Ethelred the Unready

NAME Æthelred II, commonly known as Æthelred the Unready (Old English: Æþelræd Unræd) (Modern English: Ethelred the Unready0

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Æthelred is most famous for his troubled reign as King of the English from 978–1013 and 1014–1016, marked by repeated Viking invasions, the payment of Danegeld (tribute to Viking raiders), and the controversial Saint Brice’s Day Massacre of Danish settlers in England.

BIRTH Born circa 966–968 in England.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Æthelred was the son of King Edgar (Edgar the Peaceful) and Queen Ælfthryth. He belonged to the royal House of Wessex. His mother, Ælfthryth, was the daughter of Ordgar, ealdorman of Devon. His half-brother was Edward the Martyr, whom he succeeded after Edward’s assassination.

CHILDHOOD Æthelred’s childhood was overshadowed by the sudden death of his father and the violent murder of his half-brother Edward, after which Æthelred, still a boy (about 10–12 years old), became king. Chroniclers suggest his mother was a dominating influence, and there are tales of him being beaten for crying over Edward’s death.

EDUCATION As a royal prince, Æthelred would have been tutored in subjects considered suitable for a king, including some literacy, basic law, and probably military matters. Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester was an important influence in his early years.

CAREER RECORD 978 Became King of England, crowned at Kingston-upon-Thames.

991 The first of several large sums of Danegeld paid to Viking raiders in failed attempts to secure peace.

1002 Ordered the Saint Brice’s Day Massacre in 1002, targeting Danish settlers.

1013 Fled to Normandy when Sweyn Forkbeard was proclaimed king, but returned to the throne in 1014.

1016 Reign ended with England in turmoil and under threat of Danish conquest.

APPEARANCE John of Worcester (12th century) described Æthelred as “elegant in his manners, handsome in visage, glorious in appearance.” No contemporary images survive. 

Æthelred II in an early thirteenth-century copy of the Abingdon Chronicle

FASHION  As a king, he would have worn the rich robes and regalia typical of Anglo-Saxon royalty, possibly including embroidered cloaks, gold ornaments, and a crown.

CHARACTER Chroniclers and later historians often depict Æthelred as indecisive, poorly advised, and lacking resolve. Some Icelandic sources describe him as generous and “war-swift,” but the prevailing view is of a ruler hampered by circumstance and poor counsel.

SPEAKING VOICE As a king, Æthelred would have been expected to speak Old English with authority. Later fictional portrayals sometimes depict him as hesitant or lacking in confidence.

SENSE OF HUMOUR  Modern depictions, such as in Richard Wilson’s comic opera, often play on his supposed indecisiveness for comic effect. (1)

RELATIONSHIPS Æthelred the Unready was married twice:

Æthelred married Ælfgifu of York around 985, when he was in his late teens or early twenties and she was likely a little younger. The marriage was likely arranged by his mother, Ælfthryth, to strengthen northern alliances. Ælfgifu’s background is somewhat unclear, but she is generally identified as the daughter of Thored, ealdorman of York. There is no record of Ælfgifu being crowned queen, possibly because Æthelred’s mother, the previous queen, was still alive at the time. Ælfgifu appears little in the historical record and did not witness royal charters. She probably died before 1002, as Æthelred remarried that year. (2)

In 1002, Æthelred married Emma of Normandy, the daughter of Richard I, Duke of Normandy, and sister of Richard II. The marriage was a political alliance aimed at improving relations with Normandy and countering Viking threats, as Viking raiders often used Normandy as a base. Upon her marriage, Emma was given the Anglo-Saxon name Ælfgifu for official purposes. She was crowned queen and given substantial lands in England. After Æthelred’s death, Emma famously married King Cnut, the Danish conqueror of England. The picture below a 13th-century miniature showing Emma fleeing England with her two young sons following the invasion by Sweyn Forkbead in 1013.

Æthelred had a large number of children from both marriages:

With Ælfgifu of Yor he had at least nine children, including: Edmund Ironside (later King Edmund II), E

With Emma of Normandy he fathered at least three children: including Edward the Confessor (later King Edward), 

MONEY AND FAME As King of England, Æthelred had access to the wealth of the kingdom. However, his reign was also marked by heavy taxation to raise the payment of large sums of Danegeld to the Vikings. 

His fame is primarily negative, due to the traditional view of his ineffective handling of the Viking threat, though this view is now debated.

FOOD AND DRINK Even Anglo-Saxon kings like Æthelred ate a largely cereal-based diet most days, with vegetables, dairy, and occasional small portions of meat or cheese, while grand feasts featured much more meat and fish. These feasts were special occasions, not everyday fare.

Drinks included ale, mead, and sometimes wine, as well as herbal infusions and milk-based drinks. Water was available from wells and streams.

MUSIC AND ARTS The Anglo-Saxon court would have featured minstrels, poets, and religious music.

LITERATURE His reign coincided with a significant flourishing of artistic and literary production in England. Lavishly illustrated and gilded gospel books, such as those now in the British Library, were produced during his time, and the only surviving manuscript of the Old English epic Beowulf was copied in the early 11th century, likely during Æthelred’s reign. The creation of such beautiful books was seen by contemporaries as a way to glorify God and educate both clerics and laypeople, possibly as a response to the moral and military crises of the era. (3)

Æthelred’s reign also saw the production of royal charters and legal documents in Old English and Latin. He is mentioned in later chronicles and sagas, and his reign inspired literary works and modern operas.

A charter of Æthelred's in 1003 to a follower, also called Æthelred.

NATURE As a king in Anglo-Saxon England, Æthelred would have been involved in activities related to the land, such as hunting.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Hunting and feasting were typical pastimes for Anglo-Saxon kings.

SCIENCE AND MATHS The level of scientific and mathematical knowledge in Anglo-Saxon England was not advanced by modern standards. However, the Anglo-Saxons had practical knowledge of astronomy, measurement, and building.

REIGN Æthelred the Unready, who had the distinct misfortune of being king twice (once from 978 to 1013, and again from 1014 to 1016), holds the curious distinction of having the longest reign of any Anglo-Saxon monarch. This would be a point of pride were it not also one of the most consistently dreadful stretches in early English history, featuring Viking raids, betrayal, murder, and one particularly regrettable massacre. The nickname “Unready” doesn’t mean he overslept and missed the Battle of Maldon—it actually comes from the Old English unræd, meaning "poor counsel." Though to be fair, you could argue both meanings apply.

Æthelred’s journey to the throne began in the way that so many royal successions of the time did: with a murder. In this case, the untimely (and highly suspicious) demise of his half-brother, Edward the Martyr, in 978. Æthelred, all of about ten years old at the time, suddenly found himself king, mostly thanks to his mother Ælfthryth, a formidable woman who seems to have treated the concept of plausible deniability as a mere suggestion. Needless to say, suspicions lingered. It didn’t help that Æthelred’s reign began under a thick fog of political instability and public mistrust—a mood that would persist like bad weather for nearly four decades.

Things went downhill quickly. After a brief lull in Viking attacks under Æthelred’s father, Edgar (who may have been the only English king with a functioning sense of peacekeeping), the Danes returned in the 980s, and by the 990s were treating the English coast like an all-you-can-plunder buffet. Following a particularly demoralizing defeat at the Battle of Maldon, Æthelred began paying vast sums of money—Danegeld—to get the Vikings to go away. As you might expect, this worked about as well as throwing gold at a seagull in hopes it won’t steal your chips. The more he paid, the more they came. It was the medieval equivalent of subscribing to a scam.

In 1002, Æthelred attempted a bold new strategy: killing all the Danes in England. This became known, euphemistically, as the St Brice’s Day Massacre. The idea was to eliminate any potential traitors; the result was more or less the opposite. One of the victims may have been the sister of Sweyn Forkbeard, the Danish king who, as you can imagine, didn’t take it well. He promptly invaded England with great enthusiasm and little resistance.

By 1013, Æthelred’s position had become untenable—a polite way of saying he had to pack up the royal household and flee to Normandy. Sweyn Forkbeard was crowned king in his stead, but then promptly died (surprising everyone, especially Sweyn). The English nobles, perhaps suffering from collective amnesia, invited Æthelred back—on the condition that he “rule more justly,” a clause that surely raised eyebrows even then.

His second go at kingship was, predictably, not much better. Sweyn’s son, Cnut (later known as Cnut the Great), picked up where Dad left off, invading England with terrifying efficiency. Æthelred, aging and apparently still without a coherent battle plan, spent his final years struggling with internal squabbles and external threats in roughly equal measure.

Æthelred died in London in April 1016, just as Cnut was closing in. His son, Edmund Ironside—whose nickname at least suggests some backbone—took up the fight for a few heroic months before also succumbing, leaving the Danes finally in charge. It was, in many ways, the beginning of the end for Anglo-Saxon England.

History has not been kind to Æthelred. He is remembered as the king who couldn’t stop the Vikings, who paid them to raid more, and who triggered a massacre that only made things worse. And yet, if you squint, you’ll see glimmers of effort: legal reforms, charters, some fairly sophisticated coinage. He wasn’t lazy—just catastrophically unlucky and ill-advised. His son, Edward the Confessor, would later become a beloved saint-king, though that too, in time, would pave the way for William the Conqueror and the end of the Anglo-Saxon line altogether.

But that, as they say, is another story.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Æthelred ruled in a deeply Christian England, believing that his kingship and the fate of his kingdom were tied to the will of God. He saw himself as a Christian monarch defending his people against pagan Viking invaders, convinced that God was on his side because of England’s Christian faith. This conviction shaped his policies and responses to crisis, including efforts to secure divine favor through prayer, penance, and public acts of piety.

During periods of intense Viking threat, Æthelred’s court and church leaders instituted widespread religious observances. These included:

Special masses (contra paganos) sung every Wednesday in larger churches

Ordered national fasts before major feasts like St Mary and the apostles

A three-day bread-and-water fast before Michaelmas

Barefoot processions

Thirty masses from every priest and thirty recitations of the entire psalter from every monk

These measures were intended as acts of collective repentance, seeking God’s intervention in England’s defense. They reflected a belief that national misfortune was a result of collective sin and could be remedied through penitence and spiritual discipline.

Æthelred’s relationship with the church was complex. At times, he expropriated land from religious foundations and punished church towns (such as the harrying of Rochester), actions for which he later showed remorse. Surviving documents suggest he sought to make amends with the church and its leaders, especially after periods of political instability or after acting on poor advice. He issued charters and royal diplomas, often witnessed by leading churchmen, which reveal the close intertwining of religious and royal authority in his reign.

A remarkable artifact from his reign is the rare “Agnus Dei” (Lamb of God) coin, which replaced the king’s portrait with Christian symbols—the Lamb of God and a dove representing the Holy Spirit. This design is interpreted as a desperate appeal for divine peace during perilous times, highlighting the theological dimension of his kingship and the sense of crisis that pervaded his rule. (4)

POLITICS His rule was marked by factionalism, reliance on advisors, and diplomatic marriages (notably to Emma of Normandy). He struggled to maintain unity and effective governance under the pressure of Viking attacks.

SCANDAL Suspicion surrounded Æthelred’s involvement in his half-brother Edward’s murder, which cast a shadow over his legitimacy. 

The November 13, 1002 St. Brice's Day massacre, the killing of Danes in England, is a major scandal associated with his reign.

MILITARY RECORD Æthelred the Unready has long been criticized for not personally leading his troops into battle, but recent scholarship paints a more nuanced picture. While it is true that he often relied on advisors and delegated military leadership—sometimes with disastrous results—there is evidence that Æthelred did, at times, lead his forces in person and was more militarily active than his reputation suggests.

Æthelred is recorded as personally leading a naval expedition against Strathclyde and the Isle of Man in the year 1000. This campaign, though sometimes dismissed as an act of frustration, demonstrates that Æthelred was willing to take the field himself when circumstances demanded.

Throughout his reign, Æthelred organized armies, constructed fleets, and took part in the defense and refortification of key cities and strongholds. He was involved in the planning and execution of military campaigns and, notably, managed to reconquer his kingdom after being deposed by Sweyn Forkbeard in 1013–1014.

Despite these efforts, chroniclers and later historians often emphasized Æthelred’s failures, especially his frequent payments of Danegeld and reliance on others to command in the field. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other sources highlight instances where his commanders, rather than Æthelred himself, led the English armies—such as Byrhtnoth at the Battle of Maldon in 991. However, modern historians now acknowledge that Æthelred was not entirely passive and did at times take direct action. (5)

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS He lived to about 50, a respectable age for the time.

HOMES Anglo-Saxon kings, including Æthelred, traveled regularly between royal estates (known as "vills") across England. These estates provided food, lodging, and administrative bases, and were often the sites of royal councils and assemblies. Specific palaces associated with his reign are not individually named in the sources, but major royal centers included Winchester, Gloucester, and Kingston-upon-Thames (where he was crowned).

In 1013, when Sweyn Forkbeard invaded and seized the throne, Æthelred fled to Normandy. He lived in exile there until Sweyn's death in 1014, after which he returned to England to reclaim the throne

In the later part of his reign, London emerged as Æthelred’s principal political and commercial centre. He died in London in 1016. 

TRAVEL As king, he would have traveled throughout his kingdom on royal progresses. The primary mode of land travel for royalty and nobility was horseback. Horses allowed for relatively swift movement across the kingdom, especially compared to oxen or traveling on foot. By Æthelred’s time, improvements in horse breeding, harnesses, and the use of horseshoes made equestrian travel more efficient and comfortable for the elite. 

Image by ChatGBT

DEATH Æthelred the Unready died on April 23, 1016 in London, during a period of intense crisis. At the time, Cnut’s Danish forces were conquering much of England, and London was one of the last strongholds still loyal to Æthelred. The exact cause of his death is not known; contemporary sources do not specify whether it was due to illness, stress, or another condition, though it is clear his health was failing in his final weeks. His son Edmund Ironside returned to London shortly before Æthelred’s death, possibly to be with his father or to position himself for succession.

Æthelred was buried in Old St Paul’s Cathedral, London, making him the first monarch to be interred there. This was a significant departure from the tradition of burying West Saxon kings in Winchester, but London’s loyalty and its status as a political center likely influenced this choice. The funeral would have taken place in the great stone church on Ludgate Hill, a prominent and revered site at the time, with notable figures such as St. Erkenwald and the martyred Archbishop Ælfheah also buried there.

His tomb was reportedly placed next to King Sæbbi of Essex, and it became a notable royal monument within the cathedral. The location of his tomb was recorded in 17th-century plans and histories of St Paul’s. Unfortunately, both the tomb and the cathedral were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. Today, a modern monument in the crypt of the current St Paul’s Cathedral lists Æthelred among the important graves lost to time. (6) 

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Æthelred the Unready, despite his rather epic moniker and a reign bursting with drama, hasn’t exactly dominated the silver screen—but he has popped up in various bits of popular culture, usually as a symbol of bad decision-making, royal ineptitude, or darkly comic historical misfortune.

 Here's a quick roundup of his media cameos and character portrayals:

1. Television & Film Appearances

Horrible Histories (BBC)L The beloved British children’s show has featured Æthelred a few times, usually portraying him as comically clueless. One sketch shows him bewildered by the constant Viking invasions, surrounded by smarter advisors and still somehow making the worst possible choices. It's educational and hilariously brutal.

 2. Books & Literature

Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories books: Æthelred makes regular appearances in these books, often as the hapless king who paid the Vikings to stop pillaging… only to watch them take the money and pillage anyway.

1066 and All That This satirical take on English history gives Æthelred the expected comic treatment, painting him as a sort of bumbling proto-bureaucrat who couldn’t organize a defense even if he were handed a sword and told which direction to swing it.

3. Theatre & Radio

Æthelred has been referenced in various historical comedy segments on BBC Radio 4—he’s a favorite punchline for “worst king” lists, with his name often delivered with extra flourish for maximum effect.

4. Memes & Internet Culture

Æthelred’s name pops up on Reddit history boards and Twitter/X history threads pretty regularly, usually accompanied by phrases like:

“When your strategy is to pay off your enemies and hope they go away.”

“The original masterclass in how not to be king.”

ACHIEVEMENTS Fathered Edward the Confessor, a future king and saint.

Maintained the Anglo-Saxon monarchy through crisis, though his reign is often judged as a failure.

His coinage and administrative reforms were more effective than once believed, and his reign saw the continued development of royal government

Sources (1) Richard Wilson composer (2) History The Interesting Bits (3) Medieval Manuscripts blog (4) University of Cambridge (5) Rounded Globe (6) Patricia Bracewell