General Notes

Alias:<ALIA> The /Unready/
REFN: 1426AN
REFN: P1426
AEthelred II the Unready, King of England
Born: ABT 968
Acceded: 4 APR 978, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey
Died: 23 APR 1016, London, England
I nterred: St.Paul's Cathedral, London, England
Notes:
Reigned 979-1013(deposed ) and 1014-1016.
In the face of Danish raids, he was forced to pay huge tribut es
(Danegeld) to
the enemy. He was driven into exile by Sweyn but returned a fter his death
.
Died during Canutes invasion of England.
Burke says he died 1 010. His tomb was lost when the old St Pauls was
destroyed
in the great fire of London.
Father: , Edgar the Peaceful, King of England, b. 944
Mother: , A elfthryth (Elfrida), b. CIR 945
Married ABT 985 to , Elfreda (AElfgifu)
Child 1: , Athelstan, b. CIR 986
Child 2: , Ecgbert
Child 3: , Edmund II Ironside, King of England, b. 989
Child 4: , Edred
Child 5: , Edwy
Child 6: , Edward
Child 7: , Edgar
Child 8: , Edith
Child 9: , AElfgifu
Child 10: , Wulfhilda
Child 11: , Daughter
Child 12: , (Daughter), Abbess of Wherwell
Child 13: , Edric
Married to , AElthelgife
Married 5 APR 1002, Winchester Cathedral, Lon don, England to , Emma of
Normandy
Child 14: , Edward (St.) the Confessor, K ing of England, b. ABT 1002Child
15: , Alfred Athling, b. BEF 1012
Child 16: , Godgifu (Goda), b. ABT 1009
Ethelred the Unready (c. 968 – April 23, 1016), also known as Ethelr
ed II and Æþelred Unræd, was King of England (978–1013, and 1014–1016).
According to William of Malmesbury, Ethelred defecated in the baptismal fo
nt as a child, which led St. Dunstan to prophesy that the English monarc
hy would be overthrown during his reign. This story is, however, almost ce
rtainly a fabrication.
Ethelred succeeded to the throne aged about ten following the death of h
is father King Edgar and subsequent murder of his half-brother Edward t
he Martyr. His nickname "The Unready" does not mean that he was ill-prepar
ed, but derives from the Anglo-Saxon unræd meaning "poorly counselle
d" or "indecisive". This could also be interpreted as a pun on his name, Æ
þelræd, which may be understood to mean "noble counsel" in Old English.
Ethelred married firstly to Ælflaed, daughter of Thored, the ealdorm
an of Northumbria; she was the mother of four sons; Æthelstan Ætheling (di
ed 1011), Edmund Ironside, Ecgberht Ætheling and Eadred Ætheling.
In 997, he remarried to Ælfgifu, daughter of ealdorman Æthelberht, who ga
ve him two sons, Eadwig Ætheling (killed 1017) and Eadgar Ætheling the Eld
er.
His third and final marriage, in 1002, was to Emma of Normandy, whose gran
dnephew, William I of England, would later use this relationship as the ba
sis of his claim on the throne. They had two sons, Eadweard (later Ki
ng of England and known now as Edward the Confessor) and Ælfred Ætheling.
He also had as many as eight daughters by his three marriages.
England had experienced a long period of peace after the reconquest of t
he Danelaw in the first half of the 10th century. However, in 991 Ethelr
ed was faced with a Viking fleet larger than any since Guthrum the Old's "
Summer Army" a century earlier. This fleet was led by Olaf Trygvasson, a N
orwegian with ambitions to reclaim the Danelaw for his country. After init
ial military setbacks including the defeat of his ealdorman Byrhtnoth at t
he Battle of Maldon, Ethelred was able to come to terms with Olaf, who ret
urned to Norway to gain his kingdom with mixed success. While this arrange
ment won him some respite, England faced further depredations from Viki
ng raids. Ethelred fought these off, but in many cases followed the practi
ce of earlier kings including Alfred the Great in buying them off by payme
nt of what was to become known as Danegeld.
Ethelred ordered the massacre of the Danes living in England on St Brice
's Day (November 13) 1002 (as described in the chronicles of John of Walli
ngford), in response to which Sweyn Haraldsson started a series o