Æthelred II, king of England

Also known as Ethelred the Unready.

King of England, 978 - 1016

Events

Date of Birth: probably born about 966 - 968.

Place of Birth: unknown.

The estimated date is given by Keynes.

Date of Death: 23 April 1016.

Place of Death: London.

The date and place are given by Keynes. The death is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (D,E,F) s.a. 1016.

Place of Burial: Saint Paul’s, London.

The place is given by Keynes.

Relationships

Father: Edgar, king of England (about 944 - 975).

This relationship is given by Keynes. It is recorded in several charters (S835, S876, S894, S904, S911, S937); by Byrhtferth of Ramsey in his Life of St Oswald iii, 14 and iv 18; in the will of ealdorman Ælfheah (S1485); in the Annales Cambriæ (A,B,C) s.a. 1014; and in other sources.

Mother: Ælfthryth (died between 999 and 1001).

This relationship is given by Keynes. It is recorded in several charters (S841, S842, S845, S849, S855, S876, S878, S879, S891, S896, S904, S1454, S1457) and by Byrhtferth of Ramsey in his Life of St Oswald iii 14, in the New Minster Liber Vitae (Stowe MS 944, Fol 26r), and in other sources.

Spouse: Ælgifu (died about 1000). Married about 985.

This relationship is given by Keynes, who notes that sources give conflicting information about her. Baldwin (Ælfgifu (?)) discusses the evidence. Keynes, weighing the evidence, states that Thored, earl of Northumbria from c. 975 to c. 992, was Ælgifu’s mother. Keats-Rohan (p. 1101) gives Thored Aethelstan (d. 1014).

Spouse: Emma (died 1052). Married in 1002. Emma was renamed “Ælfgifu” in England. After Æthelred’s death, she married Cnut, king of Denmark, England, and Norway. This relationship is given by Keynes and by van Houts (p. 260).

Children (by Ælgifu):

(The information below comes from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography articles and from Baldwin. The sons are recorded in charters.)

Æthelstan (died 1014)

Ecgberht.

Edmund (died 30 November 1016), king of England in 1016, married Ealdgyth. Edmund became known as “Edmund Ironside”.

Eadred.

Eadwig (died 1017).

Edgar.

Edith married Eadric Streona, earl of Mercia.

Ælfgifu married Uhtred, earl of Northumbria.

Wulfhild married Ulfcytel Snilling, ealdorman of East Anglia

a daughter married Æthelstan.

Children (by Emma):

Edward (about 1004 - 4 or 5 January 1066), king of England. Known as “Edward the Confessor” after his canonization in 1161. Edward married Eadgyth on 23 January 1045.

Ælfred (died 5 February 1036 or 1037).

Gode married (1) Dreux, count of Mantes; married (2) Eustace II, count of Boulogne.

References

Anglo-Saxons.net [Gives transcriptions of Old English charters]

Baldwin, Stewart. “Ælfgifu (?)” in The Henry Project. [accessed 8 June 2014]

Baldwin, Stewart. “Æthelred II "the Unready"” in The Henry Project. [accessed 8 June 2014]

Barlow, Frank. “Edward [St Edward; known as Edward the Confessor] (1003x5-1066)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Birch, Walter de Gray (ed.) Liber Vitae: Register and Martyrology of New Minster and Hyde Abbey Winchester (London: 1892).

British Library Digitised Manuscripts.

Lawson, M.K. “Ælfred Ætheling (d. 1036/7)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Keynes, Simon. “Æthelred II (c.966x8-1016)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Keynes, Simon. “Æthelstan Ætheling (d.1014)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

“Æthelred 32” on the Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England website. [accessed 9 June 2014]

Plummer, Charles (ed.) Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel: A Revised Text (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892-1899).

Raine, James (ed.) The Historians of the Church of York and Its Archbishops. Volume I (London: 1879). pp. 399-475: “Vita Oswaldi Archiepiscopi Eboracensis”.

Van Houts, Elisabeth. “Intermarriage in Eleventh-Century England” in Normandy and Its Neighbours, 900-1250 (Belgium: Brepols, 2011), pp. 237-270.

Williams ab Ithel, John (ed.). Annales Cambriæ (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts; 1860).