Æthelred AETHELING

Ethelred II (c. 968 ? April 23, 1016), also known as Ethelred the Unready or Aethelred the Unready (Old English Æþelræd Unræd), was King of England (978? 1013, and 1014? 1016). He was the son of Edgar, King of all England (959? 975) and Ælfthryth. The majority of his reign (991? 1016) was marked by a defensive war against Viking invaders. t is not true that contemporaries considered him ill-prepared. Rather, his nickname "the unready" derives from the Anglo-Saxon Unræd, which means "without counsel", "ill-advised" or "indecisive". This can be seen as a pun on his name, Æþelræd, which may be understood to mean "noble counsel" in Old English. So he was 'Noble counsel, No counsel'. There are 2 spellings of his name, the one here being 'Ethelred', and the second being 'Aethelred', which is closer to the original Anglo-Saxon spelling 'Æþelræd'. Books about him will use one of the two spellings, but they both refer to the same person. Following the death of his father King Edgar and subsequent murder of his half-brother Edward the Martyr by servants of Ethelred's mother, Ethelred succeeded to the throne at about age ten. Ethelred married first Ælfgifu, daughter of Thored, the ealdorman of York, by whom he had six sons: Æthelstan Ætheling (died 1011), Edmund Ironside, Ecgberht Ætheling, Eadred Ætheling, Eadwig Ætheling (killed 1017) and Eadgar Ætheling the Elder. They also had as many as four daughters: Edith, who married Eadric Streona, ealdorman of Mercia, and Ælfgifu, who married Uchtred the Bold, ealdorman of Bamburgh. Less certainly there may also have been a daughter named Wulfhild married to Ulfcytel Snillingr, and perhaps a fourth daughter, whose name is not recorded, who was abbess of Wherwell. His second marriage, in 1002, was to Emma of Normandy, whose grandnephew, William I of England, would later use this relationship as the basis of his claim on the throne. They had two sons, Eadweard (later King of England and known now as Edward the Confessor) and Ælfred Ætheling. By this marriage, he also had Goda of England, who married Drogo of Mantes, Count of Vexin.

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