Athelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled KingÆthelred became king of England in 978, following the murder of his brother Edward the Martyr (possibly at the instigation of their mother) at Corfe. On his own death in April 1016, his son Edmund Ironside succeeded him and fought the invading Danes bravely, but died in November of the same year after being defeated at the battle of Assandun, leading to the House of Wessex being replaced by a Danish king, Cnut. Æthelred, in constrast to his predecessor and successor, reigned (except for a few months in 1013-14), largely unchallenged for thirty-eight years, despite presiding over a period which saw many Danish invasions and much internal strife. If not a great king, he was certainly a survivor whose posthumous reputation and nickname (meaning 'Noble Council the No Council') do him little justice. In Æthelred the Unready Ann Williams, a leading scholar on his reign, discounts the later rumours and misinterpretations that have dogged his reputation to construct a record of his reign from contemporary sources. |
Contents
The Gap of Corfe | 1 |
The Old Guard and the Young King | 19 |
The Great Terror | 43 |
A Change of Direction | 69 |
The Immense RaidingArmy | 91 |
A Crisis Surmounted | 111 |
Dissent and Disaster | 131 |
A Note on Danegeld | 151 |
| 231 | |
| 251 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abbey abbot Ælfgar Ælfgifu Ælfheah Ælfhelm Ælfhere Ælfric Ælfthryth Æthelflæd Æthelmær Æthelred's reign Æthelric Æthelstan Æthelweard Æthelwine Æthelwold Alfred Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Anglo-Saxon England Ann Williams Archbishop army Assandun attests Battle of Maldon bishop brother Byrhtferth Canterbury Chapter Chron Chronicle's church Cnut Cnut's Danegeld Danelaw Danes Danish daughter death Devon Diplomas Domesday Eadric streona Eadwig ealdordom Ealdorman Earl early East Anglia ecclesiastical Edgar Edmund Edward eleventh century Encomium Emmae English estates Ethelred the Unready father gafol Godwine Hampshire heregeld Homilies John of Worcester Keynes killed King Æthelred king's kingdom land Leofsige Leofwine London marriage Mercia Minster Morcar murder Northumbria Oláf Ordwulf Óttarr Oxford Oxfordshire perhaps presumably recorded reeve royal Scandinavian Scragg secular Shaftesbury Sherborne ships shipsokes shires Sigeferth St Dunstan suggests Swein tenth century thegn Thietmar Thorkell Thorkell's Uhtred Ulfcytel Viking Wessex West Saxon Wiltshire Winchester witness-lists Wormald Wulfgeat Wulfric Wulfstan