The High King

HIGH KING is the top KING of whatever number of COUNTRIES, dukedoms, and principalities the Management pleases. He is a northerly phenomenon and does not occur on all Tours. When he does, he is always GOOD, rather conscientious, and terribly overworked. You will often witness the start of his reign about halfway through the Tour. There will be a long and tedious ceremony in which all lesser rulers swear oaths to the High King. He will then be the one who has to muster an ARMY to fight the forces of the DARK LORD.

—The Tough Guide to Fantasyland

So you want to show that your character is no mere monarch, but one so important that the other kings swear fealty to him. But you don't want to call him an emperor, since this word carries so much negative cultural baggage. The solution is making him a High King.

High King is a title derived from historical Britain (with approximate equivalents in several other places), and widely used in fiction. A High King rules a feudal alliance or federation of states; usually he doesn't manifest direct power over all subjects of his vassal kings, which makes him different from a totalitarian emperor who is omnipresent in the daily affairs of his subjects. That's why a High King is likely to be good, or even a Big Good. Other similar titles are also possible, although a King of Kings is often likely to be more of an Emperor, given this trope's associations with Imperial Persia (particularly its ancient incarnations). Or Jesus, who is also not a straight example of this trope.

Due to being organized as a loose system of mostly self-running domains, which can include most sorts of monarchic, feudal or tribal governments under his shared banner, a High King's realm may be a Multiple Government Polity.

He may be ruling alongside The High Queen, but he is not the Spear Counterpart (which would be The Good King); that trope is about the character, and this is about the title.

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Examples:

Comic Books

• Nikolai Dante: Tsar Vladimir the Conqueror has the official title Tsar of all the Russias, and appears to be the de jure ruler of Russia plus some off-world colonies. He is also the de facto ruler of all Earth; while Britain still has a king and there is mention of a triumvirate ruling China, those offices are clearly shown to be subservient to the tsar, and can be replaced at his whim. Indeed, Vladimir himself granted the Houses of Numa, Tantor, and Kong dominion over Africa.

Fan Works

• The Conquest: High King is the title used by the monarch of the Targaryen Empire, due to the relative autonomy of the various regions that make up its territory.
• A Diplomatic Visit: Chrysalis used to be a female version of this for the changelings, as their first and thus eldest and highest-ranking Queen. With her removed in the sequel Diplomat at Large, Queen Tegmina becomes the Eldest Queen.
• The Night Unfurls: Celestine Lucross is the first among equals of the Seven Shields Alliance, being the one who chose all seven Princess Knights, herself included, to govern their respective territories in Eostia.

Film

• Indicated in The Ten Commandments with the Pharaohs of Egypt Moses grows up under.
• Invoked in spirit in How to Train Your Dragon 2 when Valka shows Hiccup the White Bewilderbeast, Alpha of the Glacial Sanctuary. She notes that every dragon nest has its queen, but a Bewilderbeast is the king of all dragons.

Literature

• The Arts of Dark and Light: King Mhael's kingdom of Elebrion is only one of the three extant elven realms, but the leaders of the others acknowledge him as the overall ruler of all three.
• The Belgariad: A variant. Garion assumes the title of Overlord of the West (sometimes called Overking), which gives him nominal power over the countries on the "good" side of the continent. This doesn't give him actual rule in those countries (except when there's a politically ugly situation that the local monarch would rather delegate to him instead of trying to resolve it himself — a habit that Garion ends up complaining about), but he can order them to mobilise their armies in the inevitable event that the Angaraks finally invade. Similarly, the various schemers on the "evil" side of the world deign to call themselves "Overking of Angarak", but none of them manage to truly achieve that power, except for Physical God Torak, who is called "King and God" — although it is implied that 'Zakath, formerly The Emperor (although he still has the title) will end up as the real Overking of Angarak eventually, if in a looser sense than he'd previously intended.
• Belisarius Series:
  • Kungas is addressed as "Great King" by mountain tribesmen. They refuse to call him "king" (because their first obedience goes to their clan chief) but they are satisfied to call him "Great King" because their chiefs obey him.
  • Similarly, Eon's title means "King of Kings", as the King of the tribal leaders whose lands make up the Kingdom of Ethiopia.
• Birthright (2017): Sabrina's father is officially titled Maharaja. However, it's difficult to tell if he's actually a High King, or if it's a case of 'title inflation', as was sometimes the case in real-world India.
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Aslan names Peter High King of Narnia. As such, he has authority over other rulers of Narnia (such as his siblings and King Caspian), but is still under the authority of Aslan, who is himself called the High King above all High Kings of Narnia. Aslan's father, meanwhile, is referred to only a few times in text as the Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea (and is the High King of all worlds including Narnia).
• Chronicles of the Kencyrath: The people of the Kencyrath consist of nine major houses, plus some minor ones. Each is ruled by a lord, who has a lot of power and autonomy in his own right, and a seat on the High Council. The leader of all the Kencyrath has the title "Highlord".
• A Court of Thorns and Roses: Gender-flipped with Amarantha; she's the self-proclaimed High Queen of Prythian and the High Lords lack the strength to oppose her.
• Emberverse: Rudi "Artos" Mackenzie, already the heir-apparent to Clan Mackenzie and the son of the founder of the Bearkillers, marries the heir of the Portland Protective Association and brings several other allies into the fold through diplomacy to form the High Kingdom of Montival. It's a true feudal state, with member states (many of which are de facto monarchies, but several of which are republics or governed by a council of elders) retaining the lion's share of their local autonomy, but required to contribute military aid to the common good during times of war.
• The Faith and the Fallen is set in a continent known as the "Banished Lands", which was settled by people fleeing some unnamed persecution somewhere to the West. It's split into multiple, mostly Scottish-flavoured kingdoms; but the king of the oldest, southernmost and more Mediterranean-ish kingdom, is known as the "High King of the Banished Lands". He doesn't have any real authority over the other kings, he can call a meeting of all of them to discuss major issues but they don't have to come if they don't want to and he has to get a consensus agreed rather than just order them around. There hasn't even been a "Kingsmoot" called for centuries by the time the story is set.
• Honor Harrington: The title of the highest-ranked Grayson ruler, Protector, is the English cognate of Emperor, but his powers more closely resemble this trope. As the series progresses and Queen Elizabeth III's power consolidates in Manticore, she becomes more like this, culminating in the declaration of the Star Empire of Manticore and herself as Empress Elizabeth I (as she generally remains the Reasonable Authority Figure, the SEM remains mostly The Federation despite having trappings of The Empire).
• The Chronicles of Prydain takes place in Prydain, a Fantasy Counterpart to medieval Wales. Math son of Mathonwy was the High King of Prydain, but he was never shown doing much of anything — that was left up to his heir and warlord, Prince Gwydion. He appeared in the first book to thank the heroes for their efforts against the Horned King, was mentioned in each of the next three books, and appeared shortly before his death in the last book. Gwydion's own last act as High King, before departing for the Summer Country, is to declare Audience Surrogate Taran the new High King of Prydain.
• Codex Alera: The First Lord of Alera is basically this, despite his title. His subordinates are called High Lords, not kings, but are largely autonomous and rule over enough territory they might well have been called kings if it weren't for inherited Roman cultural baggage regarding kings.
• Discworld: Dwarves consider lower to be better than higher, so they have a Low King who is acknowledged by most dwarves as the most important monarch. In practice he's the only real "king" per se; in most mines the king is more like a mine foreman or senior engineer than royalty. And it's later revealed that She Is the King.
• Land of Oz: The rulers of the four countries (Munchkins, Gillikins, Winkies, and Quadlings) are under the ruler of Oz in general, who lives in the Emerald City. At least, this becomes the case after book one, where the Wicked Witches of the East and West are destroyed and replaced. Although in this case, the high ruler is Ozma, who rules under the title of Princess.
• Malazan Book of the Fallen: Kallor the High King is a recurring character (although it's an in-universe Artifact Title, as Kallor is an immortal and it's been ages since he was actually king of anything — he still carts a throne around with him wherever he goes). The usual connotations of this trope are inverted, however, as Kallor during his reign was considered one of the worst tyrants in the setting's history, far worse than any of the characters who've used the title "Emperor", to the point that he destroyed his own empire rather than let the gods take it away from him.
• The Queen's Thief: It's implied that Eugenides is on his way to becoming this. Teleus calls him "Annux, a king of kings."
• A Song of Ice and Fire
  • The Targaryen dynasty conquered all but one of the seven kingdoms of Westeros (which later joined their rule through marriage), demoted the surviving kings to lords (sometimes called High Lords or Lords Paramount), elevated a couple of formerly-minor lords to Lords Paramount on equal footing with the former kings, and reserved the King/Queen title for themselves.
  • Mance Rayder, as King-Beyond-The-Wall is effectively High King of the wildlings, ruling as first-among-equals in a loose confederation of tribal chieftains.
  • High King was the most coveted royal title in Dorne until the Rhoynish invasion. The simple title of Prince has been in use ever since. Since Dorne joined only a century or so later through marriage, its rulers avoided the demotion of the others and keep titling themselves Prince or Princess, albeit still subject to the Targaryen, and later Baratheon, kings.
  • The Ironborn used to elect a High King at their Kingsmoot to rule over the other Rock and Salt Kings of the Iron Islands. Since then they went from a single elected monarchy to a hereditary one to becoming lords under the Targaryens.
  • Robar II Royce, the last First Man ruler of the Vale, claimed the title of "High King of the Vale, the Fingers, and the Mountains of the Moon" when uniting all the First Men of the Vale against the Andal invasion. After his defeat and the Andals taking total dominance, House Arryn took leadership under the simpler title of just "King of the Vale".
  • The Kings-Beyond-the-Wall work along these lines. Since the Free Folk are a proudly independent people and riven by numerous ethnic and cultural divisions, a prospective such King needs to individually persuade the various and fractious clans, tribes, chiefdoms and holdfasts to join under his banner, and thereafter leads his patchwork nation in large part by keeping their leaders as his advisors and lieutenants.
  • The Sarnor civilization was a collection of city-states, each ruled by its own king, all of whom answered to a reigning High King. Nominally, the High King was supreme ruler of the Sarnori, although usually he didn't wield much real authority over the autonomous lesser kings. The last High King of the Sarnori was Mazor Alexi, who united the forces of the surviving city-states after around half had been destroyed by the Dothraki during the Century of Blood in order to stand against the horselords. The defeat and destruction of his coalition marked the end of Sarnor, and all but one of the surviving cities were sacked and razed in the decades afterwards.
• The Tough Guide to Fantasyland: High Kings do not occur on all Tours; when they do, they preside over a variable number of kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities and sundry other countries in the northern part of the map. The king's reign will start sometime during the Quest proper — the Tour usually gets a good look at their very longwinded crowning ceremony and all the lesser lords swearing fealty — and he will be on the side of Good afterwards, organizing his land and mustering an army for the final battle. As a result of this involved job, he's usually a rather overworked figure.
• Tolkien's Legendarium:
  • The Silmarillion:
    • The exiled High Elves in Middle-earth spread out into multiple kingdoms with separate kings, but they were all (at least in theory) subject to the High King. In practice, most subjects of the House of Fëanor pretended that there wasn't one.
    • The Teleri Lords had a High King, but he lived in an enchanted forest where nobody could find him. The Vanyar had one as well, Ingwë He was accounted the High King of All Elves, but multiple Elven factions existed that did not consider themselves subjects to the Vanyar.
    • The Valar had one as well, Manwë, and he was the High King of All Arda. The war Morgoth started in the Years of the Trees was to depose him, although he never succeeded. Within the mythologies of Tolkien, Ingwë and Manwë are still alive and still rule, but mortal Men have long since abused the power to reach their homeland and no longer can except by complete accident.
  • The Lord of the Rings:
    • The Dúnedain kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor work like this. Arnor was founded by Elendil and Gondor by his two sons Isildur and Anarion, and Elendil was king of Arnor as well as High King over his sons, who were joint kings of Gondor. After Elendil and Anarion were killed, Isildur became king of Arnor while Gondor passed to Anarion's son Menendil and his eventual descendants, though Isildur remained High King of the Dúnedain. Isildur himself was also killed shortly after, but his own line continued. Some millennia later, the last king of Gondor and thus of Anarion's line had gone missing without an heir and Gondor was from then on ruled by Stewards in the king's place, while Arnor had fragmented into three realms which also fell in time. By the end of the book, Aragorn the last heir of Isildur becomes High King of a Reunited Kingdom.
    • Gondor had once rejected the claim of an earlier descendant of Isildur to its throne during a Succession Crisis, and they instead chose their own king, a cousin of the previous one. The Gondorians argued that they only answered to Anarion's line, and that Isildur had ceased to be King of Gondor when he became King of Arnor, while his descendant argued that Isildur had never actually given up the kingship of Gondor (which he had held in the first place jointly with his brother Anarion), but merely took up his father's positions as both High King and King of Arnor while elevating his nephew Menendil as co-King of Gondor alongside him - and in any case this meant that Isildur was High King over both kingdoms. As it happens, Aragorn was both the direct descendant of Isildur and of a female descendant of Anarion - the wife of his very ancestor who was rejected long ago.
• In The Warlord Chronicles the "Pendragon" is whichever of the multiple British petty kings can get all or most of the others to acknowledge him as their overlord; either through military power or just personal prestige. Uther is the Pendragon at the start of the series, but dies about a third of the way into the first book. It's not normally a hereditary position but Uther is able to get the other kings to acknowledge his infant grandson and heir Mordred as Pendragon. Partially due to just how respected he is even at the end of his life; and partially because the only other king who could make a claim on the title, Tewdric of Gwent, doesn't really want it, and as the only major Christian ruler knows he would have trouble getting the pagan kings to follow him.
• The Wheel of Time: Artur Hawkwing ruled an Empire, but was only ever addressed as High King. However, his descendants in Seanchan eventually claimed the title of Emperor and Empress.

Live Action TV

• Babylon 5: The Centauri Emperor is actually this, although the particulars have changed in time:
  • During the time of the First Empire (before any form of first contact, or even the development of steam power), the Centauri were divided in four kingdoms, among whose rulers one held a position of supremacy.
  • After the First Empire collapsed under the invasion of the Xon (the Centauri equivalent of Neanderthals, living on their world's southern continent until discovered by a Centauri expedition), Centauri society reformed under the Houses, each ruling their petty kingdom, until House Kiro managed to unite the Houses in an alliance, with their lord as the new Emperor-and the position being only partially hereditary and the Houses maintaining their own lesser militaries. This system, with a few modifications, persisted well after they achieved spaceflight and into the series, though the power of the Emperor has greatly increased (the Royal Navy greatly outnumbering all the House Militias put together in addition to outclassing them in training, technology and firepower).
• Kaamelott: Though never called anything but King of Britain, Arthur is king of the union of kingdoms that form Logres; some of his vassals keep their title of king, such as Bohort (Gaunes), Léodagan (Carmelide), Lot (Orkney), Calogrenant (Scotland), Hoel (Brittany) or Ketchatar (Ireland). This tends to cause drama as several of them have mutually incompatible laws and customs that they bring up whenever they want to gain some advantage (or just to annoy Arthur).
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Gil-galad is the High King of Noldor in Middle-earth, and holds some authority even over the Silvan Elves in Tirharad.
• Sons of Anarchy: The Sons are divided into independent charters each ruled by a President, but the president of the Redwood Originals appears to hold a kind of "first among equals" positions among the charter presidents. The Mayans appear to have a similar system, with a senior and well respected president holding sway over them all. However, the position is independent of charter, as Alvarez, the leader of the Oakland charter, hands it down to Bishop, the leader of the Santo Padre Mayans.

Mythology, Religion, & Legend

• Agamemnon of Mycenae in The Iliad is said to be the king over all the Achaians (Greeks), who are also divided into various smaller kingdoms.
• The High King (Ard Rí) of Ireland. The office did exist in real life, but it was primarily a ceremonial title, and is not definitely documented before the 9th century CE. In the Irish legends, however, there is an unbroken succession of powerful High Kings starting in the 2nd millennium BCE with Sláine mac Dela of the Fir Bolg, and containing mythical and semi-mythical figures like Nuada and Lugh of the Tuatha De Dannan, Conaire Mor, Conn the Hundred-Fighter, Cormac mac Airt, Niall of the Nine Hostages, and Loegaire, up to historical kings like Brian Borúma mac Cennetig (a.k.a. Brian Boru). Traditional Irish chronicles regard Mael Sechnaill (died 1022) as the last undisputed High King, with the kings after him considered "High Kings with Opposition", and Rory O'Connor (Rudraige Ua Conchobair) being the last bearer of the title when it was made obsolete in 1171 by the Norman invasion of Ireland. The last king to style himself High King of Ireland was Edward the Bruce, who tried to break Ireland from English control, but was killed in 1318.
• King Arthur was said to be High King over the petty kings of Britain. This is particularly apt because most sources agree that Arthurian Legend originated in Wales, which was composed of several smaller principality-type regions with their own rulers who were then ruled by the High King.
• Prince Vladimir in the Russian Mythology and Tales is roughly equivalent to King Arthur in Welsh legends: as the Prince (Knyaz) of Kiev, he is superior to the princes of other Russian cities and lands, and so it is at his court that all the bogatyrs (mythical protectors of the Kievan Rus) gather before embarking on their heroic adventures.

Tabletop Games

• Augusta Universalis: This sums up the space-faring Roman Empire that rules Earth. Each of the federated nations of the empire has a Caesar (who acts as the ultimate civil and military authority) such as the Shaka of southern Africa, or the Kaiser of continental Europe. They collectively make up the Imperial Senate and pledge their loyalty to the Augusti in Rome.
• Battletech: The First Lord of Star League was this trope in all but name. While ostensibly a "first among equals" and only capable of governing with the consent of the council of the five Great Houses, the First Lords commanded the most populous, rich and industrially powerful worlds of humanity and the massive Star League Defence Force and could in practice rule by decree if they wanted. The title was hereditary to House Cameron and passed down patrilinearly until the sixth First Lord was overthrown by his Evil Chancellor, Stefan "The Usurper" Amaris. Amaris immediately crowned himself The Emperor instead, before being himself overthrown by Cameron loyalists in a massive civil war. The title of First Lord has remained empty ever since, as said civil war destroyed house Cameron and its power base and left the Great Houses free to declare their independence of Star League.
• Dungeons & Dragons, Forgotten Realms campaign setting: In the Moonshae Islands, the Folk are divided into a number of small kingdoms loosely controlled by a High King, who's more of a figurehead than a true ruler.
• Ironclaw: The Don of House Rinaldi is High King of Calebria as the other three great houses were once independent kingdoms, but by the time of the game it is basically a meaningless title, and the throne is presently vacant following the gruesome murders of the last Don and his eldest son while the other great houses are making their own plans. One of the first published adventures was to find his missing second son.
• Magic: The Gathering: On the plane of Eldraine, the Realm is rules by a High King, who has authority over the five smaller Courts. The current High King, Algenus Kenrith, got the title by undergoing the trials of all five courts, to prove that he deserves the title. His wife, Linden, would have been The High Queen, but she only managed to complete four trials, because she was raising Algenus' twins after their birth mother killed them (long story). Ironically though, it's implied that she's the one who does most of the actual ruling, while Kenrith keeps the Courts united through charisma. The novel The Wildered Quest is about Algenus going missing, and his children having to search for him.
• Rocket Age: Sasonik was the High King of the Lada Range Kingdoms of Venus, bringing about a golden age in culture and technological advancement. His great-granddaughter Sassinisk is attempting to reclaim the title.
• Runequest: The kingdom of Sartar is usually ruled by a Prince, who outranks the several tribal kings and queens (as well as the high priestesses of several important temples, who are also called queens).
• Warhammer Fantasy:
  • The leader of the Dwarf race is the High King, who acts as a spiritual leader to all Dwarfs, and holds the Great Book of Grudges which holds all the grudges in the Dwarfs history which they hope to avenge. Individually, the lesser Kings rule their Holds as essentially independent nations, especially since little is left of the ancient Dwarf empire but a few scattered clusters of cities separated by often wide areas, but they all look to the High King for cultural leadership and foreign policy.
  • The Norse also have a title by the same name for the supreme ruler of their country. Being warriors of Chaos, their version is less directly benevolent than the Dwarfen version, and mostly enforces his rule by cracking heads until the lesser chieftains acknowledge his rule.
  • The Kurgan are another tribe of Chaos-worshipers who instead have the title of High Zar, which is basically the same thing.
  • The Ogre Kingdoms have an "Overtyrant" to whom neighboring tyrants pay tribute, Tradelord Greasus Tribestealer Drakecrush Hoardmaster Goldtooth the Shockingly Obese.
  • After being united by Settra the Imperishable, Nehekhara became a land of many city-states each ruled by a king, who all paid homage to the city-state of Khemri; the King of Khemri was high king of Nehekhara. In its current state, Khemri is ruled by a resurrected Settra, who claims the title of "King of Kings" (amongst many, many others).
• Warhammer 40,000: The Great Wolf (Chapter Master) of the Space Wolves works like this. The Space Wolves never accepted the Codex Astartes and maintain their pre-Horus Heresy organisation as an effective Legion split into twelve "Great Companies" each lead by a "Wolf Lord", who are largely autonomous and function as a Chapter on their own. The Great Wolf is the overall leader of the Space Wolves, elected by and from the Wolf Lords and functioning as a first-among-equals. The others all largely do what the current Great Wolf, Logan Grimnar, says; mostly out of respect for him personally and because he's been leading the Wolves for longer than most of them have been alive.

Theatre

• Westeros: An American Musical: Mance Rayder is leading a union of all Wildling tribes and the title he has a leader is King-Beyond-the-Wall. This effectively makes him High King of the Wildlings.

Video Games

• The Elder Scrolls: The province of Skyrim (homeland of the Nords) is traditionally ruled by a High King. Originally hereditary starting with Ysgramor, this practice mostly ended when the last in Ysgramor's line was killed without an heir, causing a Succession Crisis. Fifty years of infighting cost the Nords their 1st Era Empire until the Pact of Chieftains ended with the election of a new High King. Ever since, when the High King dies or is otherwise deposed, a "moot" is held by the Jarls of Skyrim to elect a new one. As part of the Cyrodiilic Empire, the High King of Skyrim is subservient to the Emperor of Tamriel. However, shortly before the events of Skyrim, pro-independence Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak challenged High King Torygg to a duel for his throne, an archaic but legitimate practice among the Proud Warrior Race Nords. Ulfric won by using the Thu'um to kill Torygg and, as a result, he and his followers feel that by victory he should be the named the new High King of Skyrim. The Jarls of Skyrim, who vote for the new High King, are torn due to Ulfric's use of the Thu'um being seen as cheating. Eastern Skyrim secedes under Stormcloak's leadership, while western Skyrim (and the Empire) support Torygg's widow, Elisif, for the throne, leading to Civil War. The Player Character can resolve the crisis by joining the war on either side, and there's also a Game Mod available that lets you take the throne for yourself.
• Final Fantasy XII: The Dynast King Raithwall in the back story united the nations of Ivalice into the Galtean Alliance and it is the goal of the Big Bad to do the same thing.
• Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade: The Lycian Alliance is a group of fiefdoms each ruled by a Marquess that all answer the the Marquess of Ostia only in times of war. At the end of the game, the Ostian Marchioness Lillina (alongside Roy if they marry) unites them and becomes the High Queen.
• World of Warcraft: Varian Wrynn, King of Stormwind, has become this for the Alliance, though this was mostly done to have an Alliance counterpart to the Horde's Warchief. In the Legion expansion, Varian dies and is succeeded as High King by his son, Anduin Wrynn.

Webcomics

• Charby the Vampirate: King Samrick rules over his own Kingdom and the Grand Kingdoms of the Alliance which pay him tithes.
• Poppy O'Possum: Kit Darling's father Ren is High King of several small kingdoms ruled by the Darling family, one of 12 High Kings of the Canidae Empire in fact. Though, due to his debilitating illness Kit's older sister Vix is acting High Queen, leaving Kit as the unwilling queen of Vix's Fenneclands.

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • The Earth King is the head of the entirety of the Earth Kingdom despite smaller kingdoms like Omashu existing within it.
  • Legend of Korra: The tribal chief is technically the head of state of both Water Tribes. While he does have firm executive power in the Northern Water Tribe, the Southern Water Tribe sees him as a figurehead with ceremonial and representative duties, and actual governmental power there is vested in a Council of Chieftains and Elders. This lasts right up until he tries to exercise actual authority in the South, at which point they immediately secede after a brief civil war.
• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983): The planet Eternia is made up of several kingdoms, but King Randor is the high king of the whole world.

Real Life

• The Ur-Example of this trope would be the "King-of-kings" of Assyrian fame, a title that would later be taken by the Persians of The Achaemenid Empire as the Shahanshah ("shah of shahs"). The Assyrian and later Persian empires were highly decentralized, with local shahs (kings) and satraps (governors) having close to absolute autonomy in their own territories, with the King-of-kings serving as a hegemon in the case of external affairs.
• Ireland had a ceremonial High King (Ard Rí) at least as early as the 9th century CE, and possibly before (see the Mythology folder). This tradition is probably an inspiration for some of the Literature examples (such as Middle-earth and Chronicles of Prydain).
  • The hierarchy ran thus: at the bottom was the Rí benn (king of peaks) or rí tuaithe, king of a single tuath (loosely, "tribe" or "people"). They were roughly analogous to a chief and by the 10th century became taísig tuaithe ("lords") rather than "kings". Then there was the Rí buiden (king of bands) or rí tuath (king of many tribes) to whom the other ríthe were subordinate^note These kingdoms were roughly equivalent in size to the modern counties. Then there was the rí ruirech (king of overkings) a provincial or semi-provincial king of the five ancient provinces^note Ireland is divided into four provinces - Mumhan (Munster), Laighin (Leinster), Uladh (Ulster) and Connacht - but the Irish word is "cúige", "fifth", and the fifth, missing province is Mide/Meath, which is now mostly part of Leinster. Though real history is never quite that neat — at different times, people considered there to be anywhere between four and eight provinces. And finally there was the Ard Rí (high king), in theory above all of them. Although in practice, the power of the High King varied considerably.
• The Mongols since at least the Yuan dynasty had the 'Khagan' as a title above a 'Khan', with the former generally taken to mean 'emperor' or 'Khan of Khans' and the latter translated as 'king'. Khagan is also sometimes translated as 'Great Khan'. The title is also used in Turkish.
• Imperial Germany consisted of multiple states ruled by monarchs, with the King of Prussia holding seniority over them as German Emperor.
• India historically used 'Raja' for a lesser king and 'Maharaja' as a king above them.
• The East Slavic, and later Russian equivalent is the title "veliki knyaz", usually translated to English as "grand prince" but otherwise identical to the other High Kings.^note In more ways than one — linguists now believe that knyaz is itself in fact a loan word derived from kuningas, an early Germanic form of the same word that became "king" in English. It started as the title of the prince of Kiev, considered first among equals in medieval Ruthenia, and continued in specifically Russian principalities of Vladimir and, later, Moscow when Kiev lost prominence. Ivan III was the grand prince who did away with all the feudal patchwork and became a de facto emperor in everything but name, but the title persisted as tradition until his grandson, Ivan the Terrible, gave himself the de jure imperial title of Tsar.
• The paucity of records dating from the time period means we will likely never know for certain, but there may have been a High King of Mycenaean Greece, as reflected in The Iliad.
• The President of the United Arab Emirates and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia are High Kings, as both countries are composed of several monarchies, with one of the monarchs acting as Head of State.

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