franks developed into the Carolingian Empire by the 8th century, and the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England were unified into the kingdom of England by the 10th century.

With the breakup of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century, the system of feudalism places kings at the head of a pyramid of relationships between liege lords and vassals, dependent on the regional rule of barons, and the intermediate positions of counts (or earls) and dukes. The core of European feudal manorialism in the High Middle Ages were the territories of the former Carolingian Empire, i.e. the kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire (centered on the nominal kingdoms of Germany and Italy).[5]

In the course of the European Middle Ages, the European kingdoms underwent a general trend of centralisation of power, so that by the Late Middle Ages there were a number of large and powerful kingdoms in Europe, which would develop into the great powers of Europe in the Early Modern period.

• In the Iberian Peninsula, the remnants of the Visigothic Kingdom, the petty kingdoms of Asturias and Pamplona, expanded into the kingdom of Portugal, the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon with the ongoing Reconquista.
• In southern Europe, the kingdom of Sicily was established following the Norman conquest of southern Italy. The Kingdom of Sardinia was claimed as a separate title held by the Crown of Aragon in 1324. In the Balkans, the Kingdom of Serbia was established in 1217.
• In central Europe, the Kingdom of Hungary was established in AD 1000 following the Christianisation of the Magyars. The kingdoms of Poland and Bohemia were established within the Holy Roman Empire in 1025 and 1198, respectively.
• In eastern Europe, the Grand Duchy of Moscow did not technically claim the status of kingdom until the early modern Tsardom of Russia.
• In northern Europe, the tribal kingdoms of the Viking Age by the 11th century expanded into the North Sea Empire under Cnut the Great, king of Denmark, England and Norway. The Christianization of Scandinavia resulted in "consolidated" kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and by the end of the medieval period the pan-Scandinavian Kalmar Union.

Part of the Politics series
Monarchy
Central concepts Monarch Monarchism Divine right of kings Mandate of Heaven Royal prerogative
Types Absolute Chinese Legalist Composite Constitutional Crowned republic Diarchy Dual Elective Emirate Ethnarch Federal Hereditary Non-sovereign Pentarchy Personal union Popular Regency Coregency Signoria Tetrarch Triarchy Universal
Philosophers Aquinas Dante Bodin Bellarmine Filmer Hobbes Bossuet Maistre Chateaubriand Balzac Crétineau-Joly Gogol Balmes Kierkegaard Youwei Maurras Seca Kuehnelt-Leddihn Bogdanor Scruton Hoppe
Politicians Mazarin Pius VI Ruffo Consalvi Plessis Villèle Polignac Decazes Cortés Castillo Bismarck Mella Churchill Renouvin Zhirinovsky Popescu-Tăriceanu Zourabichvili
History Birth of the Roman Empire Magna Carta Foundation of the Ottoman Empire Glorious Revolution French Revolution Trienio Liberal First French Empire Liberal Wars Second French Empire Unification of Italy Meiji Restoration Austro-Hungarian Compromise German unification 5 October 1910 Revolution Proclamation of the Republic in Brazil Chinese Revolution Russian Revolution Siamese revolution of 1932 Birth of the Italian Republic Spanish transition to democracy Iranian Revolution Modern Cambodia Nepalese Civil War
Polity Aristocracy Autocracy Oligarchy
Administration Court Appointment Great Officers Household Retinue Camarilla Courtier Privy council Crown Makhzen
Related ideologies Conservatism Despotism Enlightened absolutism Legitimists Orléanist Royalism Ultra-royalist Tory
Related topics Criticism Dynasty Lists Family Illegitimate Figurehead Kingmaker List of monarchies Current Former Non-sovereign Nobility Peerage Realm Philosopher king Pretender List Rank Regicide Regnal number Style Succession Anti-king Crisis Interregnum Rebellion War Usurper
Politics portal

Currently (as of 2022), fifteen kings are recognized as the heads of state of sovereign states (i.e. English king is used as official translation of the respective native titles held by the monarchs).

Most of these are heads of state of constitutional monarchies; kings ruling over absolute monarchies are the King of Saudi Arabia, the King of Bahrain and the King of Eswatini.[6]

• Thomas J. Craughwell, 5,000 Years of Royalty: Kings, Queens, Princes, Emperors & Tsars (2009).
• David Cannadine, Simon Price (eds.), Rituals of Royalty: Power and Ceremonial in Traditional Societies (1992).
• Jean Hani, Sacred Royalty: From the Pharaoh to the Most Christian King (2011).

Look up cyning in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Media related to Kings at Wikimedia Commons

Wikiquote has quotations related to King.

• Phillip, Walter Alison (1911). "King" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). pp. 805–806.