Kingdom of England

The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 927, when all of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were united under the rule of Æthelstan, until 1 May 1707, when it relinquished its sovereignty along with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, which would later become the United Kingdom. The Kingdom of England was among the most powerful states in Europe during the medieval and early modern periods. The political unification of England was a complex process that took place over many decades. Beginning in the year 886, Alfred the Great reoccupied London from the Danish Vikings and adopted the title King of the Anglo-Saxons in order to reflect his control over both Wessex.