King Ethelred the Unready

In Europe, c. 950 begins a period of steady demographic and economic growth. The widespread use of the heavy plow with iron coulter, the invention of the horse collar and horseshoes, improvements in mining and metallurgy all help to increase the effectiveness of farming. Agricultural production increases also due to the expanding of acreage under cultivation as a result of both natural and human action. This helps the growth of towns and increases trade.

England is under the rule of King Edgar the Peacemaker (c. 943 – 8 July 975). His reign was characterized by freedom from threats of foreign invasion or viking raiding (due in part to the strong navy that he maintained), prosperity, establishment of uniformity of coinage, weights, and measures. He was a strong supporter of monastic reform assisting the efforts of saints Archbishop Dunstan of Canterbury, Bishop Aethelwold of Winchester, and Bishop Oswald of Worcester to replace secular canons at minster churches with monks and to restore the rule of St. Benedict in English monasteries.

In 975 King Edgar dies and leaves behind 2 sons: Edward (c. 962 - 18 March 978) and his step-brother Ethelred (c. 968 – 23 April 1016). With support from saint Dunstan and Ealdorman Aethelwin of East Anglia Edward succeeds his father as king. His rule is short though, three years later he is assassinated under strange circumstances. An old tale says he was being received at Corfe Castle in Dorset by Aelfthrith, Ethelred’s mother, and while serving him refreshments he was mortally stabbed.

At the young age of 10, in 978, Ethelred is crowned King. During his teenage years, he was guided by his mother, Bishop Aethelwold of Winchester and Ealdorman Aelfhere of Mercia. The greatest challenge facing England during Ethelred’s years was a new round of Danish invasions. Having left the island in peace for decades, the Vikings now returned with more vicious raiding parties than ever. In fact, the raids were so ferocious that the Anglo-Saxons inserted a prayer in their church services every Sunday imploring God to spare them from the terror of the invaders. After the defeat at the Battle of Maldon in 991 he resorted to paying them off, but he failed to take advantage of the time the Danegeld payments gave him to strengthen and reorganize his armies. In 994 a large viking fleet led by King Swein Forkbeard of Denmark and a Norwegian prince Olaf Tryggvason laid siege to London and were bought off with another large tribute payment. Soon after, Ethelred contracted a formal peace treaty with Olaf who went back home but many of his soldiers, however, settled in England and received employment as royal mercenaries. After three years of peace, the raiding began again in 997 and continued almost annually for the remainder of Ethelred’s reign.

For many of their raids, the Danes got help from their kinsmen in northern France. In 912 the French Channel coast had fallen to the Norsemen and the sheltered harbours of Normandy provided ideal staging-posts for the Danes as they raided the south coast of England. In an attempt to strengthen his links with the Normans and stop the attacks he marries Lady Emma, the sister of Duke Richard of Normandy. It is of no use.

In a desperate attempt, on 13th November 1002, the day that will be remembered as St. Brice’s Day Massacre he orders the slaying of all Danish people who were in England. It proves to be a terrible mistake, among the killed was Gunnhilda, the sister of Sweyn Forkbeard, the King of Denmark. The following year Sweyn led a huge Danish army up the River Humber, to receive a warm welcome from the inhabitants of the Danelaw. He returned in 1006 and again in 1013, fighting a campaign that eventually gave him control of all of England. England became a Danish possession, and Ethelred fled into exile in Normandy. Sweyn dies on 2nd February 1014 and the English noblemen send word to Ethelred to come back. They negotiated a sort of contract demanding reforms in exchange for their allegiance. He returned and ruled two more years until his death on 23rd April 1016. He was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral and was succeeded by his son Edmund

After his death he got the nickname Ethelred the Unready. In fact, “unred” was an Old English word that meant “ill-advised”, and it made a rather clever pun on the meaning of Ethelred’s name, “of noble counsel”, rendering Ethelred Unred “the well-advised, ill-advised”. The epithet seems to describe the poor quality of advice he got from his advisers throughout his reign. An example would be his trust in Earl Eadric Streona of Mercia who later betrayed him. Even though he ruled for approximately 37 years, which is an impressive extent for that period, he’s overall reign is mostly characterized as inefficient and lackluster.