Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1896-11-20
EUROPEAN RULERS.
HERE were KINGS WHO RElGNEO
FOR OVER SEVENTY YEARS.

RULERS VINO Exercised Lasting influence
Over Their Country and In Some Ia
stances tie Wbo.r World Notcs Fr,,,,
'''' W. '''' ''''''"''
1t has boon often INSERTED fhnt long
reipns are I'm Themselves cpndurive to tbe
consolidation and dcyelouucnt of tbo
power and resources of nutiuns ON euob
a uniut the dry upueal tn chronology n,i,.t
be misleading Weare ON snf,r ,rorud ia
acknowledgiry that the uaioritv of ev-
ccptionally long reirns have at ln,st coin.
cidcd with u,riods of national nrosnerifv
and aggrand. cement on the other hand
rude and unsettled times have bcep penpr-
ally associated with short reigns but here
i'm cause and effect are toodcli,atplv poisei
to allow the historic balance To he struck
with sure hand. The three Danish kiues
OF England reigned only - years altoVeth-
or. During the Saxon period tSs1-1Oi1)
10 kings ruled, whose average was less
than 3 years. Between Sl3 and ll53 the
reigns of ~ Scottish kings show am aver
age of only l3 years But William tho
Lion ruled over Scotland for 40 years. 10
was followed by his son, Alexander II.
who reigncd 30 years. to whom succeeded
Alexander III. with a reign of 36 years
A period of 100 years was thus covered bv
the regns OF three sovercgns.
Charlemague, the great consulidator of
the French monarchy, ruled for ~ years.
and Louis X for I. Both roigns, how
ever were greatly exceeded by that of
Louis XIV, who occupied the throne from
1913 to l7l5 This lengthy reign Of ~
years is regarded as the most brilliant i'm
French annals, and the court seems to
have exercised a kind of fascinuti,n over
lf 10
was mmortal." asked the king upon his
deathbcd. A few hours uiterward the first
gentleman Il the bed chamber threw open
the window and cried, lie roi est mort!i
three times. He then broke his wand of
Office, and taking fresh one exclaimed
"Nive lie roi!' The ceremony was not to
be repeated for another 30 years. that be-
ing the length OF the reign of Louis Ky,
Louis NV great grandson and Successor
Thus two successive munarchs rcigned for
the extraordinary period of 1871 years. IL
is remarkable that of kings of France
from the a, a ssiun of Charlcmagnc in 16s
to the death of Louis XIV i'm l7l5. these
the first and last named-vere the ONLY
two who lived for more than 20 years.
The former division of Spain into SD
many separate Kingdoms renders some of
its chronology little obscure. but there j,
sufficient evidence to Justify the boast OF
the Spuniards concerning the prolonged
reigns of many of their sovercignS. James
l, king of Aragon, ruled from 1918 tol276,
period of SO years, yvhile Pedro ", also
of Aragon and John III of Aragon and
Navarro reigned respectively for 81 and 5
years From the time of Ferdinand of
Aragon. under whom in 1879 Spain was
consolidated into one monarchy. to the
death of Ferdinand VII in 1853, eight
kings ruled. whose reigns averaged 35
years. Alfonso | occupied the throne of
Portugal from ll12 to 1855. a reign of 70
years, and his memory is greatly venerated
by the Portuguese, who regard him as the
founder of their independence and consti-
tutional government. John l, who mar
ried ~ daughter of our John of Gaunt.
reigned for 80 years and three other kings
of Portugal occupied the throne for the
several periods of i3, II and IS years
The reigns of several of the kings OF
Russia have been considera bly, longer than
what has been called the d" European aver
, age''-a somewhat unstable quantity based
upon such shifting and unsatisfactory data
as to have little practical value Freder-
lex william, the great elector, the founder
of the Prussian military power, and who
greatly increased and husbandcd her re-
sources, relgned for ~ years, from 1910 To
1858. The reign of Frederick the Great
Q74O-17s6) extended to rs years, and was
certainly the most important in the an
nails of the kingdom. Frederick William
III reigned for period of % years Q797-
1S4O). Turning to Germany, we find that
Frederick ~, surnamed the Pacific. of
from 144O tn 1Au3 a ncriod Of "A ,.aars
while the reign of Iennold coverod ~