Who was the first medieval king of England?

Answer 1

There was no first king of medieval times, as there were kings already around when the Middle Age began. Several of the Germanic tribes had kings, as, for example, the Franks, who had a kingdom within the Roman Empire from 357 or 358 AD.

When the Middle Ages began, there were already a number of fairly well developed kingdoms in Europe. The Franks had already been there about 50 to 100 years, depending on the date you prefer for the beginning of the age. The Burgundian Kingdom had begun. The Ostrogoths and the Visigoths both had extensive kingdoms, occupying Italy and Spain respectively. The Vandals had been operating a kingdom that covered most of the North African Coast. All of these kingdoms had their own kings when the middle ages began, and all were of fairly large size and importance, even by modern standards.

If by first you mean most important, Charlemagne may qualify. He reigned from 768 to 814 as King of the Franks, and controlled a very large empire, about the same size as the old West Roman Empire, when he was crowned Emperor of the West by the Pope. His territory included almost all of modern France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, and much of modern Austria and Italy. In fact it could easily have been the largest empire Europe would see until the Russian Empire surpassed it.

Answer 2

England came into existence in the Middle Ages, but there is some question as to who the first king was.

Most historians regard Egbert as the first King of England.

The first person to be considered king of all the Anglo Saxons was possibly Offa of Mercia, but none of his children had this title, and it was not passed to anyone.

Other names have been put forward, each with some argument as to its validity.

I should point out that some historians would regard the Middle Ages as beginning in 1000 AD or 1066. Such reckoning might make Ethelred the Unready or William the Conqueror as the first medieval king.
The word 'Medieval' was not applied till 18th century scholars began to divide English history into a sequence of phases.

The Middle Ages were meant to be the long interval between the departure of the Romans from Britain (5th century CE) and the New Learning (or 'Renaissance') that reached England in the late 15th century.

At that rate, all the early Kings of England lived in the Middle Ages, and could be classified as Medieval.