Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Queen
• Nickname: Æfrida
• FSID: M1Y1-FXK
• Alternate Death: 17 Nov 1001

Notes:

Ælfthryth
Queen consort of England
Tenure 964/965 – 8 July 975
Coronation 11 May 973
Born c. 945
Died 17 November 1000 or 1001
Spouse Æthelwald, Ealdorman of East Anglia
Edgar, King of England
Issue by Edgar:
Edmund of England
Æthelred, King of England
Father Ordgar, Ealdorman of Devon
Ælfthryth, wife of Edgar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ælfthryth (c. 945 – 1000 or 1001, also Alfrida, Elfrida or Elfthryth) was an English queen, the second or third wife of King Edgar of England. Ælfthryth was the first king's wife known to have been crowned and anointed as Queen of the Kingdom of England. Mother of King Æthelred the Unready, she was a powerful political figure. She was possibly linked to the murder of her stepson King Edward the Martyr and appeared as a stereotypical bad queen and evil stepmother in many medieval histories.

Early life
Ælfthryth was the daughter of Ealdorman Ordgar. Her mother was a member of the royal family of Wessex.The family's power lay in the west of Wessex. Ordgar was buried in Exeter and his son Ordwulf founded, or refounded, Tavistock Abbey.[1]

Ælfthryth was first married to Æthelwald, son of Æthelstan Half-King as recorded by Byrhtferth of Ramsey in his Life of Saint Oswald of Worcester.[2] Later accounts, such as that preserved by William of Malmesbury, add vivid detail of unknown reliability.

According to William, the beauty of Ordgar's daughter Ælfthryth was reported to King Edgar. Edgar, looking for a Queen, sent Æthewald to see Ælfthryth, ordering him "to offer her marriage [to Edgar] if her beauty were really equal to report." When she turned out to be just as beautiful as was said, Æthelwald married her himself and reported back to Edgar that she was quite unsuitable. Edgar was eventually told of this, and decided to repay Æthelwald's betrayal in like manner. He said that he would visit the poor woman, which alarmed Æthelwald. He asked Ælfthryth to make herself as unattractive as possible for the king's visit, but she did the opposite. Edgar, quite besotted with her, killed Æthelwald during a hunt.[3]

The historical record does not record the year of Æthelwald's death, let alone its manner. No children of Æthelwald and Ælfthryth are known.

Edgar's queen
Edgar had two children before he married Ælfthryth, both of uncertain legitimacy. Edward was probably the son of Æthelflæd, and Eadgifu, later known as Saint Edith of Wilton, was the daughter of Wulfthryth.[4] Sound political reasons encouraged the match between Edgar, whose power base was centred in Mercia, and Edward the Martyr is offered a cup of mead by Ælfthryth, wife of Edgar, unaware that her attendant is about to murder him.

Ælfthryth, whose family were powerful in Wessex. In addition to this, and her link with the family of Æthelstan Half-King, Ælfthryth also appears to have been connected to the family of Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia.[5] Edgar married Ælfthryth in either 964 or 965. In 966 Ælfthryth gave birth to a son who was named Edmund. In King Edgar's charter (S 745) regranting privileges to New Minster, Winchester that same year, the infant Edmund is called "clito legitimus" (legitimate ætheling), and appears before Edward in the list of witnesses. Edmund died young, circa 970, but in 968 Ælfthryth had given birth to a second son who was called Æthelred.[6]

King Edgar organised a second coronation on 11 May 973 at Bath, perhaps to bolster his claim to be ruler of all of Britain. Here Ælfthryth was also crowned and anointed, granting her a status higher than any recent queen.[7] The only model of a queen's coronation was that of Judith of Flanders, but this had taken place outside England. In the new rite, the emphasis lay on her role as protector of religion and the nunneries in the realm. She took a close interest in the well-being of several abbeys, and as overseer of Barking Abbey she deposed and later reinstated the abbess.[8]

Ælfthryth played a large role as forespeca, or advocate, in at least seven legal cases. As such, she formed a key part of the Anglo-Saxon legal system as a mediator between the individual and the crown, which was increasingly viewing its role in the courts as a symbol of its authority as protector of its subjects. Ælfthryth's actions as forespeca were largely for the benefit of female litigants, and her role as a mediator shows the possibilities for women to have legal and political power in late Anglo-Saxon England.[9]

Queen dowager
Edgar died in 975 leaving two young sons, Edward and Æthelred. Edward was almost an adult, and his successful claim for the throne was supported by many key figures including Archbishops Dunstan and Oswald and the brother of Ælfthryth's first husband, Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia. Supporting the unsuccessful claim of Æthelred were his mother, the Queen dowager, Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester, and Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia.[10]

On 18 March 978, while visiting Ælfthryth at Corfe Castle, King Edward was killed by servants of the Queen, leaving the way clear for
Æthelred to be installed as king. Edward was soon considered a martyr, and later medieval accounts blamed Ælfthryth for his murder. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, King Edward was murdered at Corfe Castle in 978. As the king developed into a cult figure, a body of literature grew up around his murder, at first implying and then accusing his step-mother, Queen Aelfthryth, of being responsible. The 12th century monastic chronicle the Liber Eliensis went so far as to accuse her of being a witch, claiming that she had murdered not only the king, but also Abbot Brihtnoth of Ely.[11]

Due to Æthelred's youth, Ælfthryth served as regent for her son until his coming of age in 984. By then her earlier allies Æthelwold and Ælfhere had died, and Æthelred rebelled against his old advisers, preferring a group of younger nobility. She disappears from the list of charter witnesses from around 983 to 993, when she reappears in a lower position. She remained an important figure, being responsible for the care of Æthelred's children by his first wife, Ælfgifu. Æthelred's eldest son, Æthelstan Ætheling, prayed for the soul of the grandmother "who brought me up" in his will in 1014.[12]

Although her reputation was damaged by the murder of her stepson, Ælfthryth was a religious woman, taking an especial interest in monastic reform when Queen. In about 986 she founded Wherwell Abbey as a Benedictine nunnery, and late in life she retired there.[13] Antonia Gransden comments: "In their patronage of the monks both Cnut and Edward the Confessor were supported by their queens, Emma and Edith, who were worthy successors of Edgar's queen, Ælfthryth, as patronesses of the religious."[14] She died at Wherwell on 17 November 999, 1000 or 1001.[13]

References
Gransden, Antonia (1992). Legends, Traditions and History in Medieval England. London, UK: The Hambledon Press.
ISBN 1 85285 016 7.
Higham, Nick, The Death of Anglo-Saxon England .Stroud: Sutton, 1997.I SBN 0-7509-2469-1
Miller, Sean, "Edgar" in Michael Lapidge (ed.),T he Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England O. xford:
Blackwell, 1999. ISBN 0-631-22492-0
Lavelle, Ryan, Aethelred II: King of the English. Stroud: The History Press, 2008.I SBN 978-0-7524-4678-3
Stafford, Pauline, "Ælfthryth" in Michael Lapidge (ed.)T, he Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England O. xford:
Blackwell, 1999. ISBN 0-631-22492-0
Stafford, Pauline, Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in thee Tnth and Eleventh
Centuries. London: Edward Arnold, 1989.I SBN 0-7131-6532-4
William of Malmesbury. Joseph Stevenson, ed. Malmesbury's History of the Kings. The Church Historians of England,
volume 3, part 1. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
External links
Ælfthryth 8 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Preceded by
Ælfgifu, wife of Eadwig
Queen Consort of England
965–975
Succeeded by
Ælfgifu of York
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ælfthryth,_wife_of_Edgar&oldid=782074266"
Categories: English royal consorts 1000 deaths 10th-century births 10th-century English people
10th-century women Anglo-Saxon royal consorts Anglo-Saxon nuns House of Wessex
1. Stafford, Unification, pp. 52–53.
2. PASE; Stafford, Unification, pp. 52–53.
3. Malmesbury, pp. 139–140 (Book 2, § 139.
4. Cyril Hart, Edward the Martyr, Oxford Online DNB, 2004 (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8515/?back=,8463)
5. Higham, pp. 6–7; Stafford, Unification, pp. 52–53.
6. Higham, pp. 6–7; Miller, "Edgar"; Stafford, "Ælfthryth".
7. Miller, "Edgar"; Stafford, "Ælfthryth".
8. Honeycutt, Lois (2003). Matilda of Scotland: a Study in Medieval Queenship. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. pp. 36–
37.
9. Rabin, Andrew. "Female Advocacy and Royal Protection in Tenth-Century England: The Legal Career of Queen
Ælfthryth." Speculum 84 (2009): 261-288.
10. Higham, pp. 7–14; Stafford, Unification, pp. 57–59.
11. *Davies, Anthony (1989). "Witches in Anglo-Saxon England: Five Case Histories"S. uperstition and Popular Medicine
in Anglo-Saxon England (ed: D.G. Scragg). Manchester: Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies: 48.
12. Higham, pp. 7–14; Stafford, "Ælfthryth"; Stafford, Unification, pp. 57–59, Lavelle, pp. 86–90
13. Stafford, "Ælfthryth"
14. Gransden, Legends, p. 58
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Ælfthryth married of England, King Edgar I in 964 in Kingdom of Wessex (England). Edgar (son of of Wessex, King Edmund I and of Shaftesbury, Ælfgifu) was born between 6 Jan 942 and 5 Jan 944 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died on 13 Jul 975 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); was buried in Kingdom of Wessex (England). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: King
• Appointments / Titles: King of England
• Nickname: The Unready
• FSID: LT75-86P

Notes:

Æthelred

King of the English
Reign 18 March 978 – 1013 (first time)
Predecessor Edward the Martyr
Successor Sweyn Forkbeard
Reign 1014 – 23 April 1016 (second time)
Predecessor Sweyn Forkbeard
Successor Edmund Ironside
Born c. 966
Died 23 April 1016 (aged about 50) London, England
Burial Old St Paul's Cathedral, London, now lost

Spouse Ælfgifu of York
Emma of Normandy
Issue
Detail Æthelstan
Ecgberht
Edmund, King of England
Eadred
Eadwig

Æthelred the Unready
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Æthelred II, also dubbed the Unready (Old English:
Æþelræd (Old English pronunciation: [æðelræːd])),[1] (c. 966 –
23 April 1016) was King of the English (978–1013 and
1014–1016). He was the son of King Edgar the Peaceful and
Queen Ælfthryth and was around 12 years old when his halfbrother
Edward the Martyr was murdered on 18 March 978.
Although Æthelred was not personally suspected of
participation, the murder was committed at Corfe Castle by
his attendants, making it more difficult for the new king to
rally the nation against the military raids by Danes,
especially as the legend of St Edward the Martyr grew.
From 991 onwards, Æthelred paid tribute, or Danegeld, to
the Danish king. In 1002, Æthelred ordered what became
known as the St. Brice's Day massacre of Danish settlers. In
1013, King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark invaded England,
as a result of which Æthelred fled to Normandy in 1013 and was replaced by Sweyn. He would return as king, however, after Sweyn's death in 1014.

Æthelred's nickname, "the Unready" renders Old English unræd "bad counsel, folly", more accurately (but more rarely) rendered "the Rede-less".

Æthelred's first name, composed of the elements æðele
"noble", and ræd "counsel, advice",[2] is typical of the
compound names of those who belonged to the royal House
of Wessex, and it characteristically alliterates with the names
of his ancestors, like Æthelwulf ("noble-wolf"), Ælfred ("elfcounsel"),
Eadweard ("rich-protection"), and Eadgar ("richspear").[
3]

The story of Æthelred's notorious nickname, Old English
Unræd, goes a long way toward explaining how his
reputation has declined through history. It is usually
translated into present-day English as "The Unready" (less
often, though less confusingly, as "The Redeless").[4] The
Anglo-Saxon noun unræd means "evil counsel", "bad plan",
or "folly".[2] It most often describes decisions and deeds, and once refers to the nature of Satan's deceit. The
element ræd in unræd is the element in Æthelred's name which means "counsel". Thus Æþelræd Unræd is a
pun meaning "Noble counsel, No counsel". The nickname has alternatively been taken adjectivally as "illadvised",
"ill-prepared", "indecisive", thus "Æthelred the ill-advised".
Because the nickname was first recorded in the 1180s, more than 150 years after Æthelred's death, it is doubtful
that it carries any implications for how the king was seen by his contemporaries or near contemporaries.[5]
Early life
Sir Frank Stenton remarked that "much that has brought condemnation
of historians on King Æthelred may well be due in the last resort to the
circumstances under which he became king."[6] Æthelred's father, King
Edgar, had died suddenly in July 975, leaving two young sons behind.
The elder, Edward (later Edward the Martyr), was probably
illegitimate,[7] and was "still a youth on the verge of manhood" in
975.[8] The younger son was Æthelred, whose mother, Ælfthryth, Edgar
had married in 964. Ælfthryth was the daughter of Ordgar, ealdorman of
Devon, and widow of Æthelwold, Ealdorman of East Anglia. At the
time of his father's death, Æthelred could have been no more than 10
years old. As the elder of Edgar's sons, Edward – reportedly a young
man given to frequent violent outbursts – probably would have naturally
succeeded to the throne of England despite his young age, had not he
"offended many important persons by his intolerable violence of speech
and behaviour."[8] In any case, a number of English nobles took to
opposing Edward's succession and to defending Æthelred's claim to the throne; Æthelred was, after all, the son
of Edgar's last, living wife, and no rumour of illegitimacy is known to have plagued Æthelred's birth, as it
might have his elder brother's.[9] Both boys, Æthelred certainly, were too young to have played any significant
part in the political manoeuvring which followed Edgar's death. It was the brothers' supporters, and not the
brothers themselves, who were responsible for the turmoil which accompanied the choice of a successor to the
throne. Æthelred's cause was led by his mother and included Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia and Bishop
Æthelwold of Winchester,[10] while Edward's claim was supported by Dunstan, the Archbishop of Canterbury
and Oswald, the Archbishop of York[11] among other noblemen, notably Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia,
and Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Essex. In the end, Edward's supporters proved the more powerful and persuasive,
and he was crowned king at Kingston upon Thames before the year was out.
Edward reigned for only three years before he was murdered by members of his brother's household.[12]
Though little is known about Edward's short reign, it is known that it was marked by political turmoil. Edgar
had made extensive grants of land to monasteries which pursued the new monastic ideals of ecclesiastical
reform, but these disrupted aristocratic families' traditional patronage. The end of his firm rule saw a reversal of
this policy, with aristocrats recovering their lost properties or seizing new ones. This was opposed by Dunstan,
but according to Cyril Hart, "The presence of supporters of church reform on both sides indicates that the
conflict between them depended as much on issues of land ownership and local power as on ecclesiastical
legitimacy. Adherents of both Edward and Æthelred can be seen appropriating, or recovering, monastic
lands."[7] Nevertheless, favour for Edward must have been strong among the monastic communities. When
Edward was killed at Æthelred's estate at Corfe Castle in Dorset in March 978, the job of recording the event,
as well as reactions to it, fell to monastic writers. Stenton offers a summary of the earliest account of Edward's
murder, which comes from a work praising the life of St Oswald: "On the surface his [Edward's] relations with
Æthelred his half-brother and Ælfthryth his stepmother were friendly, and he was visiting them informally
when he was killed. [Æthelred's] retainers came out to meet him with ostentatious signs of respect, and then,
before he had dismounted, surrounded him, seized his hands, and stabbed him. ... So far as can be seen the
murder was planned and carried out by Æthelred's household men in order that their young master might
become king. There is nothing to support the allegation, which first appears in writing more than a century
later, that Queen Ælfthryth had plotted her stepson's death. No one was punished for a part in the crime, and
Æthelred, who was crowned a month after the murder, began to reign in an atmosphere of suspicion which
destroyed the prestige of the crown. It was never fully restored in his lifetime."[13] Nevertheless, at first, the
outlook of the new king's officers and counsellors seems in no way to have been bleak. According to one
chronicler, the coronation of Æthelred took place with much rejoicing by the councillors of the English
people.[14] Simon Keynes notes that "Byrhtferth of Ramsey states similarly that when Æthelred was
consecrated king, by Archbishop Dunstan and Archbishop Oswald, 'there was great joy at his consecration’,
and describes the king in this connection as 'a young man in respect of years, elegant in his manners, with an
attractive face and handsome appearance'."[14] Æthelred could not have been older than 13 years of age in this
year.
During these early years, Æthelred was developing a close relationship to Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester,
one who had supported his unsuccessful claim to the throne. When Æthelwold died, on 1 August 984, Æthelred
deeply lamented the loss, and he wrote later in a charter from 993 that the event had deprived the country of
one "whose industry and pastoral care administered not only to my interest but also to that of all inhabitants of
the country."[14]
Conflict with the Danes
England had experienced a period of peace after the reconquest of the Danelaw in the mid-10th century by
King Edgar, Æthelred's father. However, beginning in 980, when Æthelred could not have been more than 14
years old, small companies of Danish adventurers carried out a series of coastline raids against England.
Hampshire, Thanet and Cheshire were attacked in 980, Devon and Cornwall in 981, and Dorset in 982. A
period of six years then passed before, in 988, another coastal attack is recorded as having taken place to the
south-west, though here a famous battle was fought between the invaders and the thegns of Devon. Stenton
notes that, though this series of isolated raids had no lasting effect on England itself, "their chief historical
importance is that they brought England for the first time into diplomatic contact with Normandy."[15] During
this period, the Normans, who remembered their origins as a Scandinavian people, were well-disposed to their
Danish cousins who, occasionally returning from a raid on England, sought port in Normandy. This led to grave
tension between the English and Norman courts, and word of their enmity eventually reached Pope John XV.
The pope was disposed to dissolve their hostility towards each other, and took steps to engineer a peace
between England and Normandy, which was ratified in Rouen in 991.
Battle of Maldon
Silver penny of Aethelred II
However, in August of that same year, a sizeable Danish fleet began a sustained campaign in the south-east of
England. It arrived off Folkestone, in Kent, and made its way around the south-east coast and up the River
Blackwater, coming eventually to its estuary and occupying Northey Island.[14] About 2 kilometres (1 mile)
west of Northey lies the coastal town of Maldon, where Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Essex, was stationed with a
company of thegns. The battle that followed between English and Danes is immortalised by the Old English
poem The Battle of Maldon, which describes the doomed but heroic attempt of Byrhtnoth to defend the coast of
Essex against overwhelming odds. Stenton summarises the events of the poem: "For access to the mainland
they (the Danes) depended on a causeway, flooded at high tide, which led from Northey to the flats along the
southern margin of the estuary. Before they (the Danes) had left their camp on the island[,] Byrhtnoth, with his
retainers and a force of local militia, had taken possession of the landward end of the causeway. Refusing a
demand for tribute, shouted across the water while the tide was high, Byrhtnoth drew up his men along the
bank, and waited for the ebb. As the water fell the raiders began to stream out along the causeway. But three of
Byrthnoth's retainers held it against them, and at last they asked to be allowed to cross unhindered and fight on
equal terms on the mainland. With what even those who admired him most called 'over-courage', Byrhtnoth
agreed to this; the pirates rushed through the falling tide, and battle was joined. Its issue was decided by
Byrhtnoth's fall. Many even of his own men immediately took to flight and the English ranks were broken.
What gives enduring interest to the battle is the superb courage with which a group of Byrhtnoth's thegns,
knowing that the fight was lost, deliberately gave themselves to death in order that they might avenge their
lord."[16] This was the first of a series of crushing defeats felt by the English: beaten first by Danish raiders, and
later by organised Danish armies.
England begins tributes
In 991, Æthelred was around 24 years old. In the aftermath of Maldon,
it was decided that the English should grant the tribute to the Danes that
they desired, and so a gafol of £10,000 was paid them for their peace.
Yet it was presumably the Danish fleet that had beaten Byrhtnoth at
Maldon that continued to ravage the English coast from 991 to 993. In
994, the Danish fleet, which had swollen in ranks since 991, turned up
the Thames estuary and headed toward London. The battle fought there
was inconclusive. It was about this time that Æthelred met with the
leaders of the fleet, foremost among them Olaf Tryggvason, and
arranged an uneasy accord. A treaty was signed between Æthelred and
Olaf that provided for seemingly civilised arrangements between the
then-settled Danish companies and the English government, such as
regulation settlement disputes and trade. But the treaty also stipulated
that the ravaging and slaughter of the previous year would be forgotten,
and ended abruptly by stating that £22,000 of gold and silver had been
paid to the raiders as the price of peace.[17] In 994, Olaf Tryggvason,
already a baptised Christian, was confirmed as Christian in a ceremony at Andover; King Æthelred stood as his
sponsor. After receiving gifts, Olaf promised "that he would never come back to England in hostility."[14] Olaf
then left England for Norway and never returned, though "other component parts of the Viking force appear to
have decided to stay in England, for it is apparent from the treaty that some had chosen to enter into King
Æthelred's service as mercenaries, based presumably on the Isle of Wight."[14]
Renewed Danish raids
In 997, Danish raids began again. According to Keynes, "there is no suggestion that this was a new fleet or
army, and presumably the mercenary force created in 994 from the residue of the raiding army of 991 had
turned on those whom it had been hired to protect."[14] It harried Cornwall, Devon, western Somerset and south
Wales in 997, Dorset, Hampshire and Sussex in 998. In 999, it raided Kent, and, in 1000, it left England for
Normandy, perhaps because the English had refused in this latest wave of attacks to acquiesce to the Danish
demands for gafol or tribute, which would come to be known as Danegeld, 'Dane-payment'. This sudden relief
from attack Æthelred used to gather his thoughts, resources, and armies: the fleet's departure in 1000 "allowed
Æthelred to carry out a devastation of Strathclyde, the motive for which is part of the lost history of the
north."[18]
In 1001, a Danish fleet – perhaps the same fleet from 1000 – returned and ravaged west Sussex. During its
movements, the fleet regularly returned to its base in the Isle of Wight. There was later an attempted attack in
the south of Devon, though the English mounted a successful defence at Exeter. Nevertheless, Æthelred must
have felt at a loss, and, in the Spring of 1002, the English bought a truce for £24,000. Æthelred's frequent
payments of immense Danegelds are often held up as exemplary of the incompetency of his government and
his own short-sightedness. However, Keynes points out that such payments had been practice for at least a
century, and had been adopted by Alfred the Great, Charles the Bald and many others. Indeed, in some cases it
"may have seemed the best available way of protecting the people against loss of life, shelter, livestock and
crops. Though undeniably burdensome, it constituted a measure for which the king could rely on widespread
support."[14]
St. Brice's Day massacr e of 1002
Æthelred ordered the massacre of all Danish men in England to take place on 13 November 1002, St Brice's
Day. No order of this kind could be carried out in more than a third of England, where the Danes were too
strong, but Gunhilde, sister of Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark, was said to have been among the victims. It
is likely that a wish to avenge her was a principal motive for Sweyn's invasion of western England the
following year.[19] By 1004 Sweyn was in East Anglia, where he sacked Norwich. In this year, a nobleman of
East Anglia, Ulfcytel Snillingr met Sweyn in force, and made an impression on the until-then rampant Danish
expedition. Though Ulfcytel was eventually defeated, outside Thetford, he caused the Danes heavy losses and
was nearly able to destroy their ships. The Danish army left England for Denmark in 1005, perhaps because of
their injuries sustained in East Anglia, perhaps from the very severe famine which afflicted the continent and
the British Isles in that year.[14]
An expedition the following year was bought off in early 1007 by tribute money of £36,000, and for the next
two years England was free from attack. In 1008, the government created a new fleet of warships, organised on
a national scale, but this was weakened when one of its commanders took to piracy, and the king and his
council decided not to risk it in a general action. In Stenton's view: "The history of England in the next
generation was really determined between 1009 and 1012...the ignominious collapse of the English defence
caused a loss of morale which was irreparable." The Danish army of 1009, led by Thorkell the Tall and his
brother Hemming, was the most formidable force to invade England since Æthelred became king. It harried
England until it was bought off by £48,000 in April 1012.[20]
Invasion of 1013
Sweyn then launched an invasion in 1013 intending to crown himself king of England, during which he proved
himself to be a general greater than any other Viking leader of his generation. By the end of 1013 English
resistance had collapsed and Sweyn had conquered the country, forcing Æthelred into exile in Normandy. But
the situation changed suddenly when Sweyn died on 3 February 1014. The crews of the Danish ships in the
Trent that had supported Sweyn immediately swore their allegiance to Sweyn's son Cnut the Great, but leading
English noblemen sent a deputation to Æthelred to negotiate his restoration to the throne. He was required to
declare his loyalty to them, to bring in reforms regarding everything that they disliked and to forgive all that
had been said and done against him in his previous reign. The terms of this agreement are of great
constitutional interest in early English History as they are the first recorded pact between a King and his
subjects and are also widely regarded as showing that many English noblemen had submitted to Sweyn simply
because of their distrust of Æthelred.[21] According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:
they [the counsellors] said that no lord was dearer to them than their natural (gecynde) lord, if he would
govern them more justly than he did before. Then the king sent his son Edward hither with his
messengers and bade them greet all his people and said that he would be a gracious (hold) lord to them,
A charter of Æthelred's in 1003 to
his follower, Æthelred.
and reform all the things which they hated; and all the things which had been said and done against him
should be forgiven on condition that they all unanimously turned to him (to him gecyrdon) without
treachery. And complete friendship was then established with oath and pledge (mid worde and mid
wædde) on both sides, and they pronounced every Danish king an exile from England forever.[22]
Æthelred then launched an expedition against Cnut and his allies, the men of the Kingdom of Lindsey. Cnut's
army had not completed its preparations and, in April 1014, he decided to withdraw from England without a
fight leaving his Lindsey allies to suffer Æthelred's revenge. In August 1015, he returned to find a complex and
volatile situation unfolding in England. Æthelred's son, Edmund Ironside, had revolted against his father and
established himself in the Danelaw, which was angry at Cnut and Æthelred for the ravaging of Lindsey and was
prepared to support Edmund in any uprising against both of them.
Death and burial
Over the next few months Cnut conquered most of England, while Edmund rejoined Æthelred to defend
London when Æthelred died on 23 April 1016. The subsequent war between Edmund and Cnut ended in a
decisive victory for Cnut at the Battle of Ashingdon on 18 October 1016. Edmund's reputation as a warrior was
such that Cnut nevertheless agreed to divide England, Edmund taking Wessex and Cnut the whole of the
country beyond the Thames. However, Edmund died on 30 November and Cnut became king of the whole
country.[23]
Æthelred was buried in Old St Paul's Cathedral, London. The tomb and his monument were destroyed along
with the cathedral in the Great Fire of London in 1666.[24] A modern monument in the crypt lists his among the
important graves lost.
Legislation
Æthelred's government produced extensive legislation, which he
"ruthlessly enforced."[25] Records of at least six legal codes survive from
his reign, covering a range of topics.[26] Notably, one of the members of his
council (known as the Witan) was Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York, a wellknown
homilist. The three latest codes from Æthelred's reign seemed to
have been drafted by Wulfstan.[27] These codes are extensively concerned
with ecclesiastical affairs. They also exhibit the characteristics of
Wulfstan's highly rhetorical style. Wulfstan went on to draft codes for King
Cnut, and recycled there many of the laws which were used in Æthelred's
codes.[28]
Despite the failure of his government in the face of the Danish threat,
Æthelred's reign was not without some important institutional achievements. The quality of the coinage, a good
indicator of the prevailing economic conditions, significantly improved during his reign due to his numerous
coinage reform laws.[29]
Legacy
Later perspectives of Æthelred have been less than flattering. Numerous legends and anecdotes have sprung up
to explain his shortcomings, often elaborating abusively on his character and failures. One such anecdote is
given by William of Malmesbury (lived c. 1080–c. 1143), who reports that Æthelred had defecated in the
baptismal font as a child, which led St. Dunstan to prophesy that the English monarchy would be overthrown
during his reign. This story is, however, a fabrication, and a similar story is told of the Byzantine Emperor
Constantine Copronymus, another mediaeval monarch who was unpopular among certain of his subjects.
Efforts to rehabilitate Æthelred's reputation have gained momentum since about 1980. Chief among the
rehabilitators has been Simon Keynes, who has often argued that our poor impression of Æthelred is almost
entirely based upon after-the-fact accounts of, and later accretions to, the narrative of events during Æthelred's
long and complex reign. Chief among the culprits is in fact one of the most important sources for the history of
the period, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which, as it reports events with a retrospect of 15 years, cannot help but
interpret events with the eventual English defeat a foregone conclusion. Yet, as virtually no strictly
contemporary narrative account of the events of Æthelred's reign exists, historians are forced to rely on what
evidence there is. Keynes and others thus draw attention to some of the inevitable snares of investigating the
history of a man whom later popular opinion has utterly damned. Recent cautious assessments of Æthelred's
reign have more often uncovered reasons to doubt, rather than uphold, Æthelred's later infamy. Though the
failures of his government will always put Æthelred's reign in the shadow of the reigns of kings Edgar,
Aethelstan, and Alfred, historians' current impression of Æthelred's personal character is certainly not as
unflattering as it once was: "Æthelred's misfortune as a ruler was owed not so much to any supposed defects of
his imagined character, as to a combination of circumstances which anyone would have found difficult to
control."[30]
Origin of the jury
Æthelred has been credited with the formation of a local investigative body made up of twelve thegns who
were charged with publishing the names of any notorious or wicked men in their respective districts. Because
the members of these bodies were under solemn oath to act in accordance with the law and their own good
consciences, they have been seen by some legal historians as the prototype for the English Grand Jury.[31]
Æthelred makes provision for such a body in a law code he enacted at Wantage in 997, which states:
þæt man habbe gemot on ælcum wæpentace; & gan ut þa yldestan XII þegnas & se gerefa mid, &
swerian on þam haligdome, þe heom man on hand sylle, þæt hig nellan nænne sacleasan man
forsecgean ne nænne sacne forhelan. & niman þonne þa tihtbysian men, þe mid þam gerefan
habbað, & heora ælc sylle VI healfmarc wedd, healf landrican & healf wæpentake.[32]
that there shall be an assembly in every wapentake,[33] and in that assembly shall go forth the
twelve eldest thegns and the reeve along with them, and let them swear on holy relics, which shall
be placed in their hands, that they will never knowingly accuse an innocent man nor conceal a
guilty man. And thereafter let them seize those notorious [lit. "charge-laden"] men, who have
business with the reeve, and let each of them give a security of 6 half-marks, half of which shall go
to the lord of that district, and half to the wapentake.
But the wording here suggests that Æthelred was perhaps revamping or re-confirming a custom which had
already existed. He may actually have been expanding an established English custom for use among the Danish
citizens in the North (the Danelaw). Previously, King Edgar had legislated along similar lines in his
Whitbordesstan code:
ic wille, þæt ælc mon sy under borge ge binnan burgum ge buton burgum. & gewitnes sy geset to
ælcere byrig & to ælcum hundrode. To ælcere byrig XXXVI syn gecorone to gewitnesse; to smalum
burgum & to ælcum hundrode XII, buton ge ma willan. & ælc mon mid heora gewitnysse bigcge &
sylle ælc þara ceapa, þe he bigcge oððe sylle aþer oððe burge oððe on wæpengetace. & heora ælc,
þonne hine man ærest to gewitnysse gecysð, sylle þæne að, þæt he næfre, ne for feo ne for lufe ne
for ege, ne ætsace nanes þara þinga, þe he to gewitnysse wæs, & nan oðer þingc on gewitnysse ne
cyðe buton þæt an, þæt he geseah oððe gehyrde. & swa geæþdera manna syn on ælcum ceape
twegen oððe þry to gewitnysse.[34]
It is my wish that each person be in surety, both within settled areas and without. And 'witnessing'
shall be established in each city and each hundred. To each city let there be 36 chosen for
witnessing; to small towns and to each hundred let there be 12, unless they desire more. And
everybody shall purchase and sell their goods in the presence a witness, whether he is buying or
selling something, whether in a city or a wapentake. And each of them, when they first choose to
become a witness, shall give an oath that he will never, neither for wealth nor love nor fear, deny
any of those things which he will be a witness to, and will not, in his capacity as a witness, make
known any thing except that which he saw and heard. And let there be either two or three of these
sworn witnesses at every sale of goods.
The 'legend' of an Anglo-Saxon origin to the jury was first challenged seriously by Heinrich Brunner in 1872,
who claimed that evidence of the jury was only seen for the first time during the reign of Henry II, some 200
years after the end of the Anglo-Saxon period, and that the practice had originated with the Franks, who in turn
had influenced the Normans, who thence introduced it to England.[35] Since Brunner's thesis, the origin of the
English jury has been much disputed. Throughout the 20th century, legal historians disagreed about whether the
practice was English in origin, or was introduced, directly or indirectly, from either Scandinavia or Francia.[31]
Recently, the legal historians Patrick Wormald and Michael Macnair have reasserted arguments in favour of
finding in practices current during the Anglo-Saxon period traces of the Angevin practice of conducting
inquests using bodies of sworn, private witnesses. Wormald has gone as far as to present evidence suggesting
that the English practice outlined in Æthelred's Wantage code is at least as old as, if not older than, 975, and
ultimately traces it back to a Carolingian model (something Brinner had done).[36] However, no scholarly
consensus has yet been reached.
Appearance and character
"[A] youth of graceful manners, handsome countenance and fine person..."[37] as well as "[A] tall, handsome
man, elegant in manners, beautiful in countenance and interesting in his deportment."[38]
Marriages and issue
Æthelred married first Ælfgifu, daughter of Thored, earl of Northumbria, in about 985.[14] Their known
children are:
Æthelstan Ætheling (died 1014)
Ecgberht Ætheling (died c. 1005)[39]
Edmund Ironside (died 1016)
Eadred Ætheling (died before 1013)
Eadwig Ætheling (executed by Cnut 1017)
Edgar Ætheling (died c. 1008)[39]
Eadgyth or Edith (married Eadric Streona)
Ælfgifu (married Uchtred the Bold, ealdorman of Northumbria)
Wulfhilda (married Ulfcytel Snillingr)
Abbess of Wherwell Abbey
In 1002 Æthelred married Emma of Normandy, sister of Richard II, Duke of Normandy. Their children were:
Edward the Confessor (died 1066)
Ælfred Ætheling (died 1036–7)
Goda of England (married 1. Drogo of Mantes and 2. Eustace II, Count of Boulogne)
All of Æthelred's sons were named after predecessors of Æthelred on the throne.[40]
Ancestry
Ancestors of Æthelred the Unready
16. Alfred the Great
8. Edward the Elder
17. Ealhswith
4. Edmund I of England
18. Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent
9. Edgiva of Kent
2. Edgar the Peaceful
5. Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
1. Æthelred the Unready
6. Ordgar
3. Ælfthryth, Queen of England
See also
House of Wessex family tree
Burial places of British royalty
Cultural depictions of Æthelred the Unready
Notes
1. Different spellings of this king’s name most commonly found in modern texts are "Ethelred" and "Æthelred" (or
"Aethelred"), the latter being closer to the originaOl ld English form Æþelræd.
2. Bosworth-Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, with Supplement. p.1124
3. Schröder, Deutsche Namenkunde.
4. "Ethelred the Redeless" e.g. in Thomas HodgkinT, he History of England from the Earliest Times to the Norman
Conquest, Volume 1 (1808), p. 373 (https://books.google.ch/books?id=wUkNAAAAIAAJ&pg=AP373). While rede
"counsel" survived into modern English, the negativeu nrede appears to fall out of use by the 15th century; c.fR ichard
the Redeless, a 15th-century poem in reference toR ichard II of England.
5. Keynes, "The Declining Reputation of King Æthelred the Unready", pp. 240–1. For this king's forebear of the same
name, see Æthelred of Wessex.
6. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 374.
7. Hart, Cyril (2007). "Edward the Martyr" (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8515). Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
8. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 372.
9. Miller, "Edward the Martyr."
10. Higham, The Death of Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 7–8; Stafford, Unification and Conquest, p. 58.
11. Phillips, "St Edward the Martyr."
12. Keynes, The Diplomas of King Æthelred 'the Unready' 978-1016, p. 166.
13. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 373.
14. Keynes, "Æthelred II (c. 966x8–1016)."
15. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 375.
References
16. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 376–77.
17. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 377–78.
18. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 379.
19. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 380.
20. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 381–4.
21. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 384–6.
22. Williams, Æthelred, p. 123
23. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 386–393.
24. The Burial of King Æthelred the Unready at St. Paul's, Simon Keynes, The English and Their Legacy, 900-1200: Essays
in Honour of Ann Williams, ed. David Roffe, (Boydell Press, 2012), 129.
25. Wormald, "Æthelred the Lawmaker", p. 49.
26. Liebermann, ed., Die Gesetze der Angelsaschen, pp. 216–70.
27. Wormald, "Wulfstan (d. 1023)."
28. Wormald, The Making of English Law, pp. 356–60.
29. "Ethelred II". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009.
30. Keynes, "A Tale of Two Kings", p. 217.
31. Turner, "The Origins of the Medieval English Jury"p, assim.
32. "III Æthelred" 3.1–3.2, in Liebermann, ed.,D ie Gesetze, pp. 228–32.
33. Note that this terms specifies the north and north-eastern territories in England which were at the time glaerly governed
according to Danish custom; no mention is made of the law's application to thheu ndreds, the southern and English
equivalent of the Danish wapentake.
34. "IV Edgar" 3–6.2, in Liebermann, ed.,D ie Gesetze, pp. 206–14.
35. Turner, "The Origins of the Medieval English Jury", pp. 1–2; Wormald, The Making of English Law, pp. 4–26,
especially pp. 7–8 and 17–18.
36. Wormald, "Neighbors, Courts, and Kings", pp. 598–99, et passim.
37. The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester
38. The Gunnlaugr Saga of Gunnlaugr the Scald
39. M. K. Lawson, Edmund II, Oxford Online DNB, 2004 (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8502)
40. Frank Barlow, Edward the Confessor, Yale University Press: London, 1997, p. 28 and family tree in endpap.er
Bosworth, J., & Toller, T. N., eds., An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1882–98); with Supplement (1908–21) .
Gilbride, M.B. "A Hollow Crown review". Medieval Mysteries.com "Reviews of Outstanding Historical Novels set in
the Medieval Period". Retrieved 9 May 2012.
Godsell, Andrew "Ethelred the Unready" in "History For All" magazine September 2000, republished in "Legends of
British History" (2008)
Hart, Cyril, "Edward the Martyr", in C. Matthew, B. Harrison, & L. Goldman (eds.),O xford Dictionary of National
Biography (2007), http://www.oxforddnb.com [accessed 9 November 2008].
Higham, Nick, The Death of Anglo-Saxon England (1997), ISBN 0-7509-2469-1.
Keynes, Simon, "The Declining Reputation of King Æthelred the Unready", in David Hill (ed.E),t helred the Unready:
Papers from the Millenary Conference, British Archaeological Reports, British Series 59 (1978), pp. 227–53.
Keynes, Simon, "A Tale of Two Kings: Alfred the Great and Æthelred the Unready"T, ransactions of the Royal
Historical Society, Fifth Series 36 (1986), pp. 195–217.
Keynes, Simon, "Æthelred II (c. 966x8–1016)", in C. Matthew, B. Harrison, & L. Goldman (eds.),O xford Dictionary of
National Biography (2004), http://www.oxforddnb.com [accessed 12 June 2008].
Liebermann, Felix, ed., Die Gesetze der Angelsaschen, vol. 1 (1903).
Miller,Sean, "Edward the Martyr", in M. Lapidge, J. Bla,i rS. Keynes, & D. Scragg (eds.),T he Blackwell Encyclopædia
of Anglo-Saxon England (1999), p. 163. ISBN 0-631-22492-0.
Phillips, G. E., Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Edward the Martyr". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert
Appleton Company.
Schröder, Edward, Deutsche Namenkunde: Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Kunde deutsche Personen- und Ortsnam e(n1944).
Stafford, Pauline, Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in thee Tnth and Eleventh
Centuries (1989), ISBN 0-7131-6532-4.
Skinner, Patricia, ed, Challenging the Boundaries of Medieval History: The Legacy of iTmothy Reuter (2009), ISBN
978-2-503-52359-0.
Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England. The Oxford History of England.2 (3rd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
ISBN 0192801392.
Turner, Ralph V. (1968). "The Origins of the Medieval English Jury: Frankish, English, or Scandinavian?"T. he Journal
of British Studies. 7 (2): 1–10. JSTOR 175292. doi:10.1086/385549.
Wikisource has the text of
the 1911 Encyclopædia
Britannica article Æthelred
II..
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Æthelred.
Further reading
Cubitt, Catherine (2012). "The politics of remorse: penance and
royal piety in the reign of Æthelred the Unready". Historical
Research. 85 (228): 179–192. doi:10.1111/j.1468-
2281.2011.00571.x.
Hart, Cyril, ed. and tr. (2006). Chronicles of the Reign of
Æthelred the Unready: An Edition and Translation of the Old
English and Latin Annals. The Early Chronicles of England 1.
Keynes, Simon (1980). The Diplomas of King Æthelred ‘the
Unready’ 978–1016. New York: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0521227186.
Lavelle, Ryan (2008). Aethelred II: King of the English 978–1016 (New ed.). Stroud, Gloucestershire:
The History Press. ISBN 9780752446783.
External links
Æthelred 32 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Miller, Sean. "Æthelred the Unready". Anglo-Saxons.net. Retrieved 25 November 2007.
Documentary – The Making of England: Aethelred the Unready
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Edward the Martyr
King of the English
978–1013
Succeeded by
Sweyn Forkbeard
Preceded by
Sweyn Forkbeard
King of the English
1014–1016
Succeeded by
Edmund Ironside
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Æthelred_the_Unready&oldid=785907428"
Categories: Monarchs of England before 1066 Medieval child rulers 968 births 1016 deaths
11th-century English monarchs 10th-century English monarchs Christian monarchs House of Wessex
Burials at St Paul's Cathedral
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Williams, Ann, Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King (2003), ISBN 1-85285-382-4.
Wormald, Patrick, The Making of English Law – King Alfred to the Twelfth Century, vol. 1: Legislation and its Limits
(1999).
Wormald, Patrick (1999). "Neighbors, Courts ,and Kings: Reflections on Michael Macnair's Vicini". Law and History
Review. 17 (3): 597–601. JSTOR 744383. doi:10.2307/744383.
Wormald, Patrick, "Wulfstan (d. 1023)", in C. Matthew, B. Harrison, & L. Goldman (eds.),O xford Dictionary of
National Biography (2004), http://www.oxforddnb.com [accessed 12 June 2008].

Family/Spouse: of York, Queen Consort Ælfgifu. Ælfgifu (daughter of of York, Ealdorman Thored) was born in 968 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died in 1002 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: King
• Nickname: Ironsides
• FSID: LJKD-Q1Q
• Appointments / Titles: Apr 1016, Old St Paul's Cathedral, London, London, England; King of England

Notes:

Edmund

Reign 23 April – 30 November 1016
Predecessor Æthelred the Unready
Successor Cnut the Great
Died 30 November 1016
Oxford or London, England
Burial Glastonbury Abbey
Spouse Ealdgyth
Issue Edward the Exile
Edmund
House Wessex
Father Æthelred the Unready
Mother Ælfgifu of York
Religion Catholicism
Edmund Ironside
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edmund II (died 30 November 1016), usually known as
Edmund Ironside, was King of England from 23 April to 30
November 1016. He was the son of King Æthelred the
Unready and his first wife, Ælfgifu of York. Edmund's reign
was marred by a war he had inherited from his father, his
cognomen "Ironside" was given to him "because of his
valour" in resisting the Danish invasion led by Cnut the
Great.[1]
Edmund was not expected to be King of England; however,
by 1014 two elder brothers had died, making him the oldest
male heir. His father, Æthelred, was usurped by Sweyn
Forkbeard in that same year, but Sweyn died shortly
thereafter, paving the way for Æthelred and his family to
return to the throne, which they did but not without
opposition. In the process they forced Sweyn's son, Cnut,
back to Denmark, where he assembled an invasion force to
re-conquer England. It would not arrive for another year.
After regaining the throne, the royal family set about
strengthening its hold on the country with the assistance of
Eadric Streona (Edmund's brother-in-law). People who had
sided with the Danes in 1014 were punished, and some were
killed. In one case, two brothers, Morcar and Sigeferth, were
killed and their possessions, along with Sigferth's wife, were
taken by Edmund. Edmund unofficially became the Earl of
the East Midlands and took Ealdgyth for his wife.
Cnut returned to England in August 1015. Over the next few
months, Cnut pillaged most of England. Edmund joined
Æthelred to defend London, but he died on 23 April 1016,
making Edmund King. It was not until the summer of 1016
that any serious fighting was done: Edmund fought five
battles against the Danes, ending in his defeat on 18 October
at the Battle of Assandun, after which they agreed to divide
the kingdom, Edmund taking Wessex and Cnut the rest of the
country. Edmund died shortly afterwards on 30 November, leaving two sons, Edward and Edmund; however,
Cnut became the king of all England, and exiled remaining members of the royal family.
Contents
1 Early life
2 Warrior prince
3 King of England
4 Death
5 Reputation
6 Descendants
7 Ancestry
8 In culture
9 See also
10 Citations
11 Sources
12 External links
Early life
The exact date of Edmund's birth is unclear, but it could have been no later than 993 when he was a signatory to
charters along with his two elder brothers. He was the third of the six sons of King Æthelred the Unready and
his first wife, Ælfgifu, who was probably the daughter of Earl Thored of Northumbria. His elder brothers were
Æthelstan (died 1014) and Egbert (died c. 1005), and younger ones, Eadred, Eadwig and Edgar.[1] He had four
sisters, Eadgyth (or Edith), Ælfgifu, Wulfhilda, and the Abbess of Wherwell Abbey. His mother died around
1000,[2] after which his father remarried, this time to Emma of Normandy, who had two sons, Edward the
Confessor and Alfred and a daughter Goda.
Æthelstan and Edmund were close, and they probably felt threatened by Emma's ambitions for her sons.[3] The
Life of Edward the Confessor, written fifty years later, claimed that when Emma was pregnant with him, all
Englishmen promised that if the child was a boy they would accept him as king.[1] However that claim may just
be propaganda.
Warrior prince
When Sweyn Forkbeard seized the throne at the end of 1013 and Æthelred fled to Normandy, the brothers do
not appear to have followed him, but stayed in England. Æthelstan died in June 1014 and left Edmund a sword
which had belonged to king Offa of Mercia.[1] His will also reflected the close relationship between the
brothers and the nobility of the east midlands.[4]
Sweyn died in February 1014, and the Five Boroughs accepted his son Cnut, who married a kinswoman of
Sigeferth and Morcar, as king. However, Æthelred returned to England and launched a surprise attack which
defeated the Vikings and forced Cnut to flee England. In 1015 Sigeferth and Morcar came to an assembly in
Oxford, probably hoping for a royal pardon, but they were murdered by Eadric Streona. King Æthelred then
ordered that Sigeferth's widow, Ealdgyth, be seized and brought to Malmesbury Abbey, but Edmund seized and
married her in defiance of his father, probably to consolidate his power base in the east midlands.[5] He then
received the submission of the people of the Five Boroughs. At the same time, Cnut launched a new invasion of
England. In late 1015 Edmund raised an army, possibly assisted by his wife's and mother's links with the
midlands and the north, but the Mercians under Eadric Streona joined the West Saxons in submitting to Cnut. In
early 1016 the army assembled by Edmund dispersed when Æthelred did not appear to lead it, probably due to
illness. Edmund then raised a new army and in conjunction with Earl Uhtred of Northumbria ravaged Eadric
Streona's Mercian territories, but when Cnut occupied Northumbria Uhtred submitted to him, only to be killed
by Cnut. Edmund went to London.[1]
King of England
Æthelred died on 23 April 1016, and the citizens and councillors in London chose Edmund as king and
probably crowned him. He then mounted a last-ditch effort to revive the defence of England. While the Danes
laid siege to London, Edmund headed for Wessex, where the people submitted to him and he gathered an army.
He fought inconclusive battles against the Danes and their English supporters at Penselwood in Somerset and
Sherston in Wiltshire. He then raised the siege of London and defeated the Danes near Brentford. They renewed
the siege while Edmund went to Wessex to raise further troops, returning to again relieve London, defeat the
Danes at Otford, and pursue Cnut into Kent. Eadric Streona now went over to Edmund, but at the decisive
Battle of Assandun on 18 October, Eadric and his men fled and Cnut decisively defeated Edmund. There may
have been one further battle in the Forest of Dean, after which the two kings negotiated a peace dividing the
country between them. Edmund received Wessex while Cnut took Mercia and probably Northumbria.[1]
Death
On 30 November 1016, Edmund died. The location of his death is uncertain though it is generally accepted that
it occurred in London, rather than in Oxford where Henry of Huntingdon claimed it to be in his sordid version
of events, which included Edmund’s murder by suffering multiple stab wounds whilst on a privy, while tending
to a call of nature.[6] Geoffrey Gaimar states a similar occurrence with the weapon being a crossbow, but with a
number of other medieval chroniclers including the Encomium Emmae Reginae not mentioning murder, it is
thought Edmund’s cause of death may possibly have been caused by wounds received in battle or by some
disease, but it is certainly a possibility that he was murdered.
Edmund was buried near his grandfather Edgar at Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset, however the abbey was
destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, any remains of a monument or crypt
would have been plundered and the location of his remains is unclear.
Reputation
In the view of M. K. Lawson, the intensity of Edmund's struggle against the Danes in 1016 is only matched by
Alfred the Great's in 871, and contrasts with Æthelred's failure. Edmund's success in raising one army after
another suggests that there was little wrong with the organs of government under competent leadership. He was
"probably a highly determined, skilled and indeed inspiring leader of men". Cnut visited his tomb on the
anniversary of his death and laid a cloak decorated with peacocks on it to assist in his salvation, peacocks
symbolising resurrection.[1]
Descendants
Edmund had two children by Ealdgyth, Edward the Exile and Edmund. According to John of Worcester, Cnut
sent them to the king of Sweden where he probably hoped they would be murdered, but the Swedish king
instead forwarded them, together with his daughter, on to Kiev. It has more recently been alleged that the two
sons were sent to Poland and subsequently from there to Hungary.[7] The two boys eventually ended up in
Hungary where Edmund died but Edward prospered. Edward "the Exile" returned to England in 1057 only to
die within a few days of his arrival.[8] His son Edgar the Ætheling was briefly proclaimed king after the Battle
of Hastings in 1066, but later submitted to William the Conqueror. Edgar would live a long and eventful life;
fighting in rebellion against William the Conqueror from 1067-1075; fighting alongside the Conqueror's son
Robert of Normandy in campaigns in Sicily (1085-1087); and accompanying Robert on the First Crusade
(1099-1103). He eventually died in England in 1126.
In 1070 Edward the Exile's daughter, Margaret, became Queen consort to Malcolm III of Scotland. Through her
and her decedents, Edmund is the direct ancestor of every subsequent Scottish monarch, every English monarch
from Henry II onward, and every monarch of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom, down to the present.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Edmund Ironside
Edward the Elder
Edmund I
Eadgifu of Kent
Edgar the Peaceful
Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Wynflaed
Æthelred the Unready
Ordgar
Ælfthryth
Edmund Ironside
Gunnar
Thored
Ælfgifu of York
In culture
Edmund Ironside is an Elizabethan play about him, which some critics believe to be a very early work by
William Shakespeare.
Edmund is played by John Horn in the 1970 television movie The Ceremony of Innocence.
Edmund is one of the main characters in Justin Hill's novel Shieldwall (2011), first in the Conquest
Trilogy.
See also
House of Wessex family tree
Citations
1. M. K. Lawson, Edmund II, Oxford Online DNB, 2004 (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8502?docPos=1)
2. Simon Keynes, Æthelred the Unready, Oxford Online DNB, 2009 (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8915/?back
=,8502)
3. Ryan Lavelle, Aethelred II: King of the English, The History Press, 2008, pp. 172-173
4. Lavelle, op. cit., p. 172
5. Lavelle, op. cit., pp. 169-172
6. Henry of Huntingdon 2002, p. 15.
7. MichaelAnne Guido and John P. Ravilious, "From Theophanu to St. Magraret of Scotland: A study of Agatha's
ancestry", Foundations, vol. 4(2012), pp. 81-121.
8. M. K. Lawson, Edward Ætheling, Oxford Online DNB, 200 4(http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37387/?back=,85
02)
Sources
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Clemoes, Peter. The Anglo-Saxons: Studies Presented to Bruce Dickins, 1959
Henry of Huntingdon History of the English People 1000 - 1154
External links
Edmund 24 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Æthelred the Unready
King of the English
1016
Succeeded by
Cnut the Great
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edmund_Ironside&oldid=781380892"
Categories: Monarchs of England before 1066 10th-century births 1016 deaths
Burials at Glastonbury Abbey 10th-century English people 11th-century English monarchs
Christian monarchs House of Wessex
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Edmund married of England, Queen Ældgyth between Jun and Aug 1015 in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England. Ældgyth was born in 986 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died in 1024 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: England; Prince of England
• FSID: K24W-VR4

Notes:

Edward the Exile
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edward the Exile, the Outlaw, the Confessor (1016 – late August 1057), also called Edward Ætheling, was the son of King Edmund Ironside and of Ealdgyth. He spent most of his life in exile following the defeat of his father by Canute the Great.

Exile
After the Danish conquest of England in 1016, Canute had Edward, said to be only a few months old, and his brother, Edmund, sent to the Swedish court of Olof Skötkonung (who was either Canute's half-brother or stepbrother), supposedly with instructions to have the children murdered. Instead, the two boys were secretly sent either to Kiev, where Olof's daughter Ingigerd was the Queen, or to Poland, where Canute's uncle Bolesław I Chrobry was duke. Later Edward made his way to Hungary, probably in the retinue of Ingigerd's son-in-law, András in 1046, whom he supported in his successful bid for the Hungarian throne.

Return
On hearing the news of his being alive, Edward the Confessor recalled him to England in 1056 and made him his heir. Edward offered the last chance of an undisputed succession within the Saxon royal house. News of Edward's existence came at a time when the old Anglo-Saxon monarchy, restored after a long period of Danish domination, was heading for catastrophe. The Confessor, personally devout but politically weak and without children, was unable to make an effective stand against the steady advance of the powerful and ambitious sons of Godwin, Earl of Wessex. From across the Channel William, Duke of Normandy, also had an eye on the succession. Edward the Exile appeared at just the right time. Approved by both king and by the Witan, the Council of the Realm, he offered a way out of the impasse, a counter both to the Godwinsons and to William, and one with a legitimacy that could not be readily challenged.

Edward, who had been in the custody of Henry III, the Holy Roman Emperor, finally came back to England at the end of August 1057. But he died within two days of his arrival. The exact cause of Edward's death remains unclear, but he had many powerful enemies, and there is a strong possibility that he was murdered, although by whom is not known with any certainty. It is known, though, that his access to the king was blocked soon after his arrival in England for some unexplained reason, at a time when the Godwinsons, in the person of Harold, were once again in the ascendant. This turn of events left the throne of England to be disputed by Earl Harold and Duke William, ultimately leading to the Norman Conquest of England. He was buried in Old St Paul's Cathedral.

Family
Edward's wife was named Agatha, whose origins are disputed. Their children were:

Edgar Ætheling (c. 1051 - c. 1126) - Elected King of England after the Battle of Hastings but submitted to William the Conqueror.
Saint Margaret of Scotland (c. 1045 - 16 November 1093) - Married King Malcolm III of Scotland.
Cristina (c. 1057 - c. 1093) - Abbess at Romsey Abbey.
Edward's grandchild Edith of Scotland, also called Matilda, married King Henry I of England, continuing the Anglo-Saxon line into the post-Conquest English monarchy.

Ancestors
Edward the Exile was a direct descendant of a line of Wessex kings dating back, at least on the pages of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, to the arrival of Cerdic of Wessex in 495AD, and from Alfred the Great in the English monarchs family tree. Of his more immediate ancestors, all four of Edward's male-line ancestors shown in the diagram below were Kings of England before Cnut the Great took the crown and sent Edward into exile.

Edward married Aetheling, Princess of England Agatha on 13 Jul 1040 in London, London, England. Agatha was born on 13 Jul 1024 in Esztergom, Komarom-Esztergom, Hungary; died on 13 Jul 1066 in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland, England; was buried after 13 Jul 1066. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]