People
Historical Figures and Influential People in History
Explore rulers, generals, thinkers, scientists and reformers who shaped world history. Search for a specific person, or browse by era, region, country and A–Z.
Historical Figures Beginning with E
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11 results
Edward I of England
1239–1307Medieval PeriodEuropeUnited Kingdom
He was determined to bring the whole of Britain under English rule — and came close enough that Scotland has been pushing back ever since.
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Edward II of England
1284–1327Medieval PeriodEuropeUnited Kingdom
His father conquered Scotland and he lost it — at Bannockburn, against a force half the size of his own, in one of the most complete military reversals of the medieval era.
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Edward III of England
1312–1377Medieval PeriodEuropeUnited Kingdom
He started the Hundred Years' War over a claim to the French throne that even his own lawyers found unconvincing, and then made it look plausible by winning every battle for a decade.
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Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
1799–1869Industrial AgeEuropeUnited Kingdom
He led Britain three times without ever securing lasting control, shaping modern Conservative identity while proving how fragile power could be in a divided political age.
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Edward the Confessor
1003–1066Medieval PeriodEuropeUnited Kingdom
He reigned for twenty-three years without producing an heir, and the war over who came next transformed England more completely than anything he had done while alive.
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Eleanor of Aquitaine
1122–1204Medieval PeriodEuropeFrance
She was queen of France, then queen of England, was imprisoned by her own husband, outlived him, and spent her eighties managing European diplomacy on behalf of her sons.
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Elizabeth I
1533–1603Early Modern EraEuropeUnited Kingdom
Every European power assumed a woman couldn't rule alone — and she governed England for forty-five years without a husband, surviving plots, rebellions, and the Spanish Armada.
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Elizabeth II
1926–2022Modern HistoryEuropeUnited Kingdom
She became queen at twenty-five and reigned for seventy years — watching fourteen prime ministers come and go while the empire that shaped her childhood quietly disappeared.
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Emperor Gaozu of Han
-256–-195Classical WorldEast AsiaChina
He was a minor village official who joined a rebellion, survived when everyone else around him failed, and founded a dynasty that lasted four centuries.
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Emperor Hirohito
1901–1989Modern HistoryEast AsiaJapan
He presided over Japan's most aggressive imperial expansion, accepted its most complete defeat, and then spent the next forty years as a constitutional figurehead — and nobody could quite agree how much responsibility he bore.
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Emperor Wu of Han
-156–-87Classical WorldEast AsiaChina
He doubled the size of China, exhausted its treasury, launched campaigns that lasted decades, and was still regarded as one of the greatest emperors who ever lived.
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