High king
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A high king is a
High kingship
In history and literature, high kings may be found where there is a high degree of cultural unity, along with sufficient political fragmentation that the high king's subordinates style themselves kings. In this respect, high kingships frequently differ from empires, which are culturally as well as politically heterogeneous, as well as from feudal monarchies, where the subordinate rulers take lesser titles (such as duke or count) and may be, at least in theory, subject to appointment and dismissal by the sovereign.
In this model, a high king might be chosen from among a group of kings in his personal capacity, for instance by election or on the basis of genealogical superiority. Alternatively, the high kingship might be attached to the kingship of one of the constituent kingdoms, either permanently or when one kingdom is able to assert supremacy over the others. The high king's authority over other kings is usually limited, and in some high kingships his duties are largely ceremonial or restricted to occasions such as war that create a need for a unified command structure.
Historical high kings
Rulers who have been termed "high king" (by their contemporaries or by modern observers) include:
- Various rulers of the ancient and early medieval kingdoms in Great Britain and Ireland have been called "High King";
- the High King of Ireland (Ard Rí Érenn), such as Brian Boru.
- the Style of the monarchs of Scotland and Family tree of Scottish monarchs
In
The
Adhiraja or Adiraja is the comparable term of high king in the
Originally, the rulers of Wa (倭), an ancient name of Japan, was known as the "Grand King of Yamato" (大和大王, Yamato-ōkimi) or the "Kings of Wa" (倭国王, Wakoku-ō) prior to the 7th century. It was later changed to become the Emperor of Japan (天皇, Tennō).
The title "
In fiction
- In C. S. Lewis's epic fantasy, The Chronicles of Narnia, Peter Pevensie was the High King of Narnia while his younger brother Edmund Pevensie was the King and his sisters Susan Pevensie and Lucy Pevensie were the Queens. He was also the high king over all kings of Narnia, from the first to the last. Aslan, the deity and the Great Lion of Narnia, is described as being "the High King above all High Kings", meaning he is the highest king over all rulers of Narnia.
- In and Arnor at the beginning of the Fourth Age.
- In George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, the first human king ruling in Westeros was called the High King of the First Men.
- In Chronicles of Prydain, there is a line of High Kings of Prydain (a fictionalized version of Wales) who are descendants of a royal family who came from the Summer Country in order to oppose Arawn. The high king throughout the series is Gwydion's father Math, who is then succeeded by Gwydion and later Taran in the final novel of the series, The High King.
- In Bethesda Softworks' The Elder Scrolls, the high king is the highest authority in the Province of Skyrim and theoretically the high king of Alinor is also the highest authority of the Summerset Isle (later renamed Alinor).
- In Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft, the high king is the leader of the Alliance who has military control over the Alliance forces.
- In Holly Black's The Folk of the Air series, there is a high king who rules over the land of faeries, Elfhame.
- High-King (ハイ・キング, Hai-Kingu) is also the name of a J-pop group created in 2008 featuring Ai Takahashi, Reina Tanaka, Saki Shimizu, Maimi Yajima and Yuuka Maeda.
- In the Sega AM2 videogame Virtua Fighter 4, the title of High King (along with Emperor) is the highest rank atteinable by playing the Kumite mode
See also
References
- ^ Dawson, Doyne. The First Armies. London: Cassell & Co. 2001, p. 80.