General Notes

NOTE: In the face of Danish raids, he was forced to pay huge tributes (Danegeld) to
the enemy. He was driven into exile by Sweyn but returned after his death.
Died during Canutes invasion of England.
Burke says he died 1010. His tomb was lost when the old St Pauls was destroyed
in the great fire of London.

"Ethelred or Aethelred II, the Unready (0968?-1016), king of England, son of Eadgar and Aelfthryth, was born either in 0968 or 0969, for he was scarcely seven years old when his father died in 0975. His defilement of the baptismal font is said to have caused Dunstan to foretell the overthrow of the nation during his reign.....On the death of his father a strong party was in favour of electing him king instead of his brother Eadward. He lived with his mother at Corfe, and Eadward had come to see him when he was slain there. The child wept bitterly at his brother's death, and it was said that his mother was enraged at his tears, and, not having a scourge at hand, beat him so severely with some candles that in after life he would never have candles carried before him, a story that, foolish as it is, may perhaps imply that he was badly brought up in childhood. He succeeded his brother as king, and was crowned by Dunstan at Kingston on 14 April 978.....Aethelred was good-looking and of graceful manners; his 'historical surname,' the Unready, does not imply that he lacked energy or resource, but rede, or counsel. He was by no means deficient in ability, nor was he especially slothful; indeed, throughout his reign he constantly displayed considerable vigour, but it was generally misdirected, for he was impulsive, passionate, cruel, and apt to lean on favourites, whom he did not choose for any worthy reasons; he had no principles of action, and was guided by motives of temporary expediency.....It is probable that by this date [986] Aethelred had been some time married to his first wife, Aelfgifu.......Cnut was preparing to lay siege to the city [London] when Aethelred died there on St. George's day, 23 April, 1016. He was buried in St. Paul's. By his first wife, Aelfgifu, he had seven sons, Aethelstan, who died 1016; Ecgberht, who died about 1005; Eadmund, who succeeded him; Eadred; Eadwig, a young man of noble character and great popularity, who was banished by Cnut and was slain by his order in 1017; Eadgar; and Eadward; and appraently three daughters, Sulfhild, married to Ulfcytel, ealdorman of East Anglia; Eadgyth, married to Eadris Streona; and Aelfgifu, married to Earl Uhtred...."

SOUR: @S54@


1st person~researcher verified: Jim Young, P.O. Box 101, Ellsworth, OH, 44416, email: Tyrrian@US5.com
NOTE: In the face of Danish raids, he was forced to pay huge tributes (Danegeld) to
the enemy. He was driven into exile by Sweyn but returned after his death.
Died during Canutes invasion of England.
Burke says he died 1010. His tomb was lost when the old St Pauls was destroyed
in the great fire of London.

"Ethelred or Aethelred II, the Unready (0968?-1016), king of England, son of Eadgar and Aelfthryth, was born either in 0968 or 0969, for he was scarcely seven years old when his father died in 0975. His defilement of the baptismal font is said to have caused Dunstan to foretell the overthrow of the nation during his reign.....On the death of his father a strong party was in favour of electing him king instead of his brother Eadward. He lived with his mother at Corfe, and Eadward had come to see him when he was slain there. The child wept bitterly at his brother's death, and it was said that his mother was enraged at his tears, and, not having a scourge at hand, beat him so severely with some candles that in after life he would never have candles carried before him, a story that, foolish as it is, may perhaps imply that he was badly brought up in childhood. He succeeded his brother as king, and was crowned by Dunstan at Kingston on 14 April 978.....Aethelred was good-looking and of graceful manners; his 'historical surname,' the Unready, does not imply that he lacked energy or resource, but rede, or counsel. He was by no means deficient in ability, nor was he especially slothful; indeed, throughout his reign he constantly displayed considerable vigour, but it was generally misdirected, for he was impulsive, passionate, cruel, and apt to lean on favourites, whom he did not choose for any worthy reasons; he had no principles of action, and was guided by motives of temporary expediency.....It is probable that by this date [986] Aethelred had been some time married to his first wife, Aelfgifu.......Cnut was preparing to lay siege to the city [London] when Aethelred died there on St. George's day, 23 April, 1016. He was buried in St. Paul's. By his first wife, Aelfgifu, he had seven sons, Aethelstan, who died 1016; Ecgberht, who died about 1005; Eadmund, who succeeded him; Eadred; Eadwig, a young man of noble character and great popularity, who was banished by Cnut and was slain by his order in 1017; Eadgar; and Eadward; and appraently three daughters, Sulfhild, married to Ulfcytel, ealdorman of East Anglia; Eadgyth, married to Eadris Streona; and Aelfgifu, married to Earl Uhtred...."

SOUR: @S54@


1st person~researcher verified: Jim Young, P.O. Box 101, Ellsworth, OH, 44416, email: Tyrrian@US5.com
NOTE: In the face of Danish raids, he was forced to pay huge tributes (Danegeld) to
the enemy. He was driven into exile by Sweyn but returned after his death.
Died during Canutes invasion of England.
Burke says he died 1010. His tomb was lost when the old St Pauls was destroyed
in the great fire of London.

"Ethelred or Aethelred II, the Unready (0968?-1016), king of England, son of Eadgar and Aelfthryth, was born either in 0968 or 0969, for he was scarcely seven years old when his father died in 0975. His defilement of the baptismal font is said to have caused Dunstan to foretell the overthrow of the nation during his reign.....On the death of his father a strong party was in favour of electing him king instead of his brother Eadward. He lived with his mother at Corfe, and Eadward had come to see him when he was slain there. The child wept bitterly at his brother's death, and it was said that his mother was enraged at his tears, and, not having a scourge at hand, beat him so severely with some candles that in after life he would never have candles carried before him, a story that, foolish as it is, may perhaps imply that he was badly brought up in childhood. He succeeded his brother as king, and was crowned by Dunstan at Kingston on 14 April 978.....Aethelred was good-looking and of graceful manners; his 'historical surname,' the Unready, does not imply that he lacked energy or resource, but rede, or counsel. He was by no means deficient in ability, nor was he especially slothful; indeed, throughout his reign he constantly displayed considerable vigour, but it was generally misdirected, for he was impulsive, passionate, cruel, and apt to lean on favourites, whom he did not choose for any worthy reasons; he had no principles of action, and was guided by motives of temporary expediency.....It is probable that by this date [986] Aethelred had been some time married to his first wife, Aelfgifu.......Cnut was preparing to lay siege to the city [London] when Aethelred died there on St. George's day, 23 April, 1016. He was buried in St. Paul's. By his first wife, Aelfgifu, he had seven sons, Aethelstan, who died 1016; Ecgberht, who died about 1005; Eadmund, who succeeded him; Eadred; Eadwig, a young man of noble character and great popularity, who was banished by Cnut and was slain by his order in 1017; Eadgar; and Eadward; and appraently three daughters, Sulfhild, married to Ulfcytel, ealdorman of East Anglia; Eadgyth, married to Eadris Streona; and Aelfgifu, married to Earl Uhtred...."

SOUR: @S54@


1st person~researcher verified: Jim Young, P.O. Box 101, Ellsworth, OH, 44416, email: Tyrrian@US5.com

Source: Weis, Frederick Lewis, Ancestral Roots, Seventh Edition,Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, [1992], 235-19.

Ethelred II, called The Unready (968?-1016), Anglo-Saxon king of England(978-1016), son of King Edgar and half brother of Edward the Martyr. Hisreign was marked by bitter military struggles. After negotiating a treatywith Richard II, duke of Normandy (reigned about 996-1026), Ethelredmarried Richard's sister Emma. This marriage provided the basis for thesubsequent Norman claim to the English throne. Although Ethelred paidtribute to the plundering Danes, Sweyn I (the Forkbeard), king ofDenmark, invaded England in 1013 and proclaimed himself king.

In 1014 Ethelred fled to Normandy but returned a few months later uponSweyn's death. Sweyn's son and successor, Canute II, invaded the countrya year later and, following Ethelred's death, became king of England.Ethelred's sobriquet, 'The Unready,' is a corruption of the Old Englishunraed, 'bad counsel', which is a reference to his misfortunes.

Edgar's sudden death at the age of 33 led to a succession dispute between rival factions supporting his sons Edward and Ethelred. The elder son Edward (reigned 975-978) was murdered in 978 at Corfe Castle, Dorset, by his seven year old half-brother's supporters. For the rest of Ethelred's
reign (reigned 978-1016), his brother became a posthumous rallying point for polit ical unrest; a hostile Church transformed Edward into a royal martyr. Known as the Un-raed or 'Unready' (meaning no counsel, or that he was unwise), Ethel red failed to win or retain the allegiance of many of his subjects. In 1002, he ordered the massacre of all Danes in England to eliminate potential treach ery.
Not being an able soldier, Ethelred defended the country against increasingly rapacious Viking raids from the 980s onwards by diplomatic alliance wi th the duke of Normandy in 991 (he later married the duke's daughter Emma) an d by buying off renewed attacks by the Danes with money
levied through a tax called the Danegeld. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1006 was dismissive: 'in sp ite of it all, the Danish army went about as it pleased'. By 1012, 48,000 pou nds of silver was being paid in Danegeld to Danes camped in London.
Eventually, in 1013, Ethelred fled to Normandy when king Sweyn of Denmark dispossessed him. Ethelred returned to rule after Sweyn's death in 1014. Ethelred's son E dmund set himself up as an independent ruler in the Danelaw. After Ethelred's death in 1015, Edmund cleared southern England
of Danish marauders in a seri es of fiercely fought and highly mobile fighting, but he lost the battle of A shingdon of 1016 (his Mercian allies deserted him) against Sweyn's son Canute , and died in the same year.
Before his death, Edmund made an agreement with Canute giving Canute territorial concessions, including Wessex. Edmund was bu ried at Glastonbury.

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