Editing Regnal number (section)

{{Short description|Ordinal numbers used to distinguish among persons with the same name who held the same office}}
{{Monarchism}}

'''Regnal numbers''' are [[Ordinal number (linguistics)|ordinal number]]s, often written as [[Roman numerals]], used to distinguish among persons with the same name who held the same office. Most importantly, they are used to distinguish [[monarch]]s or [[pope]]s. An ''ordinal'' is the number placed after a monarch's [[regnal name]] to differentiate between a number of popes, kings, queens or princes reigning the same territory with the same regnal name.

It is common to start counting either since the beginning of the monarchy, or since the beginning of a particular line of state succession. For example, [[Boris III of Bulgaria]] and his son [[Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha|Simeon II]] were given their regnal numbers because the medieval rulers of the [[First Bulgarian Empire|First]] and [[Second Bulgarian Empire]] were counted as well, although the recent dynasty [[History of Bulgaria (1878–1946)|dates only back to 1878]] and is only distantly related to the monarchs of previous Bulgarian states.<ref>Ian Mladjov, "Reconsidering Agatha, wife of Eadward the Exile," ''The Plantagenet Connection'' Summer/Winter 2003: 1-85, with sample pedigree at 78-85. [https://www.academia.edu/5629765/I_Mladjov_Reconsidering_Agatha_Wife_of_Eadward_the_Exile_The_Plantagenet_Connection_11_2003_1_85 available online.]</ref> On the other hand, the [[kings of England]] and [[kings of Great Britain]] and the United Kingdom are counted starting with the [[Norman Conquest]]. That is why the son of [[Henry III of England]] is called [[Edward I]], even though there were three English monarchs named Edward before the Conquest (they were distinguished by [[epithet]]s instead).

Sometimes legendary or fictional persons are included. For example, the [[Swedish kings]] [[Eric XIV]] (reigned 1560–68) and [[Charles IX of Sweden|Charles IX]] (1604–11) took ordinals based on a fanciful 1544 history by [[Johannes Magnus]], which invented six kings of each name before those accepted by later historians.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Nordisk familjebok |url=https://runeberg.org/nfbm/0036.html |page=40 |article=Johannes Magnus |volume=13 (Johan – Kikare) |year=1910 |language=sv |first=F. F. V. |last=Söderberg |access-date=24 October 2012}}</ref> A list of Swedish monarchs, represented on the map of the Estates of the Swedish Crown,<ref>{{cite web|title=Estats de la Couronne de Suede. 1719|url=http://www.themaphouse.com/Zoom.aspx?id=110003&ref=SCAN2299|publisher=Jacques Chiquet |website=The Map House of London}}</ref> produced by French engraver {{ill|Jacques Chiquet|fr}} (1673–1721) and published in [[Paris]] in 1719, starts with [[Canute I of Sweden|Canute I]] and shows Eric XIV and Charles IX as Eric IV and Charles II respectively; the only Charles holding his traditional ordinal in the list is [[Charles XII of Sweden|Charles XII]]. Also, in the case of Emperor [[Menelik II]] of Ethiopia, he chose his regnal number with reference to a mythical ancestor and [[Menelik I| first sovereign]] of his country (a supposed son of biblical King [[Solomon]]) to underline his legitimacy into the so-called [[Solomonic dynasty]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Menilek-II |website=Britannica| title=Menilek II |access-date=5 November 2020}}</ref>