Chronological lists of the people who have ruled each country, empire or religion, with the dates of said responsibility.

Belgium: Rulers / Leading Statesmen
The Modern State of Belgium was created by revolution in 1830, and our list of monarchs starts in 1831 with Leopold I.

England: Rulers / Leading Statesmen
England emerged a few centuries after the Romans left, out of competing Anglo-Saxon and Norse states, and we trace through the house which expanded to become kings of all England, before focusing on the monarchs who held that crown.


France: Rulers / Leading Statesmen
France developed in the tenth century from the remains of the Carolingian empires, and it was Hugh Capet who first ruled a small area that turned into a dominant country. We begin with the later Carolingian transition.

Ireland: Rulers / Leading Statesmen
As Ireland was ruled by Britain for many centuries, this list of rulers only begins in 1938 with the first president of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Italy: Rulers / Leading Statesmen
After the collapse of the Romans, Italy slowly divided into many smaller states, only being reunited in the nineteenth century and a quite remarkable series of events. It became a Republic in 1946.

Luxembourg: Rulers / Leading Statesmen
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has a long and important identity in Europe’s history, but the modern state only emerged as independent in 1867, and had a sole ruler (not shared with Holland) in 1890.

Netherlands / Holland: Rulers
Holland has had to fight on numerous occasions to stop foreign rule, including during the  lives of the first general ‘stadholders’ in this list.

Kings and queens appeared in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.

Ottoman Empire: Rulers
Only partly in Europe but with a history that changed the continent greatly, the Ottoman Empire rose to great heights and then fell to complete collapse in a six hundred year history. The rulers of the modern state of Turkey have a different page.

Portugal: Rulers / Leading Statesmen
Developing in the twelfth century in the Christian reconquest of Iberia, Portugal looked west as well as east and carved out a seaborne empire. It became a republic in 1910.

Roman Empire: Early Rome / Imperial Crisis / Later and Western
Perhaps the quintessential empire, this list of roman emperors might be grand and include many names, but the empire only appeared halfway through the remarkable story of that nation.

Spain: Rulers
As medieval states formed with the Christian reconquest of Iberia two came to dominate: Aragon and Castile, and eventually they became Spain.

Sweden: Rulers / Leading Statesmen
Sweden has over a thousand years of royal rulers, and was once one of the great European empires, before falling out of popular consciousness.

Switzerland: Ruling Statesmen
Sweden’s cantons were ruling themselves for centuries before the first unified Swiss government was formed in 1798 (and then tweaked a lot after). Their presidents change often, making this a very long list.

Turkey: Rulers / Leading Statesmen
The modern state of Turkey formed in the aftermath of World War One and the obliteration of the Ottoman Empire (which is often called Turkey too, and has a separate listing).

 

Religious Leaders
Popes: 64 - 514 / 514 - 1003 / 1003 - 1503 / 1503 - Now