Æthelred, king of Wessex

Æthelred (ĕ`thəlrĕd, ă`–), d.871, king of Wessex (865–71), son of Æthelwulf and brother of Alfred Alfred, 849–99, king of Wessex (871–99), sometimes called Alfred the Great, b. Wantage, Berkshire.

Early Life

The youngest son of King Æthelwulf, he was sent in 853 to Rome, where the pope gave him the title of Roman consul.
..... Click the link for more information. . He succeeded his brother Æthelbert Æthelbert, d. 865, king of Wessex (860–65), son of Æthelwulf. After the death of his father in 858 he ruled Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Essex, and he reunited them with Wessex when in 860 he succeeded his brother Æthelbald in that kingdom.
..... Click the link for more information. as king of Wessex and as overlord of Kent and possibly of East Anglia. Æthelred spent his short reign gathering forces to oppose the Danes, who occupied York (866) and ravaged much of England. Alfred was important as his second in command in a series of battles (870–71) and succeeded him in Apr., 871.

Æthelred, king of England

Æthelred, 965?–1016, king of England (978–1016), called Æthelred the Unready [Old Eng. unrœd=without counsel]. He was the son of Edgar and the half brother of Edward the Martyr Edward the Martyr, c.962–978, king of the English (975–78), son of Edgar by his first wife. Despite the opposition of some of the nobles, Edward succeeded his father to the throne and was crowned.
..... Click the link for more information. , whom he succeeded. Æthelred began his reign under a cloud of suspicion because of the murder of Edward. He was a weak king, but his efforts to resist the Danes, who resumed their raids on England in 980, were also considerably hampered by the frequent treachery of his commanders. In 991 he began paying tribute to the Danes, which he raised by the Danegeld Danegeld (dān`gĕld'), medieval land tax originally raised to buy off raiding Danes and later used for military expenditures.
..... Click the link for more information. , but his tributary status did not prevent the Danes from returning. In 997 they came not only to raid but to remain and plunder the rich realm until 1000. A massacre of Danes in England in 1002 (possibly on the king's orders) provoked another major raid (1003) led by the Danish king Sweyn Sweyn (swān), c.960–1014, king of Denmark (986–1014), son of Harold Bluetooth.
..... Click the link for more information. . Æthelred tried to defend his kingdom; in 1002 he married Emma, sister of Richard II, duke of Normandy, perhaps in an attempt to gain an ally; in 1007 the army was placed under a single commander; by 1009 a navy had been built, but many of its commanders took to piracy. A severe harrying (1009–12) by the Danes left England disorganized, and when the Danish king Sweyn returned in 1013 to conquer, he was well received in the Danelaw Danelaw (dān`lô'), originally the body of law that prevailed in the part of England occupied by the Danes after the treaty of King
..... Click the link for more information. , and London capitulated with little resistance. Æthelred fled to Normandy. Upon Sweyn's death in 1014, Æthelred's restoration was negotiated in the first recorded pact between an English king and his subjects. Sweyn's son, Canute Canute (kən

t`, kəny
..... Click the link for more information. , withdrew, but he returned with a powerful army in 1015. War was in progress when Æthelred died in Apr., 1016. His son Edmund Ironside Edmund Ironside, d. 1016, king of the English (1016), son of Æthelred the Unready. Contrary to the wishes of his father, he married (1015) the widow of Siferth, a Danish thane, and was accepted as ruler of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw .
..... Click the link for more information. was declared his successor, but after concluding a treaty with Canute, he died in November. Æthelred's heirs were restored to the throne only with Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor, d. 1066, king of the English (1042–66), son of Æthelred the Unready and his Norman wife, Emma. After the Danish conquest (1013–16) of England, Edward grew up at the Norman court, although his mother returned to England and
..... Click the link for more information. .