Search Results: Aethelred the Unready

Aethelred II, also known as Aethelred the Unready, was king of the English from 978-1013 and 1014-1016. His long reign was initially stable, but Viking attacks on England escalated from the 990s onward. Viking incursions eventually grew so...

Aethelred ruled as Lord of the Mercians from c. 881 to 911 and was a key military leader in the fight against Viking conquest and settlement in England. To defend Mercia, he allied himself to the powerful Kingdom of Wessex under the leadership...

The Danish conquest of England was not a singular event, but a series of large Viking invasions of England between 1013 and 1016, which eventually overthrew the native English dynasty. As a result, four kings from the House of Denmark ruled...

Aethelflaed (r. 911-918 CE) was the daughter of King Alfred the Great of Wessex (r. 871-899 CE) and became queen of Mercia following the death of her husband Aethelred, Lord of the Mercians (r. 883-911 CE). She is best known as the “Lady...

Aelfgifu of Northampton (fl. 1013-1037) was an English noble who married the English and Danish king Cnut (r. 1016-1035) and was the mother of the English king Harold I Harefoot (r. 1035-1040). Aelfgifu reached the height of her influence...

Alfred the Great (r. 871-899 CE) was the king of Wessex in Britain but came to be known as King of the Anglo-Saxons after his military victories over Viking adversaries and later successful negotiations with them. He is the best-known Anglo-Saxon...

The English king Aethelred II, aka Aethelred the Unready, (r. 978-1016). Illuminated manuscript, The Chronicle of Abindon, c. 1220. MS Cott. Claude B.VI folio 87, verso. (The British Library)

Edward the Elder (r. 899-924) was the son of Alfred the Great (r. 871-899) and the King of the Anglo-Saxons in the early 10th century. He is known for his military victories over the Vikings of East Anglia and the East Midlands and for consolidating...

Silver coin depicting the English king Aethelred II The Unready (r. 978-1016). The British Museum, London.

The Kingdom of Mercia (c. 527-879 CE) was an Anglo-Saxon political entity located in the midlands of present-day Britain and bordered on the south by the Kingdom of Wessex, on the west by Wales, north by Northumbria, and on the east by East...